Analysis
NAICS 212 is the 2022 subsector for mining (except oil and gas), part of 21 (Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction). Census lists 445 example activities under it in the official index.
County Business Patterns counts 6,121 US establishments in this code in 2023, employing 173,729 people at an average annual payroll of $93,689 per employee (80th percentile of national industries). 33% of the establishments have fewer than five employees, which is close to the national mix.
Across its national industries Census lists 445 index entries; typical ones are bituminous coal, lignite, or anthracite beneficiating…, bituminous coal or anthracite underground mine site…, agglomerates, iron ore, beneficiating and bullion, gold, produced at the mine.
Its goods appear in 51 statistical lines of the US tariff schedule, mostly under headings 2516 (granite, porphyry, basalt, sandstone and other monumental…), 2601 (iron ores and concentrates, including roasted iron pyrites) and 2603 (). That link is how import data is matched to domestic producers, for example in trade-remedy cases.
It splits into 3 more detailed codes. The largest by establishments is 2123 (Nonmetallic Mineral Mining and Quarrying) with 5,293.
Its more detailed codes are 2121 Coal Mining (491 establishments), 2122 Metal Ore Mining (337 establishments) and 2123 Nonmetallic Mineral Mining and Quarrying (5,293 establishments).
Official definition
Industries in the Mining (except Oil and Gas) subsector primarily engage in mining, mine site development, and beneficiating (i.e., preparing) metallic minerals and nonmetallic minerals, including coal. The term "mining" is used in the broad sense to include ore extraction, quarrying, and beneficiating (e.g., crushing, screening, washing, sizing, concentrating, and flotation), customarily done at the mine site.
Beneficiation is the process whereby the extracted material is reduced to particles which can be separated into mineral and waste, the former suitable for further processing or direct use. The operations that take place in beneficiation are primarily mechanical, such as grinding, washing, magnetic separation, centrifugal separation, and so on. In contrast, manufacturing operations primarily use chemical and electrochemical processes, such as electrolysis, distillation, and so on. However, some treatments, such as heat treatments, take place in both stages: the beneficiation and the manufacturing (i.e., smelting/refining) stages. The range of preparation activities varies by mineral and the purity of any given ore deposit. While some minerals, such as petroleum and natural gas, require little or no preparation, others are washed and screened, while yet others, such as gold and silver, can be transformed into bullion before leaving the mine site.
Establishments in the Mining (except Oil and Gas) subsector include those that have complete responsibility for operating mines and quarries (except oil and gas wells) and those that operate mines and quarries (except oil and gas wells) for others on a contract or fee basis. Establishments primarily engaged in providing support services, on a contract or fee basis (except geophysical surveying and mapping, mine site preparation, construction, and transportation activities), required for the mining and quarrying of minerals are classified in Subsector 213, Support Activities for Mining.
Source: US Census Bureau, NAICS 2022 Manual.
Index entries (445)
- Bituminous coal, lignite, or anthracite beneficiating (e.g., cleaning, crushing, screening, washing, sizing)
- Bituminous coal or anthracite underground mine site development for own account
- Agglomerates, iron ore, beneficiating
- Bullion, gold, produced at the mine
- Blende (zinc) mining and/or beneficiating
- Antimony concentrates beneficiating
- Argillite mining or quarrying
- Agricultural limestone mining and/or beneficiating
- Diorite crushed and broken stone mining and/or beneficiating
- Basalt crushed and broken stone mining and/or beneficiating
- Common sand quarrying and/or beneficiating
- Abrasive sand quarrying and/or beneficiating
- Andalusite mining and/or beneficiating
- Abrasive stones (e.g., emery, grindstones, hones, pumice) mining and/or beneficiating