9 RES OUR CES T ables and trivia US c oal r ec o v er able r eserv e base 20 18 t op 10 stat es billion shor t t ons Stat e T otal R eserv es 1 Montana 74 4 2 Illinois 35 7 3 W y oming 35 3 4 W est V ir ginia 16 4 5 K entuck y 13 9 6 Ohio 11 2 7 P enns ylv ania 11 0 8 C olor ado 9 5 9 T exa s 9 0 10 Ne w Me xic o 6 7 R est of US 2 7 6 T otal US 25 2 7 Ener gy Inf ormation A dministr ation US miner al r eserv es b y c ommodit y 20 18 R eserv e W orld R eserv e In thousand metric t ons of metal c ont ent Barit e 15 000 4 6 C opper 48 000 58 Ir on Or e 2 900 000 1 7 L ead 5 000 6 00 Molybdenum 2 7 15 9 Zinc 11 000 48 In thousand metric t ons of or e r ock Phosphat e R ock 1 000 000 1 4 In metric t ons of metal c ont ent Gold 3 000 5 6 Platinum Gr oup Metals 900 1 3 Rar e Ear ths 1 400 000 1 2 Silv er 25 000 45 US Geological Surv e y q uick ues tion What ar e pr ecious metals P r ecious metals ar e miner als that ar e r elativ ely scar c e and v aluable such as g old silv er and platinum gr oup metals Aluminum w as c onsider ed a r ar e metal and a chemical curiosit y until 1886 R esear cher s in the US and F r anc e independently disc o v er ed the c ontinuous electr olytic r eduction pr oc es s used t o mak e aluminum metal fr om bauxit e US Mint Americ an E agle Bullion C oin