Use of Minerals and Materials in the United States From 1900 Through 2006

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the types and quantities of raw materials used by U.S. manufacturers and consumers have changed significantly as the economy has moved from one that is predominantly agricultural to one that is primarily industrial. This fact sheet quantifies the materials (other than food and fuel) input into the U.S. economy from 1900 through 2006. Previous studies have tracked the flow of minerals and materials by monetary value as a way of determining their effect on the U.S. economy. This information is the first attempt to document the flow of these materials in physical terms, which can help in assessing their potential adverse effect on the physical environment. This fact sheet presents the amounts (by weight) of raw minerals and materials used in the four categories of physical goods that support the U.S. economy. These four categories are agriculture, forestry, metals and minerals, and nonrenewable organics. Table 1 is a listing of the amount of minerals and materials used, and figures 1 and 2 are graphical representations of these data. Figure 3 is a listing of those minerals and materials used in the United States from 1900 through 2006. Note that the data in the table are only for materials that are ready for use or manufacture in products that were actually made in the United States, not for materials contained in finished goods that were imported into or exported out of the country. These data represent the annual apparent inputs to the use phase (domestic production plus imports plus recycling minus exports) aggregated by category. For example, even though a significant amount of cadmium metal is contained in electronic goods imported into the country, the cadmium data provided in this study are only for the cadmium used in products that were produced in the United States. In an industrial economy such as that of the United States, where the volume of goods flowing into and out of the country is large, tracking the flow of materials embedded in imported products is not only difficult but virtually impossible. The data provided are for the first point of consumption; ultimate consumption in the form of manufactured products could be significantly different. Throughout the lifecycle of any material, the potential exists for losses to and adverse effects on the environment through emissions, losses, wastes, or dissipation of materials into the environment. Many sources were used to compile the data for this fact sheet. The following is a list of the primary ones used:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fisheries of the United States (for fisheries statistics)

U.S. Bureau of Mines and U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Resources of the United States, and Minerals Yearbook (for metal and mineral statistics)

U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Timber Production, Trade, Consumption, and Price Statistics (for forestry and paper statistics)

U.S. International Trade Commission, Synthetic Organic Chemicals (for nonrenewable organics statistics, and statistics on primary products made from petroleum and natural gas)

By Grecia R. Matos

Reston, VA 20192

http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals

[In thousand metric tons. --, negligible or no data]

Total of materials

[In thousand metric tons. --, negligible or no data]

Primary metals

Construction materials Wood Agriculture

Industrial minerals Recycled metals

Minerals and materials used for physical goods in the United States from 1900 through 2006. Mineral and materials embedded in imported goods are not included. [In million of

Primary metals

Minerals used for physical goods in the United States from 1900 through 2006. Minerals embedded in imported goods are not included. [In million of metric tons]

Figure 2.

Cotton Cottonseed Fishery Flax seed Fur Leather hides Mohair Natural rubber Raw wool Silk, raw and waste Tobacco Paper and paperboard, all grades:

Figure 3. Minerals and materials used in the United States from 1900 through 2006, by category.

Paper and paperboard, primary:

Insulating board Hardboard Wet machine board Recycled paper, secondary, 1960–2006:

Recovered paper at paper and paperboard mills Recovered paper for other uses Plywood and veneer Other forestry:

Cooperage Fence posts Hewn ties Poles and piling Other miscellaneous products Wood Aluminum Antimony Arsenic Beryllium Bismuth Cadmium Cesium Chromium Cobalt Copper Gallium Germanium Gold Indium Iron and steel Lead Magnesium Manganese Mercury Molybdenum Nickel Niobium (columbium) Platinum group Rare earths Rhenium Selenium Silicon Silver Tantalum Tellurium Thallium Tin Titanium Tungsten Vanadium Zinc Abrasives, manufactured Asbestos Barite Boron Bromine Cement Clays Diamond, industrial Diatomite Feldspar Flourspar Garnet, industrial Gemstones Graphite, natural Gypsum Hafnium Helium Iron oxide pigments Kyanite and related materials Lime Lithium Magnesium compounds Mica Nitrogen Peat Perlite Phosphate Potash Pumice and pumicite Quartz crystal Salt Sand and gravel, construction Sand and gravel, industrial Soda ash Sodium sulfate Stone, crushed Stone, dimension Strontium Sulfur Talc and pyrophyllite Thorium Titanium dioxide Vermiculite Wollastonite Zirconium Asphalt and road oil:

All asphalts All road oils (grades 0 to 5) Coal (1977–2006) Coal for chemical use (1900–1976) Lubricants:

All lubricating oils Lubricants in greases Liquefied petroleum gases (1980–2006) Miscellaneous oils, waxes, and other products:

All waxes Absorption oil All other nonfuel oils Petrolatum Natural gas for carbon black Pentanes plus (1984–2006) Petrochemicals feedstock (1980–2006) Petroleum coke Primary products from petroleum and natural gas (1900–1979):

1,3-butadiene for rubber 1-butene Acetylene All other aromatics All other C4 hydrocarbons All other C5 hydrocarbons Alpha olefins, C6–C10 Benzene Butadiene and butylene fractions Dodecene Ethane, propane, butane Ethylene Hexane Higher alpha olefins Isobutane Isobutylene Isoprene n-Heptane Nonene n-parrafins Pentenes, mixed Piperylene Propylene Toulene Xylenes All others Special naphthas (1980–2006)

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