Mining

SIC 1011 Iron Ores - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

Virtually all of the iron ore mined in the world is used in steel making. In the United States, the largest producers are concentrated in a few states that account for the country's national output of usable iron ore.

SIC 1021 Copper Ores - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category includes establishments primarily engaged in mining, milling, or otherwise preparing copper ores. This industry also includes establishments primarily engaged in the recovery of copper concentrates by precipitation and leaching of copper ore.

SIC 1031 Lead and Zinc Ores - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in mining, milling, or other wise preparing lead ores, zinc ores, or lead-zinc ores.

SIC 1041 Gold Ores - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in mining gold ores from lode deposits or in the recovery of gold from placer deposits by any method. In addition to ore dressing methods, such as crushing, grinding, gravity concentration, and froth flotation, this industry includes amalgamation, cyanidation, and the production of bullion at the mine, mill, or dredge site.

SIC 1044 Silver Ores - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in mining, milling, or otherwise preparing silver ores, including the production of bullion at the mine or mill site.

SIC 1061 Ferroalloy Ores, Except Vanadium - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in mining, milling, or otherwise preparing ferroalloy ores, except vanadium. The mining of manganiferous ores valued chiefly for their iron content is classified in SIC 1011: Iron Ores.

SIC 1081 Metal Mining Services - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This classification covers establishments primarily engaged in performing metal mining services for others on a contract or fee basis, such as the removal of overburden, strip mining for metallic ores, prospect and test drilling, and mine exploration and development. Establishments that have complete responsibility for operating mines for others on a contract or fee basis are classified according to the product mined rather than as metal mining services.

SIC 1094 Uranium-Radium-Vanadium Ores - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in mining, milling, or otherwise preparing uranium, radium, or vanadium ores.

SIC 1099 Miscellaneous Metal Ores, Not Elsewhere Classified - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category covers establishments that are primarily engaged in mining, milling, and preparing miscellaneous metal ores. Production of metallic mercury by furnacing or retorting at the mine site is also included.

SIC 1221 Bituminous Coal and Lignite Surface Mining - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This classification covers establishments primarily engaged in producing bituminous coal or lignite at surface mines or in developing bituminous coal or lignite surface mines. This industry includes auger mining, strip mining, culm bank mining, and other surface mining, by owners or lessees or by establishments that have complete responsibility for operating bituminous coal and lignite surface mines for others on a contract or fee basis.

SIC 1222 Bituminous Coal Underground Mining - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

In 2001 there were 719 underground coal mines in the United States, which produced 380.6 million metric short tons. Of total U.S.

SIC 1231 Anthracite Mining - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in producing anthracite or in developing anthracite mines. All establishments in the United States that are classified in this industry are located in Pennsylvania.

SIC 1241 Coal Mining Services - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in performing coal mining services for others on a contract or fee basis. Establishments that have complete responsibility for operating mines for others on a contract or fee basis are classified according to the product mined, rather than as mining services.

SIC 1311 Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

The crude petroleum and natural gas industry was highly volatile during the late 1990s, which has directly impacted the industry in the early 2000s. Between 1998 and 2001, natural gas prices doubled—for a brief time, quintupled—and then returned to 1998 levels.

SIC 1321 Natural Gas Liquids - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category includes establishments primarily engaged in the production of liquid hydrocarbons from oil and gas field gases.

SIC 1381 Drilling Oil and Gas Wells - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

The category includes establishments primarily engaged in drilling wells for oil and gas field operations for others on a contract or fee basis. This industry includes contractors that specialize in spudding in, drilling in, redrilling, and directional drilling.

SIC 1382 Oil and Gas Field Exploration Services - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category covers establishments engaged primarily in performing geophysical, geological, and other exploration services for oil and gas on a contract or fee basis.

SIC 1389 Oil and Gas Field Services, Not Elsewhere Classified - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This industry includes establishments primarily engaged in performing oil and gas field services, not elsewhere classified, for others on a contract or fee basis. Services included are excavating slush pits and cellars; grading and building of foundations at well locations; well surveying; running, cutting, and pulling casings, tubes, and rods; cementing wells; shooting wells, perforating well casings; chemically treating wells; and cleaning out, bailing and swabbing wells.

SIC 1411 Dimension Stone - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

In 2003, 132 U.S. companies produced 1.35 million tons of dimension stone for use in building, monuments, and curbing with a total value of $236 million.

SIC 1422 Crushed and Broken Limestone - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

Crushed limestone production is the largest of three related industries that extract and process nonfuel, non-metallic minerals. Primarily employed as aggregate, which refers to a wide number of sand, gravel, and stone mixtures, crushed stone is an essential component of the U.S.

SIC 1423 Crushed and Broken Granite - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This classification covers establishments primarily engaged in mining or quarrying crushed and broken granite, including related rocks, such as gneiss, syenite, and diorite.

SIC 1429 Crushed and Broken Stone, Not Elsewhere Classified - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This classification covers establishments primarily engaged in mining or quarrying crushed and broken stone, not elsewhere classified. Types of stone processed by this industry include basalt, diabase, dolomitic marble, gabbro, marble, mica schist, onyx marble, quartzite, sandstone, and volcanic rock.

SIC 1442 Construction Sand and Gravel - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in operating sand and gravel pits and dredges and in washing, screening, or otherwise preparing sand and gravel for construction uses.

SIC 1446 Industrial Sand - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in operating sand pits and dredges, and in washing, screening, and otherwise preparing sand for uses other than construction, such as glass making, molding, and abrasives.

SIC 1455 Kaolin and Ball Clay - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

In the early 2000s, a total of 28 U.S. firms operating 124 mines produced 9.13 million metric tons of kaolin and ball clay.

SIC 1459 Clay, Ceramic, and Refractory Minerals, Not Elsewhere Classified - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in mining, milling, or otherwise preparing clay, ceramic, or refractory (heat-resistant) minerals, not elsewhere classified. Establishments producing clay in conjunction with the manufacture of refractory or structural clay and pottery products are classified in manufacturing in the major group for stone, clay, glass, and concrete products.

SIC 1474 Potash, Soda, and Borate Minerals - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

In 2003 the majority of potash production took place in New Mexico, where three mines were in operation. Michigan and Utah also had potash production facilities.

SIC 1475 Phosphate Rock - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in mining, milling, drying, calcining, sintering (heating without melting), or otherwise preparing phosphate rock, including apatite.

SIC 1479 Chemical and Fertilizer Mineral Mining, Not Elsewhere Classified - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

Salt represents nearly half of all industry chemical and fertilizer mineral industry shipments. Consequently, the performance of the salt industry tends to reflect over-all industry conditions.

SIC 1481 Nonmetallic Minerals Services, Except Fuels - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

In addition to performing contracted strip mining and overburden removal, industry firms perform general non-testing drilling and blasting, miscellaneous mining services, and prospect and test drilling. Industry firms also offer geophysical exploration services, sink mine shafts, and drain and pump mines—all on a contract basis and all within the nonmetallic minerals mining industry.

SIC 1499 Miscellaneous Nonmetallic Minerals, Except Fuels - Description, Market Prospects, Industry History

Some of the most economically significant minerals mined by industry firms included garnet, gemstones, graphite, gypsum, industrial diamonds, perlite, and quartz. Other minerals produced include asbestos, asphalt, burrstone, calcite, catlinite, corundum, cryolite, diatomite, emery, fill dirt, gilsonite, greensand, Iceland spar, meerschaum, mica, millstone, oilstone, ozokerite, peat, pipestone, pozzolana, pumice, pyrophyllite, rubbing stone, scoria, scythestone, vermiculite, whetstone, wollastonite, and wurtzilite.