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The Mineral Industry of Colorado

By National Minerals Information Center

Statistics and information on the nonfuel mineral commodities produced in Colorado

Minerals Yearbook Vol. II - Domestic

Colorado mineral commodity producing areas map from 2014 Minerals Yearbook

2018-2019 data for Colorado are summarized in the table on this web page. The 2015 chapter data tables (XLS) and 2014 chapter containing text and data tables in PDF and XLS formats are available, with other years, through the links below.

Download 2014 PDF

Sources of information

Colorado leads in the production of molybdenum concentrates, and is a major producer of fire clay, gold, and Grade-A helium. It also produces bentonite, cement, common clay, crushed stone, gypsum, industrial sand and gravel, lime, and silver.

The following data table gives nonfuel mineral commodity production data for Colorado extracted from Table 5 in the 2019 statistical summary.

Nonfuel Mineral Production in Colorado1,2,3
CommodityUnit2018 Qty2018 Value
(1000 $)		2019 Qty2019 Value
(1000 $)
Clay (common)1000
metric tons
(1000 t)		2667,590WW
Clay (fire clay)1000 t9132WW
Gemstones, naturale NA440NA465
Sand and gravel,
construction		1000 t34,900307,000r34,300307,000
Stone, crushed1000 t14,700149,00016,500166,000
Stone, dimension1000 t29W2211,700
Combined values of
cement, gold,
gypsum (crude),
helium (Grade-A),
lime, molybdenum
mineral concentrates,
sand and gravel
(industrial), silver		 XX1,320,000XX798,000
Total XX1,780,000rXX1,730,000

eEstimated. rRevised. NA Not available. W Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data; included in combined value. XX Not applicable.

1Includes data from the commodity chapters published in the Minerals Yearbook as they were completed and released through January 2023.

2 Production as measured by mine shipments, sales, or marketable production (including consumption by producers). Mine output measured as sold or used by producers is primarily shown in the tables, because values can be assigned. Where sold or used data are not available, actual mine output is used as the production measurement and value is estimated average price of the mineral commodity for that year. Data are reported in gross weight unless otherwise specified.

3 Data are rounded to no more than three significant digits; may not add to totals shown.

Minerals Yearbook Volume II Colorado chapters

  • PDF Format:

| 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010-11 |  2012-13 | 2014 |

  • XLS Format:

| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010-11 | 2012-13 | 2014 | 2015 tables-only release  |

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