3 O VER VIEW Ho w has mining t ouched y our lif e t oda y Think of your everyday life Do you drive or bike to work or school The iron ore bauxite copper platinum and other minerals used in the manufacture of cars and bicycles are products of mining Do you use a computer Did you know it takes as many as 66 minerals to make the screen case chips circuitry and battery And it is likely that nearly half the electricity you used today was generated by coal and uranium both products of mining W e ar e surr ounded b y these r a w mat erials miner als and c oal that mak e nearly e v erything pos sible in our daily liv es But w e of t en tak e them f or gr ant ed because the y ar e e v erywher e in our liv es e v en when w e dont see them T he y k eep our lights on pr o vide es sential building block s f or manuf acturing and pr o vide mat erials vital t o adv anc ed t echnologies w e all depend on For the US mining has a dir ect economic impact of about 7 00 billion annually or about thr ee percent of the US g ross d omestic p roduct GDP which is a measure of the market value of goods services and structures produced in a country during a given time period Mining activity takes place in all 50 states in fact the US has signifcant deposits of 78 minerals and major commodities the most of any natio n T oda y s mining industry that produces these b uilding blocks of America n prosperity utiliz es sophisticated equipment and a highly skilled and trained w ork force to not only mine but also to r est or e land af t er resource extraction has occurred All aspects of our economy including electricity communications transportation systems computer networks national security space and medical technology require minerals and coal Fortunately the US is home to extensive domestic reserves of many important mineral resources and the worlds largest supply of recoverable coal Although the US has an abundance of high quality diverse mineral resources due to the lengthy federal permitting process it can take seven to 10 years for a mine to receive approval to operate Did Did yo u yo u kno w kno w T he a vera ge pers on in T he U s U ses abo UT 40 000 po U nd s of newl y mined minerals incl U ding T hree T ons of c o al ea ch year