Government and industry alike require access to reliable sources of data on minerals and the minerals industry. The supply, movement and consumption of minerals provides the basis for most industrial and agricultural output. World Mineral Statistics, produced by the British Geological Society, is an annual publication which attempts to give comprehensive data on the world minerals trade. It is an extract from the British Geographical Survey’s database which is one of the largest maintained databases in the world on the production and trade of minerals.
World Mineral Statistics covers the majority of economically important, and internationally traded, mineral commodities. In all, 70 commodities are covered ranging from alumina to zirconium. For each commodity, tables are presented giving production, import and export figures for the last five years from as many producing and trading countries as possible. These tables show that half of the world’s natural gas is produced by Russia and the USA while China accounts for 27 per cent of the total coal market. In addition, several graphics are included which show clearly the major producers of the most important commodities.
The economic importance of the minerals industry to the UK is seen in the separately published volume, United Kingdom Minerals Yearbook. The UK is in fact one of the world’s largest mineral producers. This volume, in addition to statistics on the production, consumption and trade of minerals in the UK, includes commentary and analysis of current developments in the UK minerals industry. Graphical illustrations add to the usefulness of the raw statistics. The British Geological Society has compiled this dataset from official sources, trade associations and directly from industry. This yearbook forms part of Britain’s continuous mining and quarrying record which dates back to 1853.
Both of these volumes provide reliable and continuous data on important natural assets. They will be required purchases for libraries specialising in the minerals industry and will also be useful for larger reference collections.
