4 MINING and the E C ONOM Y The products of mining take center stage in helping fulfll our advanced societys most basic needs An abundant food supply clothing shelter electricity transportation and communication would not be possible without mining The typical house contains concrete and masonry block in the foundation gypsum wallboard and copper pipes and wiring to name just a few mined products Coal provides a third of the electricity we rely on and it takes at least 29 diferent minerals needed to get that electricity to our homes and businesses Nuclear energy which is generated from uranium provides 19 percent of our electricity According to the US Geological Survey USGS 109 billion of coal and minerals were mined in 2018 with 82 billion of nonfuel minerals processed into 766 billion worth of products USGS and the US Department of Commerce esti mate that industries such as construction and durable goods manufacturing that use processed mineral ma terial added 3 0 trillion t o the US ec onom y in 20 18 or about 15 per c ent of GDP A side from their dollar impact these minerals ha v e other tangible benefts The National Research Council of the National A cadem y of Scienc es concluded that one of the primary advantages the U S has over its strongest industrial competitors is its domestic resource base F or e x ample with af or dable and abundant domestic c oal US electricit y c osts ar e highly c ompetitiv e an as set in the global mark etplac e Mining c ompanies also pa y taxes to the communities in which they operate C ompanies pay more than 40 billion in federal state and local taxes on company profts and employee wages property taxes on equipment and structures and excise taxes on output A wind turbine may contain 335 tons of steel 47 tons of copper 13 tons of fberglass 3 tons of alumi num and 1200 tons of reinforced concrete A c c or ding t o the National P ark Servic e the Statue of Liberty contains 31 tons of copper 332 inches thick