How many pounds of minerals are required by the average person in a year?
To maintain our standard of living, each person in the United States requires over 38,449 pounds of minerals each year:
- 9,426 pounds of stone
- 6,768 pounds of sand and gravel
- 655 pounds of cement
- 142 pounds of clays
- 338 pounds of salt
- 244 pounds of iron ore
- 195 pounds of phosphate rock
- 34 pounds of soda ash
- 28 pounds of aluminum
- 13 pounds of copper
- 11 pounds of lead
- 6 pounds of zinc
- 4 pounds of manganese
- 21 pounds of other metals
- 535 pound of other non-metals
PLUS:
- 930 gallons of petroleum
- 4,409 pounds of coal
- 87,817 cubic feet of natural gas
- 0.2 pounds of uranium
Source: Minerals Information Institute, 2018
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