想想你的日常生活……你開車或騎自行車上班或上學(xué)嗎?用于制造汽車和自行車的鐵礦石、鋁土礦、銅、鉑和其他礦物都是礦業(yè)產(chǎn)品。你用電腦嗎?你知道制造屏幕、外殼、芯片、電路和電池需要66種礦物質(zhì)嗎?而且很可能你今天使用的一半以上的電力是由煤或鈾產(chǎn)生的，這兩種都是礦業(yè)產(chǎn)品。 我們被這些原材料——礦物和煤——包圍著，它們使我們的日常生活幾乎成為可能。但我們常常認(rèn)為它們是理所當(dāng)然的，因?yàn)樗鼈冊谖覀兊纳钪袩o處不在，即使我們沒有看到它們。它們使我們的燈一直亮著，為制造業(yè)提供基本的構(gòu)件，并為我們所依賴的先進(jìn)技術(shù)提供至關(guān)重要的材料。為美國在美國，采礦業(yè)每年對經(jīng)濟(jì)的直接影響約為6000億美元，約占美國經(jīng)濟(jì)的3%國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值(GDP)，是衡量一個國家在一定時期內(nèi)生產(chǎn)的商品、服務(wù)和結(jié)構(gòu)的市場價(jià)值的指標(biāo)。采礦活動在美國50個州都有發(fā)生擁有78種重要的礦藏和大宗商品，是世界上最多的國家。今天，生產(chǎn)這些美國繁榮基石的采礦業(yè)，不僅利用先進(jìn)的設(shè)備和受過高度訓(xùn)練的熟練工人來開采，而且在資源開采后恢復(fù)土地。我們經(jīng)濟(jì)的所有方面，包括電力、通信、運(yùn)輸系統(tǒng)、計(jì)算機(jī)網(wǎng)絡(luò)、國家安全、空間和醫(yī)療技術(shù)，都需要礦產(chǎn)和煤炭。幸運(yùn)的是，美國擁有許多重要礦產(chǎn)資源的豐富國內(nèi)儲備和世界上最大的可采煤炭供應(yīng)。盡管美國擁有豐富的高質(zhì)量、多樣化的礦產(chǎn)資源，但由于聯(lián)邦政府的審批程序很長，一座礦山獲得運(yùn)營許可可能需要7到10年的時間。

Think of your everyday life…. Do you drive or bike to work or school? The  iron ore, bauxite, copper, platinum and other minerals used in the manufacture of  cars and bicycles are products of mining. Do you use a computer? Did you know  it takes as many as 66 minerals to make the screen, case, chips, circuitry and the  battery? And it is likely that more than half the electricity you used today was  generated either by coal or uranium, both products of mining.  

We are surrounded by these raw materials — minerals  and coal — that make nearly everything possible in our  daily lives. But we often take them for granted because  they are everywhere in our lives, even when we don’t see  them. They keep our lights on, provide essential building  blocks for manufacturing and provide materials vital to  advanced technologies we all depend on.

For the U.S., mining has a direct economic impact of about $600 billion annually, or about three percent of the  U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), which is a measure  of the market value of goods, services and structures  produced in a country during a given time period.  Mining activity takes place in all 50 states, in fact the  U.S. has significant deposits of 78 minerals and major  commodities - the most of any nation.

Today’s mining industry that produces these building blocks of American prosperity utilizes sophisticated equipment and a highly skilled and trained workforce to not only mine, but also to  restore land after resource extraction has occurred.

All aspects of our economy including electricity, communications, transportation systems, computer  networks, national security, space and medical technology — require minerals and coal.  Fortunately, the U.S. is home to extensive domestic reserves of many important mineral resources  and the world’s largest supply of recoverable coal.

Although the U.S. has an abundance of high quality, diverse mineral resources, due to the lengthy  federal permitting process, it can take seven to 10 years for a mine to receive approval to operate.