Mining and Energy Resources: Global Overview and Impact on Industry

Mining resources in the world and in Spain

Mining resources are raw materials that have a mineral origin, although they can also be of vegetable origin (coal, petroleum). They belong to the primary sector as they are raw materials, but they are the foundation of industry (secondary sector) because they provide the minerals and the sources of energy that the secondary sector needs.

Mining areas in the world

Coal is found in the basins next to the mountain ranges that were formed some 300 million years ago, such as the Appalachians or the Ural Mountains, and other places in China, Europe and Australia.
Oil is found mainly in the countries near the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, and other countries, and is often found in close proximity to natural gas.

The country with the most mineral resources is China. It is the leading global producer of coal, gold, iron, lead, aluminium, zinc and tin; the second for silver; the third for copper and the fourth for oil. Next is the United States, which is the leading producer of natural gas, the second for coal; the third for oil, gold and lead and the fourth for copper and aluminium. Australia has a relatively young mining industry but it is very powerful: it is the second highest producer of gold, iron, lead and zinc, the third for uranium and the fourth for coal and silver.

Energy resources

Energy sources are those that can produce light, heat and power to move different types of machines. Energy is the lifeblood of technological and economic development.

Producing countries and consuming activities

Currently, every country is trying to use its own energy sources in order not to depend on other countries, by developing renewable energy. This is also called clean energy because of its less polluting nature.

However, there is still great global dependency in respect to the producing countries of oil and natural gas. Some of them are large producers (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Algiers, Libya, Venezuela) although a low level of population or development forces the yield to be exported, generating huge revenues.

In order to control production and prices, the main oil producers are grouped together in OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries).

Historical development of industry

1st Industrial revolution 1750: Invention of the steam engine (coal)

2nd Industrial revolution 1890: Explosion engine (Henry Ford), assembly line, Lightbulb (Thomas Edison)

3rd Industrial revolution 1970: Nuclear energy

4th Industrial revolution now: I.A

Classification of industrial activities

Base industries. These make the first changes to the raw material (minerals and energy sources) to provide the energy or the half-finished materials that later will be used for producing other products, such as the energy industry, the steel or iron industry, the petrochemical industry...
Capital goods industries. These make the second changes in order to prepare products that supply tools to companies, including machinery, electrical equipment, electronics or information technology.
Consumer goods industries. These manufacture products that are to be sold directly to the consumer, such as the pharmaceutical, textile, footwear and food industries.
We refer to light industry and heavy industry, according to the volume of raw materials used and depending on the number of employees: small (less than 50 employees) medium (from 50 to 100) and large industry (more than 1000).

The industrialisation crisis

Deindustrialisation means abandoning industrial activity and the industrial areas that it occupied, or sometimes replacing the industries with others.

Industrial relocation consists of abandoning the traditional industrial areas to look for new locations.