This is marketing research on the mining and mining equipment industry and can include information on the background, market structure, definitions, competitors, trends and developments of mining and mining equipment and is related to other topics such as ores, minerals, metals and excavation.

Table of Contents

[edit] Background

Mining equipment covers a broad range of equipment used in the extraction and handling of various types of minerals and ores worldwide. Equipment used in the industry includes extracting, washing, conveying, crushing, screening, loading and other specialized gear. Related earth digging and earth moving equipment are other large sub-categories. Products used in mining include the following:

• Amalgamators, various kind of rock and other drills.
• Mining related transport equipment
• Washing equipment
• Breakers, cutters, pulverizers, concentration equipment, floatation equipment
• Manufacturing conveyors, feeders, ore crushers, screening and loading machinery
• Material handling equipment, loading machinery
• Manufacturing sieves and screens

[edit] Market Structure

The mining industry involves either surface mining or underground mining. In the U.S., approximately 207,000 workers were engaged in mining in 2004, including 72,000 in coal mining. About 73% of mines employ less than 20 employees.

Mining worldwide is conducted by both very large producers as well as small operators. The large players have generally focused on a core mineral such as gold or aluminum. Mining itself is a significant industry worldwide, with revenues well over $100 billion annually.

As a sub-category, the mining equipment industry generated revenues of approximately US $4 billion during 2006. About 400 manufacturing establishments are included in this sector in the U.S. Total volume of trade – both imports and exports - for mining equipment was high at about US $3.3 billion. In short, the manufacturing may be done mostly in developed countries but usage is often in remote locations of emerging markets.

[edit] Market Metrics

Global mining revenues are estimated at US $110 billion in 2003 and were up approximately 18% over revenues for 2002. The market capitalization of top companies in the mining industry was almost US $400 billion in 2004 and they had a net profit margin in excess of 10%.

Most of the capital deployed in the mining industry was in Australia, South Africa, Canada, the UK and the United States. South America, Russia and China are also continuing to emerge as key global players. China mines a broad array of minerals, especially coal, but virtually all of this is taken up in domestic consumption. Russia is currently heavily dependent on natural resources as a driver of its gross national product and mining is a key sector. It extracts a large share of the world’s nickel deposits and has major reserves of cobalt, copper, platinum and gold. Most of this is exported and success with these has allowed Russia to pay off almost all its foreign debts in the past decade.

World demand for mining equipment is expected to grow at the rate of more than 9% through 2009. This is driven by healthy demand for mined resources and hence the equipment need for the mining industry. Again, however, this can be a cyclical industry and year on year growth numbers may fluctuate.

Employment growth in both mining and mining equipment should grow for the foreseeable future. The United States, however, will see a steady decline in the number of workers employed in the industry. By 2014, the US Department of Labor estimates that mining employment will fall 13% in the U.S., compared with overall growth of 14% for the economy as a whole. The primary reason for the drop is advances in mining technology which will reduce the number of workers required. Environmental concerns will have another impact as the amount of land available for mining is expected to be further reduced.

Mining equipment shipments were $1.3 billion in 2001, showing no growth over the prior year. The U.S. remains a top manufacturer and exporter of mining equipment. U.S. exports of mining equipment totaled over $1.1 billion in 2001. At the same time, the U.S imported only $400 million worth of mining equipment. These numbers have continued to increase over time and have accelerated in the past several years as a result of the boom in prices for commodities worldwide.

In the past several years, China, Chile, Mexico, Australia and Canada have all been leading destinations of U.S. exports of mining equipment. In addition, Russia, the former Soviet states in Central Asia as well as Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Brazil and Mexico have been large importers of U.S. mining equipment. At the same time, Germany, Sweden, Japan and Finland have been traditional exporters of mining equipment to the U.S. There is unrelenting competitive pressure in the mining equipment market. New technologies and innovative financing approaches have impacted sales in the industry to a high degree. This is a highly competitive marketplace worldwide.

[edit] Industry players

Top Global Mining Companies, 2003

     BHP
     Anglo-American
     Rio Tinto
     CVRD
     Newmont
     MMC Norilsk
     Barrick Gold
     Amplats
     Anglo Gold
     Xstrata

[edit] Trends and Recent Developments

The mining equipment market is expected to remain healthy through the rest of the current decade. Strong demand for commodities is being generated in China and India as they develop economically at a rapid pace. Coal mining related equipment demand too should see an increase as dependence on coal as a replacement source for oil and gas increases. Coal is already the second largest source of energy generation and catching up fast on the oil and natural gas. As their costs increase and resources get depleted, coal usage is likely to increase. Coal reserves can last more than 150 years at the present rate of production, another factor in its favor.

Mining equipment manufacturer are still concentrated in the developed countries such as the U.S., Germany, the UK and other western European countries. Many countries with large natural resources have entered the mining equipment business in a bid to vertically integrate the mining industry. Australia, Canada, South Africa and to some extent Brazil and Russia are into this space.

There will be a continuing trend towards new applications of robotics and remote control systems, for instance, which stand to replace traditional mining equipment and yield increased productivity and efficiency in the worldwide mining industry.

[edit] Sources

Commerce Canada

Wikipedia

U.S. Bureau of Labor

Export.gov

[edit] Next Steps

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