2017 Hard Rock Mining Facts

Mining plays an important role in all of our lives, and Desert Mountain Corporation is proud to serve the hard rock mining industry in Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Every day, the products produced by mining touch every life in the United States and around the world: lights, roads, bridges, phones, computers, medicine, and much more. Here are a few facts shared by the Arizona Mining Association in their pamphlet entitled, 2017 Hard Rock Mining Facts distributed at the 2017 Annual Meeting.

Economic Impact in Arizona

• $4.29 Billion – Total economic impact of hard rock mining industry in Arizona
• 12,000 – Number of direct mining industry jobs
• 31,800 – Number of indirect mining industry jobs
• $102,860 – labor income per mine worker, more than double the $49,820 for all Arizona workers
• $482 Million – Total Arizona state and local taxes generated by mining companies and employees
• $1.23 Billion – Total payroll of Arizona Mining Companies
• $2.77 Billion – Purchases from Arizona-based suppliers

Source: L. William Seidman Research Institute, W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, The Economic Impact of the Mining Industry on the State of Arizona 2014, September 2015

National Economic Impact of Hard Rock Mining

• 415,000 – Direct minerals mining jobs in the U.S.A.
• 734,000 – Indirect mineral minerals mining jobs in the U.S.A.
• $7.3 Billion – State and local taxes attributable to mining
• $11.6 Billion – Federal taxes attributable to mining
• $46,227,000 – Direct labor income from mining

Source: National Mining Association, 2016 Mining Facts.

Resources for a Better Future

• 66 – Number of minerals used in the average computer
• 90%+ – Reduction in bacteria on hospital surfaces coated in anti-microbial copper
• 5 Pounds – Weight of copper cylinder at atomic clock at U.S. Naval Observatory which is accurate to one part in a trillion
• 50 – Pounds of copper in a typical gasoline-powered vehicle
• 165 – Pounds of copper in an electric vehicle
• 0.5 – ounces of copper in a mobile phone, which makes of 12% of the phone’s total weight

Sources: National Mining Association, 2016 Mining Facts; USGS Mineral Resources Program, Copper – A Metal for the Ages; Metallic Copper as an Antimicrobial Surface, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2011; Copper Development Association Inc., www.copper.org.

Resources That Power Our Lives

• 4th – U.S. ranking in total world copper production, 2016
• 65% – Amount of copper output for the United States that is mined in Arizona
• 5th – U.S. ranking in total world copper reserves, 2016
• 29 – Number of minerals it takes to deliver electricity to our homes and businesses
• 32% – Portion of Arizona’s electricity that comes from coal
• 29% – Portion of Arizona’s electricity generated from nuclear energy powered by uranium

Sources: National Mining Association, 2016 Mining Facts; U.S. Energy Information Administration: http://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/state/; U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, January 2016; Arizona Geological Survey, http://azgs.az.gov/minerals_mining.shtml

Caring for Our People

• 2016 – Safest year in U.S. mining history due to continuous improvement
• 7 – Ranking of mining industry among 17 NAICS industry categories for the lowest injury and illness rates
• 56% – Rate by which injuries in U.S. mines have been reduced over the last 15 years
• 63% – Rate by which fatalities in U.S. mines have been reduced over the last 15 years
• 0 – Number of fatal injuries at active mines in Arizona in 2014 and 2015 (the most recent years for which data is available)
• 1.3 – Hours of lost time due to injuries per 200,000 hours worked by Arizona miners

Sources: Arizona State Mine Inspector’s Annual Report 2015; National Mining Association; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Caring for the Environment

• 75% – Water recycled at Arizona copper mines
• 1.4% – Amount of total water supply in Arizona used by mining
• 2.9 Million – Acres of mined land that have been restored by U.S. mining companies
• $10B+ – Amount the U.S. mining industry has paid to reclaim abandoned mines

Sources: National Mining Association; Freeport-McMoRan, Inc.; ASARCO; USGS, National Water Information System

Resources for Arizona’s Infrastructure

• 2,100 – Square feet of copper on the dome on top of the Arizona state capitol building
• 5,972 – Number of copper panels on the Health Sciences Education Building on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus
• 2,080 lbs. – Liberty Bell weight, comprised of 70% copper, 25% tin, and 5% a mix of lead, zinc, arsenic, gold, and silver
• 31 tons – Copper contained in the Statue of Liberty
• 6 Billion – Tons of steel used in U.S. National Highway Systems.
• 6% – Amount of molybdenum in the steel used in reverse-osmosis desalination plants

Sources: International Molybdenum Association; National Mining Association, 2016 Mining Facts; The Arizona Republic, 02/12/2012; https://biomedicalphoenix.com/vision

Resources for Our National Security

• 750,000 – Tons of minerals that are used by the U.S. Department of Defense each year in technologies that protect our troops.
• 8 Miles – Amount of copper wire in a Boeing Apache Helicopter produced in Mesa, Arizona.
• 6.5 lbs. – Amount by which lithium-ion batteries can lighten a U.S. soldier’s pack while providing three times the charge
• 43 – Number of key minerals on which the U.S. remains more than 50% reliant on imports, subjecting our supply chains to geopolitical instability and supply disruption

Sources: Boeing, Inc.; National Mining Association, 2016 Mining Facts.

Uranium Mining

• 29% – Portion of Arizona energy generated by nuclear power using uranium
• 60% – Portion of emissions-free energy in the U.S. produced from nuclear power
• 1st – Ranking of U.S. in world uranium consumption
• 3 – Number of states producing uranium concentrate – Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah
• 2.9 Million – Pounds of uranium produced in the U.S., 2016
• 94% – Portion of uranium purchased for U.S. nuclear reactors from foreign countries, 2015
• 375 Million – Pounds of uranium reserves in Arizona Strip

Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, http://www.eia.gov/; American Clean Energy Resources Trust; U.S. Geological Survey

Desert Mountain Corporation is a proud member of the Arizona Mining Association. If you have any questions about hard rock mining road stabilization, soil stabilization or dust control at your mine, give us a call at (877) 718-3878.