how have we not run out of metal yet?

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We have millions of cars, planes, rebar, jewelry, bullets, boats, phones, wires, etc. How is there still metal being made? Are we projected to run out anytime soon?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

There is lots of metal in the ground and we keep digging it up.

Also used metal can somewhat easily be reused (compared to other materials)

We have roughly 80 billion metric tons of iron ore in deposits, and over the last 15 years that actually increased because we discovered more deposits than we mined. Per year we mine about 2.5 billion tons, so if we discover no more iron we’d run out in less than 40 years (but it slows down as recycling rate increases)

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