The economy of Eritrea has undergone extreme changes after the War of Independence. It experienced considerable growth in recent years, indicated by an improvement in gross domestic product in 2011 of 8.7 percent and in 2012 of 7.5% over 2011, and has a total of $8.090 billion as of 2020. However, worker remittances from abroad are estimated to account for 32 percent of gross domestic product.
Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a laboratory or factory. Ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. The ore must be a rock or mineral that contains valuable constituent, can be extracted or mined and sold for profit. Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water.
Coltan is a dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted. The niobium-dominant mineral in coltan is columbite, and the tantalum-dominant mineral is tantalite.
Glencore plc is a Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland. Glencore's oil and gas head office is in London and its registered office is in Saint Helier, Jersey. By some estimates, it is the world's largest commodity trader, and among the world's largest companies.
The mining industry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo produces copper, diamonds, tantalum, tin, gold, and more than 70% of global cobalt production. Minerals and petroleum are central to the DRC's economy, making up more than 95% of the value of its exports.
Gold mining in the People's Republic of China has made that country the world's largest gold producer. In 2022, China mined 403 tons of gold. Data indicates the marginal costs are often above the world price for gold. For the year 2007, gold output rose 12% from 2006 to 276 tonnes to become the world's largest for the first time—overtaking South Africa, which produced 272 tonnes. South Africa had until then been the largest for 101 years straight since 1905. The major reasons for this change in position had been due to South African production falling by 50% in the past decade as production costs there have risen, more stringent safety regulations have been implemented, and existing mines have become depleted. In 2014, production had increased to 450 tonnes.
Mining is important to the economy of Ethiopia as a diversification from agriculture. Currently, mining comprises only 1% of GDP. Gold, gemstones, and industrial minerals are important commodities for the country's export-oriented growth strategy.
The mineral industry is one of the main sectors of the Armenian economy and in 2017 accounted for 30.1% of its exports.
The mineral industry of Russia is one of the world's leading mineral industries and accounts for a large percentage of the Commonwealth of Independent States' production of a range of mineral products, including metals, industrial minerals, and mineral fuels. In 2005, Russia ranked among the leading world producers or was a significant producer of a vast range of mineral commodities, including aluminum, arsenic, cement, copper, magnesium compounds and metals, nitrogen, palladium, silicon, nickel and vanadium.
The mineral industry of Mozambique plays a significant role in the world's production of aluminium, beryllium, and tantalum. In 2006, Mozambique's share of the world's tantalum mine output amounted to 6%; beryllium, 5%; and aluminium, 2%. Other domestically significant mineral processing operations included cement and natural gas.
Mining in Ecuador was slow to develop in comparison to other Latin American countries, in spite of large mineral reserves. As late as 2012, according to the United Nations, Ecuador received less foreign direct investment per person than any other country in Latin America. During the 1980s, mining contributed only 0.7 percent to the Ecuadorian economy and employed around 7,000 people. Minerals were located in regions with little to no access, hindering exploration. Ecuador has reserves of gold, silver, copper, zinc, uranium, lead, sulfur, kaolin and limestone. The latter practically dominated the early industry as it was used in local cement plants.
The Tanco Mine or Bernic Lake mine is an underground caesium and tantalum mine, owned and since 2019 owned and operated by Sinomine Resource Group on the north west shore of Bernic Lake, Manitoba, Canada. The mine has the largest known deposit of pollucite and is also the world's largest producer of caesium.
Turquoise Hill Resources was a Canadian mineral exploration and development company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, and since December 2022, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group. The company was called Ivanhoe Mines until August 2, 2012 when a financing agreement was completed with Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto acquired full ownership of Turquoise Hill in December 2022.
The Manono-Kitolo mine is a former tin and coltan mine, which also contains one of the largest lithium reserves globally, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The mine is located in southern Democratic Republic of the Congo in Tanganyika Province. The Manono-Kitolo mine has reserves amounting to 120 million tonnes of lithium ore grading 0.6% lithium thus resulting 0.72 million tonnes of lithium.
The Mirador mine is a large copper mine located in the Amazonian province of Zamora-Chinchipe in southern Ecuador. It is one of the largest copper reserves in Ecuador, and the first industrial-scale copper project to be developed in the country. The project has generated an environmental conflict that is emblematic in the national political debate on mining.
The Marropino mine is a large mine located in the northern part of Mozambique in Zambezia Province. Marropino represents one of the largest tantalum reserves in Mozambique having estimated reserves of 21.7 million tonnes of ore grading 0.019% tantalum.
The Three Aloes mine is a large mine located in the western part of Namibia in Erongo Region. Three Aloes represents one of the largest tantalum reserves in Namibia, having estimated reserves of 13.2 million tonnes of ore grading 0.026% tantalum.
The Ampasindava mine is the site for a possible rare earths mine in Madagascar. The concession is located in the municipality of Mangaoka, Diana Region in northern Madagascar on the eastern side of the Ampasindava Peninsula. The deposit has reserves amounting to 130 million tonnes of ore grading 0.08% RE. The mine is owned by Tantalus Rare Earths Malagasy Sarl. In 2019, ISR Capital signed a memorandum of understanding with the China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group to develop the mine. Conservation groups have opposed development of the mine, pointing to possible damage the mine could have on wildlife, such as Mittermeier's sportive lemur which is native to the peninsula. As of September 2020, Reeenova applied for a full license to begin mining the deposit.
The mining industry of Yemen is at present dominated by fossil mineral of petroleum and liquefied natural gas (LNG), and to a limited extent by extraction of dimension stone, gypsum, and refined petroleum. Reserves of metals like cobalt, copper, gold, iron ore, nickel, niobium, platinum-group metals, silver, tantalum, and zinc are awaiting exploration. Industrial minerals with identified reserves include black sands with ilmenite, monazite, rutile, and zirconium, celestine, clays, dimension stone, dolomite, feldspar, fluorite, gypsum, limestone, magnesite, perlite, pure limestone, quartz, salt, sandstone, scoria, talc, and zeolites; some of these are under exploitation.
The Bald Hill Lithium and Tantalum Mine is a lithium mine in Australia. It was closed, but is being re-opened for tantalum production. It was operated previously as a tantalum mine by Haddington International Resources. The mine comprises approximately 774 square kilometres in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields Coolgardie Municipal area. It is located approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) south east of Kambalda and around 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of Widgiemooltha.
