Mining, as one of the world's earliest industrial activities, continues to yield minerals and resources both valuable and fundamental to civilization. Yet the industry that produces such riches is not as lucrative as it may seem. It is one endeavor to discover a mineral deposit, and quite another to mine it profitably.

The industry's strategy for coping with low profitability has focused primarily on controlling production costs. Despite mechanization, automation, and other technical improvements, the aggregate profitability of mining still falls far short of that realized by...