US mines produced $98.2-billion in nonfuel mineral commodities in 2022, an estimated $3.6-billion increase over the 2021 revised total of $94.6-billion, the US Geological Survey (USGS) announced on Thursday, releasing its yearly mineral commodity summaries report.
The report covers more than 90 nonfuel mineral commodities monitored by the USGS, including mineral commodities such as cement, iron-ore and sand and gravel; precious metals such as gold and silver; as well as rare earth minerals such as lanthanum, neodymium and dysprosium.
Nonfuel mineral commodities are used in every facet of modern life from construction to the consumer electronics, aerospace, renewable energy and healthcare industries.
“Industries that use nonfuel mineral materials created an estimated $3.64-trillion in value-added products in 2022, which represents a 9% increase from 2021,” said USGS national minerals information centre director Steven Fortier.
The increase in consumption of nonfuel mineral commodities compared with that in 2021 is attributed to the continued recovery of markets from the impacts of the global coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Global supply chains and the often-volatile mineral commodity markets were significantly disrupted by the pandemic, especially in the first half of 2020.
For the US, the second half of 2020 and all of 2021 saw a rebound in the demand for and prices of nonfuel mineral commodities. This upward trend continued in 2022 with consumption of many mineral commodities now near or exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
The 98.2-billion value of nonfuel mineral commodities produced by US mines in 2022 included other industrial minerals and natural aggregates, as well as ferrous and nonferrous metals. The estimated value of US production of all industrial minerals in 2022 was $63.5-billion, which is about 65% of the total value of US mine production value.
Crushed stone was the leading nonfuel mineral commodity domestically produced in 2022, accounting for 21% of the total value of US mine production.
US metal mine production in 2021 was estimated to be valued at $34.7-billion, 6% lower than the revised value in 2021. The principal contributors to the total value of metal mine production in 2022 were copper (33%), gold (28%), iron-ore (15%), zinc (9%) and molybdenum (5%).
There were 13 mineral commodities produced in the US valued at more than $1-billion each. These commodities were, in order of descending value, crushed stone, cement, copper, construction sand and gravel, gold, industrial sand and gravel, iron-ore, zinc, salt, lime, phosphate rock, molybdenum and soda ash.
In 2022, the top ten producing states were, in descending order of rank, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, California, Minnesota, Alaska, Florida, Utah, Michigan and Missouri.