The Conference Board Del Monte - Pebble Beach Remarks by E. W. Little field April 7, 8 and 9, 1972 GENTLEMEN: The thrust of the remarks I propose to make follow this theme: 1. Mining employs less than 1% of the U.S. labor force, occupies less than 3/10th of 1% of the surface area of the United States, and accounts for less than 3% of the GNP but its importance far transcends the modesty of these figures. Along with agriculture, including forestry, mining -the winning of oil and gas and other minerals from the earth - is one of the two basic industries on which all the rest of our modern industrial society rests. 2. The United States is the most highly industrialized nation of the world and enjoys the highest standard of living. As such with only 5% of the world's population and 7% of the world's land area it consumes 30% of the world's minerals. 3. U. S. production of minerals has not and probably cannot keep pace with its needs. We are self-sufficient in very few minerals and already dependent upon imports for much of our needs. Further, this dependency will grow and could grow to frightening proportions unless we mend our ways and develop a well-conceived mineral policy to serve our national interests. 4. The growing dependency upon imports can have important impacts on our balance of payments and on the cost structure of manufacturing in this country. It can cause us to lose to the mineral exporting countries that processing now performed in the U. S. and it can weaken both our business