Ore TMRs, which are the total amount of overburden and rock to obtain metal ore, were estimated as a fundamental data to estimate the value of TMR(Total Materials Requirement) of metals. Ore TMR of coal, iron, copper, zinc and tin are estimated 12.5, 5.1, 304, 34 and 95 representatively by statistic method based on hearing and investigation of practical mining sites. An approximation from the quality of crude ore and further approximation from the concentration of the metal in the crust were also proposed as (ore TMR)＝2.0/{100×(quality of crude ore )} and (ore TMR)＝2.0×(concentration in the crust [ppm])  2/3)

The thermal stability of the hydrate-like Ba 2 ͑In 1−x M IIIx ͒ 2 O 5 •nH 2 O, in which M III denotes the trivalent elements Ga, Sc, Lu, and Y, was studied. When brownmillerite and its related type Ba 2 ͑In 1−x M IIIx ͒ 2 O 5 were cooled from 873 K to room temperature in a thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis ͑TG-DTA͒ apparatus under a wet atmosphere, the exothermal peak in DTA accompanying an abrupt mass increase attributable to the formation of hydrate-like Ba 2 ͑In 1−x M III x ͒ 2 O 5 •nH 2 O was observed; the mass increase occurred in the temperature range of 573-673 K. For M III = Sc, Lu, and Y, the value of n equaled 1, and the structure was the same as that of Ba 2 In 2 O 5 •H 2 O. For M III = Ga, the hydrate-like compound of Ba 2 ͑In 1−x Ga x ͒ 2 O 5 •0.6H 2 O ͑n = 0.6͒ appeared. The phase transformation temperature from that of Ba 2 ͑In 1−x M III x ͒ 2 O 5 into that of Ba 2 ͑In 1−x M III x ͒ 2 O 5 •nH 2 O for M III = Sc, Lu, and Y was ϳ50 K higher than that for the unsubstituted Ba 2 In 2 O 5 •H 2 O, while it was 10-20 K lower for M III = Ga than for Ba 2 In 2 O 5 •H 2 O. The increase in thermal stability by ϳ50 K of Ba 2 ͑In 1−x M III x ͒ 2 O 5 •H 2 O with M III = Sc, Lu, and Y was discussed in terms of the higher affinity for the hydroxyl group of the basic Sc, Lu, and Y than that of amphoteric In and Ga.

Some 400 tons of platinum group metals (PGM) are yearly produced and used mainly for auto-catalyst, jewelries and electric appliances. The annual growth rate is currently more than 4%. Main resources for PGM exist predominantly in South Africa, Russia and North America, showing that they co-exist with Ni-Cu sulphide in the range of 5-10 ppm in their ores.Meanwhile, technological developments for fuel cells are being promoted, in which PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell) should be used for vehicles and stationary power. The PEMFC needs platinum as a catalyst due to the lower reaction temperature. The imbalance between supply and demand of Pt should become one of critical paths for the PEMFC promotion, if Japanese Government target is realized.This paper describes the forecast of supply & demand of Platinum based on various researches and investigations, and self-constructed model. Supply of platinum will be short in 2030's on schedule of the Japanese Government's scenario. Political countermeasure should be applied together with resources developments in order to secure the Pt resource.

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Co-grinding nonferrous metal oxides and sulphur together with iron/aluminium metal stimulates a solid-state reaction to form the nonferrous metal sulphides and iron/aluminium oxide, allowing the use of the current mineral processing technologies to recover metals from various kinds of wastes.