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Future Possibilities Despite a current downward trend (in terms of 1960 dollars) the value of mineral production of the Lower Colorado River Basin will increase (fig. 2), as the Lower Colorado River Basin population increases. The downward trend is caused by a declining production of the southern California oil fields (an increasing percentage of California-refined crude oil is from foreign sources). This trend will be reversed as the immense reserves of southern California offshore oil come into production in the near future. The estimates depicted in figure 2 are very approximate and are merely offered to indicate the trend. Many mineral resources, not now major factors in the Lower Colorado River Basin mineral industry, are found in large, but low-grade deposits in the basin area. Changing technology or price increases could encourage the utilization of these resources in the future. Thus it is possible that the predicted mineral production value (fig. 2), water consumption (fig. 3), and employment estimates (fig. 4), especially for the year 2000, are on the conservative side. The major commodities are discussed briefly below: Anorthosite, used (from Wyoming) as an experimental source of aluminum during World War II, occurs in large exposures in the Los Angeles area. A combination of unavailability of foreign bauxite, increased aluminum consumption, and technologic breakthroughs, may effect the utilization of this resource. Extensive seafloor phosphorite deposits, discovered off the coast of southern California, may soon become technologically feasible to mine for the California market. Kern and San Bernardino Counties contain the largest gold mines in southern California. The Randsburg district, once exceptionally productive, could become an important gold producing area under favorable economic circumstances. The Atolia district in San Bernardino County has been one of the two major sources of tungsten in California. Research, now being conducted on a worldwide basis for new applications and markets for tungsten, may boost the demand for this high-temperature metal. Future continued development of heavy industry in the Lower Colorado River Basin may bring about utilization of the potentially great low-grade iron ore deposits throughout Arizona. 6Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 14,161,920 byte