There are a huge number of mines in the world (for example, there are over 8,000 small-scale coal and metals mines in China alone), and the total amount of material extracted has been estimated at over 35,000 Mt/y. This is summarised as:

If only 'industrial-scale' operations are included, there are probably around 2,500 metals-producing mines in the world, and a similar number of coal mines. (Almost 60% of these mines are surface operations, which are usually also larger than underground operations.) There are perhaps 25,000 industrial-minerals mines and up to 100,000 quarries producing aggregate for construction purposes. (On a national scale, for example, there are a total of 1,100 mines in South Africa, of which only 400 are metals and coal mines, and 30 are diamond mines.)

However, for most practical purposes (eg targeted equipment sales), this list can be reduced even further. An estimated 2,000 coal, metals and diamond mines account for almost 90% of the world's total mined output (by value).

Also, because of the high proportion of transport costs in the overall price, and also to their widespread geological occurrence, aggregates are generally consumed close to where they are mined (ie they are not generally traded internationally).

The total value of annual mined production in recent years has averaged US$450 billion, with US$200 billion of this being attributed to coal/lignite, US$150 billion to metals (and gems) and US$100 billion to industrial minerals and aggregates.

Some other statistics:
•  Surface mines account for about 80% of all ore and rock extracted.
•  The top ten mining companies produce 25% of the mined production (by value).
•  Half of the world's mine and exploration expenditure is in the Americas.
•  The total mining equipment sector is worth around US$50 billion per annum.
•  There some 3,000 stock exchange-listed exploration and mining companies (almost half of these being in Canada).

Coal Sector
Coal production amounts to around 4,600 Mt/y of 'hard' coal, and 900 Mt of lignite. At prices varying from US$30 to US$60/t, depending on its calorific value etc, the value of this output dominates total mine production, and is valued at slightly more than ALL metals production combined (see below). The coal sector probably accounts for over one-third of all mining-equipment purchases. However, much of coal output is for consumption in local power stations, and the sector has nothing like the global media impact and influence of the metals sector.
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Metals Sector
Some 15,000 Mt of rock is moved every year, two-thirds of it being waste. Around US$5 billion is spent every year on exploration and mine-feasibility studies, slightly more on mine construction, and up to US$80 billion on the actual cost of mining and processing.

The eight most important metals/gems (ranked by the average annual value of mined production over recent years) are:

US$ billion p/a

Note that these are MINED values, not fabricated values. For example, there are almost 160 Mct of 'rough' (ie uncut) diamonds mined every year. (Carat = 0.2 grams and is not to be confused with '24-carat gold', which signifies 100% purity.) These diamonds are worth twice as much when cut ('polished') and seven times as much when sold in jewellery (ie almost US$70 billion per annum).

Gold production is currently some 2,500 t/y (80 Moz/y), with South Africa accounting for 14%, the US 11% and Australia 10%. However, there has only been a total of 175,000 t of gold ever mined (at least as measured going back 25 centuries), and 100,000 t of this is in identified stocks (one-third being held by Central Banks). Because of its high density (over 19 t/m3), this total mined amount could fit into a cube with sides of under 21 m.
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Industry Structure
In Africa, Asia and Latin America, there are hundreds of thousands of garimpero miners (individuals who respond to 'gold-rush' conditions). However, if we exclude these people, there are perhaps 20,000 prospectors active in the world. (Note that 11,000 exploration licences were awarded in Brazil during 2003, and this is estimated to represent almost half of the Latin American total, itself under 25% of the world total; say 100,000 exploration licences awarded per year worldwide.)

At any one time there are probably 8,000 drilling projects underway, 1,500 reserve-definition studies, 800 feasibility studies and 400 mines under construction.

Early stage work requires funding through equity finance (ie offering shares for funding) but later-stage projects can utilise debt finance (ie borrowing cash). Large companies can also take on corporate debt, often split between so-called 'mezzanine' debt (medium risk; shareholder loans and debentures) and 'senior' debt (low risk; secured loans).

The metals' industry's annual equity and debt financings are averaging around US$40 billion, with about one-third of this currently being spent on acquisitions. (The proportion of equity to debt has been rising recently, and is currently around 35:65, because of the increased activity of junior companies and the higher level of acquisitions.)

Most metals require significant processing before they are in a form that can be traded. (Note that the prices quoted on the London Metal Exchange often relate to 'four-nines' purity, ie 99.99%.) This requires substantial capital expenditure, expertise and infrastructure, and so the sector is dominated by large companies. If juniors discover base metals, they tend either to sell the prospect to a larger company (directly or by being taken over) or develop a mine and sell the mineral at the 'concentrate' stage.

Gold and diamonds, however, are relatively simple to mine, transport and trade, and attract significantly more junior companies, and equity-market activity. For this reason there are many more press releases on gold and diamonds than their mined value would command compared with the other metals.

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