Peak Nothing: Recent Trends in Mineral Resource Production

The Hubbert-type analysis used to analyze the production history of oil is applied here to other raw materials. Many resources commonly thought of as being close to “peaking” such as lithium, helium, copper, and the rare earth elements, show no evidence of logistic behavior at any point in their production histories. Although many resources have exhibited logistic behavior in the past, many now show exponential or superexponential growth. In most cases, the transition has occurred in the last ten to twenty years.