Northern America: North America Energy Profile

North America Energy Profile

North America is extremely rich in minerals. The continent yields large quantities of most of the minerals important to modern industry, the major exceptions being tin, manganese, chromium, and diamonds.

Fuels are the most valuable mineral resources. The continent accounts for nearly a third of the world's total output of natural gas and about a fifth of the world's total output of coal and petroleum. Much of the natural gas comes from the south-central United States, especially Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Major oil fields are located along the Gulf of Mexico in both Mexico and the United States, and in the south-central United States, California, Alaska, and the Prairie Provinces of Canada, notably Alberta. Enormous amounts of coal are produced, chiefly in the eastern half of the United States. Reserves of coal are large enough to last for centuries.

A wide variety of metals are mined in North America, including two-thirds of the world's molybdenum, almost half of the world's uranium, and more than a quarter of the world's silver, copper, nickel, zinc, and lead. North America's production of iron ore, gold, and bauxite is also significant. Except for bauxite, most of the output comes from the United States and Canada. However, Mexico is also a significant producer of most of these metals and is a leading silver-producing nation. Jamaica is a leading source of bauxite.

Among the wide variety of nonmetallic minerals produced on the continent are asbestos, sulfur, salt, potash, phosphate, stone, clay, and sand and gravel. Canada leads the world in asbestos production, the United States in salt production. Both the United States and Mexico are principal sources of sulfur.