Sure, but even today, raw material resources tend not to be the sort of things criminals target directly. You rarely get thieves trying to steal lumber, or iron ore, for example, because they have a low price-to-weight ratio.

I think you need to pay more attention.

Lumber: http://www.northfulton.com/Articles-CRIME-c-2011-12-05-19041...

Iron: http://allafrica.com/stories/201112210073.html

Steel: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11280/1180364-455.stm

Copper: http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/04/16/idUSLG73912 http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/06/sheffield-cop... http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-06/copper-theft/2873346

1. None of those things are strictly raw materials; they've all been refined, cut or treated in some fashion.

2. Coming up with a several examples doesn't show that such thefts aren't rare in comparison to other thefts.

He's talking about raw ore, and you're citing articles about concentrated/refined/treated metals and construction lumber.

How about copper? We had someone steal it from the crawlspace of a house we rent out.

It's a question of scarcity, platinum, gold, silver, and copper still have value, salt does not.