Mining & Metals

Mining & Metals covers the extraction and processing of metals and minerals — coal, copper and base metals, gold and precious metals, iron ore and steel, aluminum and nonferrous refining, and industrial minerals and aggregates. Sized from its disclosed segments, it represents roughly $332 billion, dominated domestically by steel and aggregates; much U.S. metal-ore mining is small-scale or confidentiality-withheld by the Census.

The sector is cyclical with commodity prices and industrial/construction demand, and the 2021–22 figures are inflated by the metals and steel price boom. Two strategic themes stand out: aggregates as local-monopoly infrastructure assets benefiting from infrastructure spending, and critical minerals (lithium, rare earths, cobalt) as a vital but underdeveloped U.S. frontier driven by the energy transition and the push to reshore supply chains from China.