The global economic, political, sociological, and technical environment has become extremely volatile and unpredictable. Price and demand patterns for fuel and non-fuel minerals have become highly variable. Increasingly militant environmental movements now have a material effect on the price, cost and availability of energy sources and indirectly also on non-fuel minerals._x000D_
The pace of political change in the U.S.S.R., Eastern Europe, and China has accelerated. Western Europe, Japan, and the U.S. are reacting to these changes with varying degrees of confidence or timidity._x000D_
Technical and economic developments continue to have a substantial effect on the fortunes of the mineral industries. However, they are increasingly influenced by social and political factors. Supply, demand, and trade patterns in the Pacific Rim Region will continue to be influenced by developments in other regions, such as southern Africa