212230

Analysis

NAICS 212230 is the 2022 national industry for copper, nickel, lead, and zinc mining, part of 21223 (Copper, Nickel, Lead, and Zinc Mining). Census lists 26 example activities under it in the official index.

County Business Patterns counts 61 US establishments in this code in 2023, employing 16,844 people at an average annual payroll of $96,952 per employee (82nd percentile of national industries). 21% of the establishments have fewer than five employees, which points to larger operations.

Its index entries, the activities Census uses to assign businesses to this code, include blende (zinc) mining and/or beneficiating, calamine mining and/or beneficiating, cerussite mining and/or beneficiating and chalcocite mining and/or beneficiating, among 26 in all.

Its goods appear in 17 statistical lines of the US tariff schedule, mostly under headings 2603 (), 2607 () and 2608 (). That link is how import data is matched to domestic producers, for example in trade-remedy cases.

For example, refining copper concentrates are classified in 331410 (Nonferrous Metal (except Aluminum) Smelting and Refining) instead.

Between 2018 and 2023 the number of establishments fell 6% and employment rose 20%. The 2018 count used NAICS 2017, so part of a large move can come from codes being redefined rather than from businesses opening or closing.