Mineral products
Featured videos
The world around us is either grown or mined. The mineral products sector truly is helping to Shape Your World.
Resources
What are mineral products?
These are the main mineral products and essential materials extracted and processed by the minerals industry:
Aggregates – these are rocks broken down into smaller pieces, such as sand, gravel and crushed rock.
Asphalt – a mixture of aggregates with hot bitumen to create a hard-wearing surface, such as for roads, footpaths, playgrounds, car parks or runways.
Cement – the key ingredient in concrete, used widely in construction. It’s made by heating limestone with shale, then ground into cement powder.
Concrete – a mixture of cement, aggregates and water, it’s the most common man-made building material.
Dimension stone – used predominantly in the heritage sector, for stone carving and to maintain local character to stone buildings.
Lime – both agricultural and industrial. Agricultural lime is produced from calcium carbonate and is used for improving soil so that healthy crops can grow. Industrial lime is used for making steel, glass, foods, chemicals and medicines.
Mortar – this is what’s used to ‘glue’ bricks and blocks together for most buildings.
Silica sand – used in glass, paint and plastic making.
Key Industry facts
The minerals job market
£5.8bn added to the
economy
81,000 people directly
employed
4 million ppl worldwide in quarrying
The minerals industry at a glance
400m metric tonnes
produced annually
28% total market is recycled
aggregates
5,000 hectares of restored sites for
public use
2,000 active sites & plants
Did you know?
You interact with objects made by or with minerals approximately 14 times before you leave the house in the morning!
Many things including cleaning your teeth, drinking out of a glass, watching TV or looking out of the window wouldn’t be
possible without minerals!
Minerals are everywhere
The minerals industry plays a vital part in our everyday lives. Mineral products are all around you. From your phone and TV screen, the glasses and cutlery you use daily, to the roads, cars, trains, buildings and built environment, they’re everywhere.