Mining - Kougyou

Japanese: 鉱業 - こうぎょう

Mining is the industry that extracts useful mineral resources.

[Toshifumi Yada]

Five characteristics of the mining industry

Historical

Mineral resources that are useful to humanity are historical (the first characteristic of mining is historicity). In other words, it is only with the development of technology to utilize minerals and the establishment of technology to extract minerals underground that a particular mineral becomes a useful resource for humanity, and an industry to extract it is established. The invention of the steam engine during the Industrial Revolution increased the usefulness of coal, and the coal industry was fully established. With the spread of automobiles in the early 20th century, the oil industry, which supplies gasoline, developed rapidly. Copper production also increased with the use of electricity, and with the recent development of the space industry and electronics, various rare metals have attracted attention as resources, and new mining industries have been established.

Mining consists of three sectors: exploration, which is the process of searching for mineral deposits; mining, which is the process of extracting and transporting minerals to the surface; and ore-dressing, which is the process of separating useful minerals from the ore. In addition, in the case of metal mining, the smelting process is added, in which the metals contained in the ore that has been mined and sorted are separated, extracted, and refined, but in general industrial classifications, the smelting industry is considered to belong to the manufacturing industry (industry). However, when the smelting process is located in conjunction with the mining and ore-dressing processes, the smelting process is sometimes included in the mining industry.

[Toshifumi Yada]

Speculative

Of these, the exploration process generally involves high risk. Even if a large investment is made in exploration, the probability of discovering mineral resources that will be able to fully recoup the investment is not necessarily high (the second characteristic of mining: speculative nature). Although the success rate of discovering mineral deposits has increased due to the recent development of geology, which has increased the effectiveness of geological surveys, and the development and use of various physical survey methods such as seismic, electrical, gravity, magnetic, and radioactive surveys, it is still unavoidable that a large amount of risk is involved.

Mining constitutes the core of the mining industry. Apart from the extraction of gases and liquids such as natural gas and crude oil, mining is generally divided into labor processes such as excavation to the deposit, extraction to remove the minerals from the deposit, transportation of the extracted minerals to the surface, drainage to remove spring water from the mine, ventilation to regulate the intake and exhaust of air, and maintenance of the mine. When ore dressing is added to these processes, a mine is formed as a single business entity.

[Toshifumi Yada]

Regional characteristics

In this way, in the mining industry, which extracts natural mineral resources, productivity is primarily determined by the labor itself, that is, the endowment of mineral resources, and because the endowment conditions vary from region to region, significant regional differences in productivity occur (the third characteristic of mining: regionality). Specifically, the amount and quality of useful minerals contained in the deposit, and the endowment conditions such as the depth, inclination, faults, and degree of folding of the deposit, result in significant differences in productivity even if the same production method and investment are assumed. In this case, the price of minerals is determined by the mining costs of the poorest mine among the supplies that meet the social demand, so mines that occupy good deposits generate huge excess profits. In cases where land ownership extends to underground minerals, such as in the UK, this excess profit belongs to the landowner as differential rent, but in cases where land ownership and mineral ownership are separate, such as in continental European countries and Japan, it goes to the mining manager. In the latter case in particular, competition between companies appears first and foremost as a competition to occupy good mining areas. This tendency also exists in the former case, as seen in the fierce rivalry over Middle Eastern oil fields between international oil companies and the Western capitalist nations behind them, and in the competition over prime coal mining sites between zaibatsu companies and major regional companies in Japan.

[Toshifumi Yada]

Depletion and exhaustion

Because the labor is done on naturally occurring mineral resources, the labor itself is not reproduced but depleted (the fourth characteristic of mining: depletion and exhaustibility). Therefore, even within a particular mine, the mining site is constantly moving in search of new labor, and constant investment in tunnels, working faces, and other labor means is required. Even though raw material costs are close to zero, huge capital investment is required, and the organic composition of capital (capital/labor ratio) is generally significantly higher than in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, which also work on nature. Furthermore, the rapid depletion of resources makes it impossible for the mine itself to continue, and it is forced to close. In this case, it causes the exhaustion of the local economy that was established based on the mine. Furthermore, if the depletion of resources expands to the national or global economy, it develops into a serious resource problem known as "depletion."

[Toshifumi Yada]

Dangers

Finally, since minerals that exist underground are extracted, mining has its own unique dangers (the fifth characteristic of mining: dangers). Since most mining work is done underground, there are many occupational accidents such as cave-ins, gas explosions, and flooding. In addition, working conditions are generally poor, with a lack of sunlight, a great deal of dust, high temperatures, and high humidity at work sites, resulting in a higher rate of deaths, injuries, and illnesses among workers than in other industries. In connection with these working conditions, inhumane forms of labor, such as forced labor of prisoners and POWs, and the occurrence of so-called "takobeya" (a type of room where people are forced to work) were once widespread in Japan. In addition, underground mining of minerals has a serious impact on land use above ground in the form of sinkholes and other damage, resulting in mining pollution. Furthermore, open-cut mining often causes large-scale environmental destruction because a considerable thickness of the earth's surface is stripped away.

[Toshifumi Yada]

Types of mining

The mining industry can be broadly divided into three categories: metal, non-metal, and energy, depending on the type of mineral being extracted. Metal mining is further divided into iron mining and non-ferrous metal mining. Representative examples of the latter include gold, silver, copper, platinum, zinc, lead, tin, and bauxite mining. Major non-metal mining industries include sulfur, limestone, silica, silica sand, fireclay, and dolomite mining. Energy-related mining consists of coal, lignite, oil, natural gas, and uranium mining. In terms of global production, energy-related mining, such as oil, natural gas, and coal, boasts an overwhelming position. Excluding these, among mining industries, copper, iron, and gold have the largest production values, followed by zinc, manganese, nickel, tin, lead, and bauxite. In recent years, with the advancement of advanced technology, particularly in the space and computer industries, the importance of minerals known as rare metals, such as molybdenum, cobalt, chromium, and titanium, has been rapidly increasing.

In this way, the mining industry not only supplies the fuel and raw materials necessary for heavy chemical industries, but also nuclear materials and rare metals essential to military power, making it a strategically essential industry for modern developed industrial countries. This, along with the five characteristics of the mining industry mentioned above, are intertwined, and competition and conflict over securing mineral resources is becoming more and more complex between resource multinational corporations, developed countries, and between resource multinational corporations, developed countries and developing countries, which often gives rise to serious international conflicts.

[Toshifumi Yada]

Competition for resources

In developed countries, with the development of industry due to the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent shift to heavy chemical industry, domestic mineral resources, which serve as the base for raw materials and fuel, were rapidly developed, and as their depletion became more serious, they began to look overseas for better quality, lower cost mineral resources. The central role in this was played by multinational resource companies, huge companies based in developed countries that operate on a global scale, and in many cases, the governments of developed countries, seeking to ensure a stable supply of resources, actively supported them. Since the discovery and development of mineral resources is itself highly "speculative" and their distribution is markedly "regional (uneven)," competition between companies and countries over resources in specific regions became extremely fierce, and companies that succeeded in appropriating and developing them grew into huge multinational resource companies.

Through the control of oil resources unevenly distributed in the Middle East, North Africa, Venezuela, Indonesia, etc., international oil capitals called "majors" such as Exxon, Shell, Mobil, Socal, Gulf (Socal and Gulf merged in 1984, later became Chevron), Texaco, British Petroleum, and Petroleum de France (renamed Total in 1991) established their dominance over the global oil industry. In copper mining, international copper capitals such as Anaconda, Kennecott, Phelps Dodge, Asarco, Amax, Inco, Noranda, Union Miniere, and Anglo American were formed based on resources in North America such as the United States and Canada, South America such as Chile and Peru, and Africa such as Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), and South Africa, excluding the former Soviet Union and China. Similarly, in the aluminum and nickel industries, resource multinational corporations known as the six major aluminum capitals and the four major nickel capitals established their dominance over global resources.

In addition to the characteristic of mineral resources being "depletable and exhaustible," the "historicity" of the possibility of the emergence of alternative resources through technological innovation has led resource multinational corporations and the developed countries that support them to seek to seize not only the mineral resources of specific regions, but entire territories, including untapped resources, strengthening the tendency to colonize and subjugate developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The "danger" of poor working conditions also strengthened the intensiveness of hiring local workers, spurring this trend.

Many developing countries that became targets of development by resource multinational corporations created economic structures that were heavily dependent on the production and export of specific mineral resources, i.e. monoculture structures, and came to be positioned as raw material and fuel suppliers to developed countries. Typical examples of this were Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, oil in Venezuela, and copper in Chile, Peru, and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

[Toshifumi Yada]

The rise of resource nationalism

This model of developed countries dominating developing countries through the control of mineral resources by multinational resource corporations was fully established between World War I and World War II, and continued after World War II. However, during the process of high economic growth in developed countries from the 1950s to the 1960s, the mineral resources of developing countries were rapidly depleted, and the economic disparity between developed and developing countries intensified through the widening price gap between industrial products and mineral products. As a result, developing countries' "resource nationalism" grew, with demands for higher mineral product prices and even nationalization of mining itself, culminating in the United Nations General Assembly's resolution on "permanent sovereignty over natural resources" in 1966. It was in the oil industry that "resource nationalism" was fully realized. Here, the formation of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, currently consisting of 12 countries) by oil-producing countries in 1960, the intensified offensive from the late 1960s onwards, the embargoes and unilateral, large price hikes during the Fourth Arab-Israeli War in 1973 (First Oil Crisis), and another large price hike triggered by the Iranian Revolution in 1979 (Second Oil Crisis) led to the nationalization of crude oil production in most oil-producing countries and a significant increase in revenues.

The advance of nationalization in major oil-producing countries established the leadership of oil-producing governments in determining global crude oil production and prices, while differences of opinion among oil-producing countries over the determination of oil production volumes and prices became more pronounced, weakening the OPEC cartel function. As a result, crude oil prices fell sharply in the 1980s and have remained at that level even into the 1990s. In addition, OPEC's position in the world's energy supply has declined due to factors such as the decline in demand caused by the progress of energy conservation after the oil crisis, the increasing weight of alternative energy sources such as atomic and natural gas, and increased production of non-OPEC crude oil.

Copper mining was also nationalized in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Chile, Peru, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Zambia, and in 1968 CIPEC (Intergovernmental Council of Copper Exporting Countries, four countries) was formed around these countries. Around the same time, bauxite production was nationalized in Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, Suriname, and Guyana, and in West African countries such as Guinea and Ghana, and the IBA (International Bauxite Association, 11 countries) was created in 1973. Nationalization of iron mining also progressed in South American countries such as Chile, Peru, and Venezuela, as well as Mauritania, and the AIEC (Association of Iron Ore Exporting Countries, seven countries) was formed in 1975.

However, neither CIPEC nor AIEC has any major oil-producing countries as members, such as the United States or Canada, nor AIEC has any major oil-producing countries, such as the United States, Canada, or Brazil.In addition, the largest oil-producing member of the IBA is the developed country Australia, which does not work in concert with developing countries.For these reasons, neither organization has been able to promote a strong "resource nationalism" like OPEC.

On the other hand, resource multinational corporations, faced with "resource nationalism" in developing countries, are withdrawing investments from politically unstable developing countries and shifting their focus to developed countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, Western Europe, and the Republic of South Africa, where they are focusing on development and increased production. They are also trying to maintain their monopoly in downstream sectors such as smelting and processing, and contain "resource nationalism" in upstream sectors through the power of buyer oligopoly. Furthermore, there are also companies that are attempting to diversify by seizing alternative mineral resources.

[Toshifumi Yada]

Japan's Mining Industry

Caught up in this global restructuring of the mining industry and the structural changes it is undergoing, Japan's mining industry is on a steady decline.

In Japan, the geological structure of mineral deposits is complex, resulting in a wide variety of minerals that are distributed throughout almost the entire country. However, the size of the mineral deposits is small and uneven, the ores contain a lot of impurities, and the country is not in a favorable situation in terms of both quantity and quality.

Among these, however, coal mining and copper mining were the industries with relatively large production volumes and high domestic self-sufficiency rates, and both had developed as important domestic industries since the Meiji era, forming the main raw material and fuel base for Japanese industry, as well as being important sources of income for the formation of zaibatsu conglomerates such as Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Furukawa. However, with the rapid increase in demand for raw materials and fuel accompanying the rapid growth of the Japanese economy from the second half of the 1950s onwards, low-priced mineral products produced by multinational resource corporations were imported in large quantities, and domestic mining industries, unable to compete on price, were forced to close.

Coal mining was forced to withdraw from the industry due to the energy revolution caused by the large-scale import of Middle Eastern crude oil from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, and production plummeted from 50 million tons in 1965 to 21 million tons in 1973. After that, the oil price surge caused by the oil crisis allowed production to maintain its scale for a while, but the rapid appreciation of the yen from 1985 onwards widened the price gap with imported coal, forcing the remaining coal mines to withdraw one after another, and production fell to 6.17 million tons (1996). With the closure of Pacific Coal Mine (Kushiro City, Hokkaido) in 2002, all major coal mines have disappeared, and further declines are expected in the future. However, domestic demand for coal continues to grow, and 95% of the annual 131.7 million tons (1996) is imported.

The copper mining industry has also been pushed out by imported ores, with domestic production of copper bullion peaking at 121,000 tons in fiscal 1969 and continuing to decline, dropping from 48,000 tons in 1980 to 700 tons in fiscal 1996. Of the total demand of 1.788 million tons in fiscal 1996, nearly 100% was dependent on imports. Lead and zinc mining, which had relatively high domestic self-sufficiency rates, also saw a sharp decline in production due to the influx of imported ores, with lead ore peaking at 71,000 tons in fiscal 1971 and falling to 9,000 tons in fiscal 1996, and zinc ore peaking at 294,000 tons in fiscal 1971 and falling to 79,000 tons in fiscal 1996. The self-sufficiency rates for lead and zinc in fiscal 1996 were 3.1% and 9.3%, respectively.

On the other hand, in the non-metallic mining industry, the spread of desulfurization equipment in the oil refining sector as part of pollution control measures has led to a large increase in the production of sulfur recovered from crude oil, leading to the closure and destruction of one sulfur mine after another, and the sulfur mining industry is now entirely dependent on recovered sulfur for its production of 1.83 million tons (1996). In contrast, production of limestone, a raw material for cement, has been steadily increasing thanks to Japan's abundant reserves, reaching 200 million tons (1996). Cement companies are the main producers.

The influx of overseas mineral products and the decline of domestic mining have led to a significant drop in Japan's self-sufficiency in raw materials and fuel resources, making Japan's resource problems particularly severe in the context of global resource issues.

In response to this, the government, through the Japan National Oil Corporation and the Metal Mining Agency of Japan, is actively supporting the development of overseas mineral resources by Japanese companies, and is working to ensure a stable supply of resources by importing domestically developed resources. Japanese companies are already producing crude oil in Abu Dhabi and Indonesia, coal in Australia, the United States, Canada, and Indonesia, uranium in Niger, copper in Chile, and lead and zinc in Peru, either alone or in joint ventures with other countries. In addition, projects under development or exploration are becoming more diverse and widespread, and the number is enormous. Japan was a latecomer to these countries, having entered the market after the earlier resource multinational companies in Europe and the United States had explored and developed the resources, and it is difficult to say that they have achieved sufficient results, but they have shifted their strategy from domestic to overseas capital, and are playing an important role in securing resources and energy for Japan.

[Toshifumi Yada]

"Postwar Japanese Industrial History," edited by the Japan Industrial Society (1995, Toyo Keizai Shinposha)" ▽ "Oil Development Materials," edited by the Japan National Oil Corporation and the Japan Petroleum Mining Association (1998, Sekiyu Tsushinsha)" ▽ "Introduction to the Earth's Mineral Resources," by Toshimichi Iiyama (1998, University of Tokyo Press)" ▽ "Huge Mining Management in Modern Japan," by Hideki Hatakeyama (2000, Taga Publishing)" ▽ "Japan's 100 Years in Numbers," edited by the Tsuneta Yano Memorial Society, 4th revised edition (2000, Kokuseisha)" ▽ "Choices for 21st Century Society: For Development Under Energy and Environmental Restrictions," edited by the Japan Society of Energy and Resources (2000, Energy Conservation Center)" ▽ "Comprehensive Energy Statistics," various years' editions, edited by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (Ministry of International Trade and Industry Research Institute)" ▽ "Mining Handbook," various years' editions, edited by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (Research Institute of International Trade and Industry)" ▽ "Energy and Economic Statistics Handbook, compiled by the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, various years' editions (Energy Conservation Center)" ▽ "World Statistical Atlas, compiled by the Yano Tsuneta Memorial Foundation, various years' editions (Kokuseisha)" ▽ "Japan Statistical Atlas, compiled by the Yano Tsuneta Memorial Foundation, various years' editions (Kokuseisha)" ▽ "Call Note, supervised by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, various years' editions (Resource Industry Newspaper Co., Ltd.)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

鉱業は有用な鉱物資源を採掘する産業である。

［矢田俊文］

鉱業の五つの特徴

歴史性

人類にとって有用な鉱物資源とは歴史的なものである（鉱業の第一の特徴＝歴史性）。すなわち、鉱物を利用する技術の発展、地下にある鉱物を採掘する技術の確立によって、初めて特定の鉱物が人類にとって有用な資源となり、それを採掘する産業が成立する。産業革命当時の蒸気機関の発明によって石炭の有用性が増し、石炭産業が本格的に確立し、20世紀初頭の自動車の普及によって、ガソリンを供給する石油産業が急速に発展した。また、電気の利用とともに銅の生産が増加し、最近の宇宙産業やエレクトロニクス化の展開とともに各種の希少金属が資源として注目され新たな鉱業が成立していった。

　鉱業は、鉱物の賦存を探査する探鉱、鉱物を採掘し地上に運搬する採鉱、採掘したものから有用鉱物を選別する選鉱の三つの部門からなっている。そのほか、金属鉱業などの場合、採掘され、選別された鉱石から含有金属を分離、抽出して精製する製錬過程が加わるが、一般の産業分類では製錬業は製造業（工業）に属するものとされている。しかし、製錬過程が採鉱・選鉱過程と結合して立地している場合、製錬過程を含めて鉱業としてとらえることもある。

［矢田俊文］

投機性

このうち、探鉱過程は一般にリスクが大きい。探鉱に多大の投資をしても、それを十分に回収できる鉱物資源を発見する確率がかならずしも高いわけではない（鉱業の第二の特徴＝投機性）。近年における地質学の発展による地質調査の有効性の増大や、地震探査法、電気探査法、重力探査法、磁気探査法、放射能探査法など各種の物理探査法の開発利用などによって、鉱床発見の成功率は上昇しているものの、依然として多大のリスクを伴うことは避けがたい状況にある。

　鉱業の中核部分を構成するのは採鉱である。天然ガスや原油などの気体や液体を採掘するのを別にすれば、一般に採鉱は、鉱床まで坑道を掘削する掘進、鉱床から鉱物を削離する採掘、採掘された鉱物を地上に運ぶ運搬、坑内の湧水(ゆうすい)を排出する排水、入気や排気の調節を行う通気、坑道の維持を行う仕繰(しくり)などの労働過程に分かれており、これに選鉱が加わって単一の事業体たる鉱山が形成される。

［矢田俊文］

地域性

このように、天然の鉱物資源を採掘する鉱業は、労働対象そのもの、つまり鉱物資源の賦存状況が第一次的に生産力を規定し、賦存状況が地域的に多様であるから生産性に著しい地域格差が生じる（鉱業の第三の特徴＝地域性）。具体的には、鉱床中に含まれる有用鉱物の量および品質、鉱床の深度・傾斜・断層・褶曲(しゅうきょく)の程度などの賦存状況が同一の生産方法、同一の投資を前提にしても著しい生産性の格差をもたらすのである。この場合、鉱物の価格は、社会的に必要とされる需要に対応した供給のなかで、もっとも劣等な鉱山での採掘コストによって規定されるために、優良鉱床を占有する鉱山においては膨大な超過利潤が発生する。イギリスのように土地所有権が地下の鉱物にも及ぶ場合は、この超過利潤が差額地代として土地所有者に帰属するが、ヨーロッパ大陸諸国や日本などのように土地所有権と鉱物所有権が分離している場合は、鉱業経営者の手に帰する。とくに後者の場合、企業間の競争はなによりもまず優良鉱区の占有競争として現れる。前者の場合もこうした傾向がある。国際石油資本およびその背景にある欧米資本主義国家間の中東油田をめぐる激しい確執、日本における財閥系企業や地方有力企業間の石炭の優良鉱区をめぐる競争などに典型的にみられる。

［矢田俊文］

減耗性・枯渇性

天然に賦存する鉱物資源を労働対象とするため、労働対象自体が再生産されず減耗していく（鉱業の第四の特徴＝減耗性・枯渇性）。そのため、特定の鉱山のなかでも、つねに新たな労働対象を求めて採掘地点が移動し、絶えず坑道、切羽(きりは)などの労働手段に対する投資を継続しなければならず、原料費が皆無に近いとはいっても膨大な設備投資が必要となり、同じく自然を対象とする農林漁業に比較して一般に資本の有機的構成（資本・労働比率）は著しく高くなる。また、資源の急速な減耗によって鉱山自体の継続が不可能となり閉鎖に追い込まれる。この場合、鉱山に頼って成立していた地域経済の疲弊をもたらすことになる。さらに、資源の減耗が国民経済ないし世界経済的規模にまで拡大すると、「枯渇」という深刻な資源問題にまで発展する。

［矢田俊文］

危険性

最後に、地下に賦存する鉱物を採掘することから、鉱業特有の危険性を有している（鉱業の第五の特徴＝危険性）。地下労働が中心であるために、落盤・ガス爆発・出水などの労働災害が多く、また作業現場における日光不足、おびただしい粉塵(ふんじん)・高温・高湿など一般に労働条件が悪く、他の産業に比べて労働者の死傷率や罹病(りびょう)率が高くなっている。こうした労働条件と関連して、囚人や捕虜などの強制労働やいわゆるたこ部屋の発生などの非人間的な労働形態が、かつてわが国で広く存在した。また、地下での鉱物の採掘は、陥没などの形で地上の土地利用に深刻な影響を与え、鉱害をもたらす。また、露天掘りは、地表面を相当な厚さではぎ取るため大規模な自然破壊をもたらす場合が多い。

［矢田俊文］

鉱業の種類

ところで鉱業は、採掘の対象となる鉱物の種類によって、金属、非金属、エネルギーの三つに大きく分けられる。金属鉱業は、さらに鉄鉱業と非鉄金属鉱業に分けられる。後者の代表的なものに金・銀・銅・プラチナ・亜鉛・鉛・錫(すず)・ボーキサイト鉱業がある。また、非金属鉱業のおもなものとしては、硫黄(いおう)・石灰石・珪石(けいせき)・珪砂(けいさ)・耐火粘土・ドロマイト鉱業があげられる。エネルギー関連の鉱業は、石炭・亜炭・石油・天然ガス・ウラン鉱業から成り立っている。世界の生産額でみると、石油・天然ガス・石炭などのエネルギー関連の鉱業が圧倒的地位を誇っている。これを除いた鉱業のなかでは、銅・鉄・金などの生産額が多く、亜鉛・マンガン・ニッケル・錫・鉛・ボーキサイトなどが続いている。近年の宇宙産業やコンピュータ産業を中心とする先端技術化のなかで、モリブデン・コバルト・クロム・チタンなど希少金属とよばれる鉱物の重要性が急速に高まっている。

　このように、鉱業は重化学工業に必要な燃料や原料を供給するとともに、軍事力に不可欠な核物質や希少金属をも提供し、現代の先進工業国にとって戦略的に必須(ひっす)の産業となっている。このことと、先に指摘した鉱業の五つの特徴が相互に絡み合って、鉱物資源の確保をめぐって、資源多国籍企業間、先進国間、資源多国籍企業・先進国と途上国間の競争と対立が複雑に交錯し、しばしば深刻な国際紛争を引き起こしている。

［矢田俊文］

資源獲得競争

先進国では、産業革命による工業の発展と引き続く重化学工業化のなかで、その原・燃料基盤となる国内の鉱物資源の開発が急速に進み、その減耗が深刻化するとともに、より良質・低コストの鉱物資源を海外に求めていった。その中心的役割を担ったのが、資源多国籍企業とよばれる、先進国に本拠をもち地球的規模で経営を展開する巨大企業であり、資源の安定的確保を図る先進国政府が多くの場合これを積極的に支援してきた。鉱物資源の発見と開発自体が「投機性」が強く、しかもその分布に著しい「地域（的偏在）性」があることから、特定の地域の資源をめぐる企業間・国家間の競争は激烈を極め、その占有と開発に成功した企業が資源多国籍企業として巨大化していった。

　中東、北アフリカ、ベネズエラ、インドネシアなどに偏在する石油資源の掌握を通じて、エクソン、シェル、モービル、ソーカル、ガルフ（1984年ソーカルとガルフが合併、後のシェブロン）、テキサコ、ブリティッシュ・ペトロリアム、フランス石油（1991年トタールに社名変更）などのメジャーズとよばれる国際石油資本の世界的な石油産業支配が確立した。銅鉱業では、旧ソ連や中国などを除く、アメリカ、カナダなどの北アメリカ、チリ、ペルーなどの南アメリカ、ザンビア、コンゴ民主共和国（旧ザイール）、南アフリカなどのアフリカの資源を基盤にして、アナコンダ、ケネコット、フェルプス・ドッジ、アサルコ、アマックス、インコ、ノランダ、ユニオン・ミニエール、アングロ・アメリカンなどの国際産銅資本が形成された。また、アルミ産業やニッケル産業でも同様に六大アルミ資本や四大ニッケル資本とよばれる資源多国籍企業の世界的な資源掌握が確立していた。

　鉱物資源のもつ「減耗性・枯渇性」という特徴に加えて、技術革新による代替資源の登場の可能性という「歴史性」は、資源多国籍企業やそれを支援する先進国をして、特定の地域の鉱物資源だけでなく、未開発資源をも含む領土全体の掌握に向かわせ、アジア、アフリカ、ラテンアメリカといった途上国を植民地化・従属化させる傾向を強めることになった。劣悪な労働条件といった「危険性」という特徴も、現地労働者を雇用するインテンシブを強め、こうした傾向に拍車をかけた。

　資源多国籍企業の開発の対象となった多くの途上国は、特定の鉱物資源の生産と輸出に大きく依存する経済構造＝モノカルチュア構造をつくりあげられ、先進国の原・燃料供給国として位置づけられることになった。サウジアラビア、クウェートなど中東諸国やベネズエラの石油、チリ、ペルー、ザイール（現コンゴ民主共和国）の銅などに典型的にみられた。

［矢田俊文］

資源ナショナリズムの台頭

こうした資源多国籍企業による鉱物資源の掌握を軸とする先進国による途上国の支配という構図は、第一次世界大戦後から第二次世界大戦までの間に本格的に確立し、第二次大戦後も継続された。しかし、1950年代から60年代における先進国の高度成長の過程で、途上国の鉱物資源の減耗が急速に進むとともに、工業製品と鉱産物の価格差の拡大を通じて先進国と途上国の経済力格差が強まった。その結果、鉱産物の価格引上げ、さらには鉱業自体の国有化要求という途上国の「資源ナショナリズム」が高まり、これが66年の国連総会での「天然資源恒久主権」決議となって結実していった。「資源ナショナリズム」が本格的に実現したのは石油産業においてであった。ここでは、産油国による1960年のOPEC(オペック)（石油輸出国機構、現在12か国）の結成と60年代末以降の攻勢の強化、73年の第四次中東戦争における禁輸措置や価格の一方的かつ大幅引上げ（第一次石油危機）、79年のイラン革命を契機とした再度の大幅な価格引上げ（第二次石油危機）を通じて、ほとんどの産油国で原油生産の国有化を実現し、収入の著しい増加を実現した。

　主要産油国での国有化の進展によって、世界の原油生産や価格決定における産油国政府の主導権が確立する一方で、産油量や価格決定をめぐる産油国間の意見の違いもより鮮明となり、OPECのカルテル機能が低下した。その結果、原油価格も80年代に入って大幅に低下し、その後90年代に入ってもそのレベルを維持している。これに加え、石油危機後の省エネルギーの進展による需要の低迷、原子力や天然ガスなど代替エネルギーの比重の増大、非OPEC原油の増産などもあって、OPECの世界のエネルギー供給に占める地位は低下していった。

　銅鉱業においても、1960年代後半から70年代前半にチリ、ペルー、ザイール（現コンゴ民主共和国）、ザンビアで国有化がなされ、68年にこれらの国々を中心にCIPEC（銅輸出国政府間協議会、4か国）が結成された。同じころ、ジャマイカ、スリナム、ガイアナなどのカリブ海諸国、ギニア、ガーナの西アフリカ諸国でボーキサイト生産の国有化がなされ、73年にIBA（国際ボーキサイト連合、11か国）がつくられた。鉄鉱業もチリ、ペルー、ベネズエラなどの南アメリカ諸国やモーリタニアで国有化が進み、75年にAIEC（鉄鉱石輸出国連合、7か国）が結成された。

　しかし、CIPECではアメリカ、カナダ、AIECでもアメリカ、カナダだけでなく、ブラジルなど、いずれも大生産国が加盟しておらず、また、IBAでは加盟国中最大の産出国が先進国オーストラリアで、途上国との共同歩調をとらないことなどから、いずれもOPECのような強力な「資源ナショナリズム」を推進する機関とはなりえていない。

　他方、途上国の「資源ナショナリズム」に直面した資源多国籍企業は、政治的に不安定な途上国から投資を撤退し、その重点をアメリカ、カナダ、オーストラリア、西ヨーロッパ、南アフリカ共和国などの先進国に移し、そこでの開発と増産に力を入れている。また、製錬や加工などの下流部門での独占の維持を図って、買い手寡占の力によって上流部門での「資源ナショナリズム」を封じ込めようとしている。さらに、代替鉱物資源などの掌握によって多角化を図る企業もみられる。

［矢田俊文］

日本の鉱業

こうした世界的規模での鉱業の編成とその構造的変化のなかに巻き込まれて、わが国の鉱業は縮小の一途をたどっている。

　わが国では、鉱床の地質学的構造が複雑なため鉱物の種類が多く、その分布もほとんど全土に及んでいるが、鉱床の規模が小さくかつ不均一で、鉱石中の不純分が多く、量的にも質的にも恵まれた状況ではない。

　しかし、そのなかで比較的生産が多く国内自給率が高かったのは、石炭鉱業と銅鉱業で、ともに明治以来国内の重要産業として発展し、日本工業の主要な原・燃料基盤を形成するとともに、三井、三菱(みつびし)、住友、古河(ふるかわ)などの財閥形成の重要な源泉ともなった。しかし、1950年代後半以降の日本経済の高度成長に伴う原・燃料需要の急増のなかで、資源多国籍企業によって生産された海外の低価格鉱産物が大量に輸入され、これに価格的に対抗できない国内の鉱業は閉鎖に追い込まれていった。

　石炭鉱業は、1950年代後半から70年代初頭にかけての中東原油の大量の輸入に伴うエネルギー革命によって、撤退を余儀なくされ、1965年の5000万トンから73年に2100万トンにまで生産が激減した。その後石油危機による石油価格の急騰によって、しばらく生産規模を維持したが、85年以降の急速な円高によって輸入石炭との価格格差が拡大し、残った炭鉱も次々と撤退に追い込まれ、617万トン（1996年度）にまで落ち込んだ。2002年（平成14）の太平洋炭礦(たんこう)（北海道釧路(くしろ)市）の閉山を最後に大手炭鉱はすべて姿を消し、今後はさらなる減少が予想される。しかし、国内の石炭需要は伸び続け、年間1億3170万トン（1996年度）中95％を輸入に依存している。

　銅鉱業も、輸入鉱石に押され、国内銅地金の生産高は1969年度の12.1万トンをピークにして減少を続け、80年に4.8万トンを経て96年度には700トンにまで落ち込んだ。96年度の全需要178.8万トン中のほぼ100％を輸入に依存している。国内自給率の比較的高かった鉛や亜鉛鉱業も輸入鉱石の進出で生産も急減し、鉛鉱は1971年度の7.1万トンをピークに96年度には0.9万トンに、亜鉛鉱も71年度の29.4万トンをピークに96年度には7.9万トンまでに、それぞれ減少している。96年度の自給率は、鉛3.1％、亜鉛9.3％となっている。

　他方、非金属鉱業のうち硫黄鉱業は、公害対策の一環として石油精製部門において脱硫装置が普及したために原油からの回収硫黄の生産が大幅に増加したことによって、硫黄鉱山が次々と閉山して壊滅し、183万トン（1996年度）の全量を回収硫黄に依存している。これに対し、セメント用原料となる石灰石は、わが国の埋蔵量が豊富なこともあって着実に増産を続け、生産量は2億トン（1996年度）に達している。セメント企業が主要な生産の担い手となっている。

　海外鉱産物の進出と国内鉱業の衰退は、わが国の原・燃料資源の自給率の大幅な低下をもたらし、世界的資源問題のなかでわが国の資源問題をとくに厳しいものにしている。

　これに対し、政府は石油公団や金属鉱業事業団を通じて、わが国の企業による海外鉱物資源の開発を積極的に援助し、自主開発資源の輸入による安定的確保に努めている。すでに、アブダビ、インドネシアで原油が、オーストラリア、アメリカ、カナダ、インドネシアで石炭が、ニジェールでウランが、チリで銅が、ペルーで鉛・亜鉛が、単独または他国企業との合弁で、わが国企業の手によって生産が軌道にのっている。そのほかにも、開発中ないし探鉱中のプロジェクトは、より多様化、広域化しており、その数は膨大である。ヨーロッパやアメリカの先発の資源多国籍企業が探鉱・開発したあとでの遅れた進出であり、十分な成果をあげているとはいいがたい状況にあるものの、資本が国内中心から海外中心に戦略転換し、わが国の資源・エネルギー確保に重要な役割を果たしている。

［矢田俊文］

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