Nonmetallic Mineral Mining and Quarrying
Buy This Industry Report
Get more in-depth industry information with a First Research industry report containing business challenges, trends, executive insight, call prep questions, and so much more!
Increase Appointments
Engage Prospects
Build Your Confidence
Industry Overview
The nonmetallic mineral mining and quarrying industry in the US includes about 3,500 companies with annual revenues of about $18 billion. Major companies include Vulcan Materials, Martin Marietta Materials, and subsidiaries of foreign firms such as Lehigh Hanson (Germany); Oldcastle Materials (Ireland); and Rinker Materials (Australia). The industry is highly fragmented, with many small firms serving local geographic markets.
Competitive Landscape
Demand is driven by construction spending and agricultural spending on fertilizers. Large companies have some economies of scale in purchasing and administrative systems, and have the production volume to supply large construction projects, such as new highways. Small companies typically own just one mine and compete in a local market based on superior customer service. Annual revenue per employee averages about $150,000.
Products, Operations & Technology
Major products include crushed and broken limestone (30 percent of revenue), construction sand and gravel (20 percent); crushed and broken granite (10 percent); kaolin and ball clay (5 percent); and phosphate rock (5 percent). Other products include soda ash, bentonite, clay, and other broken stone. Phosphates and potassium salts are used to make fertilizers. Crushed stone, sand, and gravel are also referred to as aggregates.
Most quarries are open-pit mines where the surface is blasted to reach stone mineral and stone deposits. Benches are cut in to the walls to enable access to deeper deposits. The rock is blasted from the mine face, loaded into trucks, and carried to the primary crusher, which breaks it into smaller pieces. These smaller pieces are carried to the surface by conveyor and sorted by size. The aggregate is then transported to customers, usually by truck. Some mines further process onsite, whereas smaller mines may ship the aggregate to third-party processing facilities. Processing includes further crushing, sorting, washing, and leaching.
Transportation costs can exceed the price of products, so aggregates typically supply local markets. While aggregates have traditionally been transported by truck, some companies also use railroad cars, and to a lesser extent, barges. Federally funded projects, such as road, airport, and municipal building construction, can account for as much as 40 percent of aggregates sales. Fluctuations in energy costs can also influence aggregate prices significantly.
Mines and quarries can be quite large, but their use depends on local demand. Each year hundreds of mines are idled, closed, or abandoned and hundreds more opened or reactivated. The changing locations of construction and highway projects drive these decisions. Environmental regulations require companies to return abandoned quarries back to their original look and use.
Research and development expenditures are small, generally less than 1 percent of revenue.
