An analysis of the minerals situation in the United States: 1989-2040

Abstract

Minerals are essential to modern life. They are important to the national economy, and to the economy of many individual states. Some minerals are of strategic importance, and essential to national economic and military security.Minerals are different from other forest and rangeland resources covered in the RPA Assessment. They are nonrenewable, and are more difficult to find, inventory, and develop. Mineral development is governed by a complex set of laws, and administered by a number of federal agencies.The U.S. is rich in many of the minerals it requires, but there is uncertainty about the extent of the mineral resource. While minerals are distributed widely around the nation, coal is concentrated in the Allegheny Plateau, the Ohio River Valley, and the Great Plains; oil is found mostly in the southwest and south; and many metallic minerals occur predominantly in the upper Lake States and the mountains and valleys of the West.Ownership of the nation's minerals is complex and there is little information on the quantities of minerals in public and private ownership. The quantity of recoverable oil is uncertain over the long-term, but the nation has abundant coal reserves, oil shale and tar sands, uranium, and the potential for greater use of geothermal resources. The U.S. possesses large quantities of many metallic minerals, although they may not be economical to develop at current prices or with current technology. Large quantities exist nationwide of minerals materials used in construction, although urban development threatens their availability in some areas.

Citation

USDA Forest Service. 1989. An analysis of the minerals situation in the United States: 1989-2040. Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-GTR-179. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 38 p.