Mining Metals and Minerals

With Continuous Increase in Demand for Natural Resources in Mining Industry to Witness a Decent Growth in Coming Years

The mining, metals, and minerals industry is defined as operations that are needed in locating, excavating, and processing metals, minerals, and other geological resources that are required in the economy. The industry consists of five major sectors that are oil and gas extraction, coal mining, metal ore mining, non-metallic mineral mining and support activities for mining. The oil and gas extraction produces petroleum and natural gas to heat homes, fuel cars, and power factories; the coal mining is used in producing coal used primarily for electric power generation and the production of steel; metal ore mining consists of extraction of metal ores, primarily gold, silver, iron, copper, lead, and zinc used to produce jewellery, electronics, and steel; the non-metallic mineral mining covers a wide range of mineral extraction and produces crushed stone, sand, and gravel for construction of roads and buildings and the support activities for mining to track the work done by contract companies within the mining industry. These serve as the establishment base for nearly all other industries, for the formation of further products in the industry.

The technological developments in this industry offers better safety measures and also reduces the amount of workers required for a job to be done. However, the environmental effects is a major concern for this industry as most of the mining companies in various economies need to follow strict environmental guidelines to prevent erosion, sinkholes, groundwater contamination, and loss of biodiversity. Moreover, the increase in transition to a low-carbon economy and easy access to several resources is expected to support the growth of the industry in the years to come.