As I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone, oil has been the resource of the last sixty-odd years. And, when the supply is curtailed, as happened in the two oil shocks of the 70s, that has serious economic and political consequences for the consuming nations.
My question is, are there other resources that could undergo similar shocks? Could we have a Copper Shock, where a natural disaster or political upheaval leads to a spike in the price of copper that triggers global economic disturbance on a similar scale to the oil shocks? Or a Tin Shock, or a Molybdenum Shock, etc.?
To put it another way, are there resources other than oil where a) supply either is or could be so tight or so concentrated in a sufficiently small area that massive supply shocks can occur, and b) the resource either is or could be sufficiently vital to the global economy that price spikes lead to serious economic disturbance?