Mining Dominates $38 Billion U.S. Rocky Mountains Metals & Minerals Projects

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The U.S. Rocky Mountains region, which includes Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming, has 232 active projects in the Metals & Minerals Industry, totaling $38 billion. It ranks as the top region in the U.S. for Metals & Minerals Industry project activity.

Click on the image at right to view a breakdown of U.S. Metals & Minerals Industry Project activity by market region.

It is not surprising that 97% of the Metals & Minerals project activity in the Rocky Mountain region is in the mining sector. A good majority of those projects are copper and gold mining projects in Arizona and Nevada, but cobalt, molybdenum, phosphate rock, potash, uranium and vanadium projects are being developed as well.

ASARCO LLC is spending $60 million to expand the south mill at its Mission Copper Mine Complex in Sahuarita, Arizona. Construction on the project began in June 2012. The Ashton Company Incorporated (Tucson, Arizona) is the general contractor on the project.

Yukon-Nevada Gold Corporation (TSX:YNG) (Vancouver, British Columbia) began construction this summer on an addition to the new Starvation Canyon underground gold mine. The $30 million in projects also includes an expansion of the Jerritt Canyon process plant from 4,320 tons per day up to 6,000 tons per day. The project is due to be completed by next spring.

These two projects are representative of the $2.4 billion in Metals & Minerals projects that have started construction or are scheduled to begin construction in 2012. In the Rocky Mountain region, construction starts for the Metals & Minerals Industry are down about 27% by value when compared to 2011.

Industrial Info recently released the third edition of the U.S. & Canada Mining Industry Wall Map, which is available online.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.