Mining Industry
1. What is the nature and importance of the mining industry in your country?
Minerals continue to be a foundation to industry in the United States, contributing to the US economy at several stages including extraction, processing and manufacturing. In 2018, the estimated value of mineral raw materials produced at mines in the US was US $82.2 billion, a 3 percent increase from the revised total of US $79.7 billion in 2017. Domestic raw materials and domestically recycled materials were used in 2018 to process mineral materials worth US $766 billion. Downstream industries consumed these mineral materials, producing an estimated value of US $3.02 trillion in 2018.
Target minerals
2. What are the target minerals?
US metal mine production contributed $25.9 billion to the US economy in 2018, with gold (33 percent), copper (31 percent), iron ore (16 percent), and zinc (9 percent) being the principal contributors. Industrial mineral production in the US continued to play a large role in the US economy in 2018 with crushed stone (30 percent), cement (20 percent) and construction sand and gravel (15 percent) comprising the majority of the US $56.3 billion in value.
Regions
3. Which regions are most active?
Production of mineral commodities in the United States is most active in the western and midwestern states. Twelve states each produced more than US $2 billion worth of non-fuel mineral commodities in 2018, led by Nevada, Arizona and Texas. Nevada continues to outperform other states, producing US $7.88 billion predominantly in copper, gold, lime, silver and sand and gravel. Most of US metal mine production value is generated by the western states, which produce approximately four times more value than the midwestern states.
Excerpted from Mining 2019. To read the full article, click on the PDF linked below.