Arizona was the largest mineral producing state in the nation again in 2006 according to the Mineral Commodity Summary report recently released by the U.S. Geological Survey (http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/mcs/2007/mcs2007.pdf)
Arizona’s raw non-fuel minerals (i.e., excluding fuel minerals such as coal and uranium) were valued last year at $6,710,000, equal to 10.42% of all the non-fuel minerals produced in the U.S. The major minerals in Arizona were copper, molybdenum concentrates, sand and gravel (construction), cement (portland), lime.
The value of copper production was up 97% over 2005, and is largely responsible for pushing Arizona ahead of recent leader Nevada. Nevada was second at $5,240,000 (8.14% of the total U.S. production), but their leading mineral is gold, which rose a still robust 68%.
Interestingly, the U.S. imported 40% of our copper needs last year. Combined with China’s announcement that they will build their copper reserves over the next 4 years along with other key minerals, indicates that global demand for copper will remain strong. This is likely to stoke continued exploration and development activity across Arizona.