Value of U.S. Mineral Production Increases Despite Lower Metal Prices

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Title: USGS Newsroom

Value of U.S. Mineral Production Increases Despite Lower Metal Prices

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Value of U.S. Mineral Production Increases Despite Lower Metal Prices

Posted: 30 Jan 2015 11:05 AM PST

Summary: The estimated value of mineral production increased in the United States in 2014, despite the decline in price for most precious metals, the U.S. Geological Survey announced today in its Mineral Commodity Summaries 2015.

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Contact Information:

Steven Fortier ( Phone: 571-386-8587 ); Elizabeth Sangine ( Phone: 703-755-5960 ); Hannah Hamilton ( Phone: 703-314-1601 );

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The estimated value of mineral production increased in the United States in 2014, despite the decline in price for most precious metals, the U.S. Geological Survey announced today in its Mineral Commodity Summaries 2015.

The estimated value of mineral raw materials produced at mines in the United States in 2014 was $77.6 billion, an increase of 4.6 percent from $74.2 billion in 2013.  U.S. economic growth supported the domestic primary metals industry and industrial minerals industry, however, weak global economic growth and the strong U.S. dollar limited U.S. processed mineral exports, which decreased to $108 billion in 2014 from $129 billion in 2013. Meanwhile, low-priced metal imports increased during most of 2014.

The annual report from the USGS is the earliest comprehensive source of 2014 mineral production data for the world. It includes statistics on about 90 mineral commodities essential to the U.S. economy and national security, and addresses events, trends, and issues in the domestic and international minerals industries.

"Decision-makers and policy-makers in the private and public sectors rely on the Mineral Commodity Summaries and other USGS minerals information publications as unbiased sources of information to make business decisions and national policy," said Steven M. Fortier, Director of the USGS National Minerals Information Center.

Mineral commodities remain an essential part of the U.S. economy, contributing to the real gross domestic product at several levels, including mining, processing and manufacturing finished products. The United States continues to rely on foreign sources for raw and processed mineral materials. In 2014, the supply for more than one-half of U.S. apparent consumption of 43 mineral commodities came from imports, increasing from 40 commodities in 2013. The United States was 100 percent import reliant for 19 of those commodities, including indium, niobium, and tantalum, which are among a suite of materials often designated as “critical” or “strategic.”

Mine production of 13 mineral commodities was worth more than $1 billion each in the United States in 2014. These were, in decreasing order of value, crushed stone, copper, gold, cement, construction sand and gravel, iron ore (shipped), industrial sand and gravel, molybdenum concentrates, phosphate rock, lime, salt, zinc, soda ash, and clays (all types).  The estimated value of U.S. industrial minerals mine production in 2014 was $46.1 billion, about 7 percent more than that of 2013. 

The estimated value of U.S. metal mine production in 2014 was $31.5 billion, slightly less than that of 2013. These raw materials and domestically recycled materials were used to process mineral materials worth $697 billion. These mineral materials, including aluminum, brick, copper, fertilizers, and steel, plus net imports of processed materials (worth about $41 billion) were, in turn, consumed by industries that use minerals to create products, with a value added to the U.S. economy of an estimated $2.5 trillion in 2014.

The construction industry continued to show signs of improvement in 2014, being led by nonresidential construction, with increased production and consumption of cement, construction sand and gravel, crushed stone, and gypsum mineral commodities.

In 2014, 12 states each produced more than $2 billion worth of nonfuel mineral commodities. These states were, in descending order of value—Arizona, Nevada, Minnesota, Texas, Utah, California, Alaska, Florida, Missouri, Michigan, Wyoming and Colorado. The mineral production of these states accounted for 62 percent of the U.S. total output value.

The USGS Mineral Resources Program delivers unbiased science and information to understand mineral resource potential, production, consumption, and how minerals interact with the environment. The USGS National Minerals Information Center collects, analyzes, and disseminates current information on the supply of and the demand for minerals and materials in the United States and about 180 other countries.

The USGS report Mineral Commodity Summaries 2015 is available online. Hardcopies will be available later in the year from the Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents. For ordering information, please call (202) 512-1800 or (866) 512-1800 or go online.

For more information on this report and individual mineral commodities, please visit the USGS National Minerals Information Center.