Analysis
NAICS 2123 is the 2022 industry group for nonmetallic mineral mining and quarrying, part of 212 (Mining (except Oil and Gas)). Census lists 291 example activities under it in the official index.
County Business Patterns counts 5,293 US establishments in this code in 2023, employing 90,102 people at an average annual payroll of $82,315 per employee (71st percentile of national industries). 33% of the establishments have fewer than five employees, which is close to the national mix.
By establishments it ranks 1st of the 3 codes at this level within Mining (except Oil and Gas), with 86.5% of them.
Between 2018 and 2023 the number of establishments grew 9% and employment rose 4%. 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.
Across its national industries Census lists 291 index entries; typical ones are argillite mining or quarrying, agricultural limestone mining and/or beneficiating, diorite crushed and broken stone mining and/or beneficiating and basalt crushed and broken stone mining and/or beneficiating.
Its goods appear in 28 statistical lines of the US tariff schedule, mostly under headings 2516 (granite, porphyry, basalt, sandstone and other monumental…), 2517 (pebbles, gravel, broken or crushed stone, of a kind…) and 2506 (quartz (other than natural sands); quartzite, whether or…). That link is how import data is matched to domestic producers, for example in trade-remedy cases.
Official definition
This industry group comprises establishments primarily engaged in developing mine sites, or in mining or quarrying nonmetallic minerals (except fuels). Also included are certain well and brine operations, and preparation plants primarily engaged in beneficiating (e.g., crushing, grinding, washing, and concentrating) nonmetallic minerals.
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, and centrifugal separation. In contrast, manufacturing operations primarily use chemical and electrochemical processes, such as electrolysis and distillation. However, some treatments, such as heat treatments, take place in both 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.
Source: US Census Bureau, NAICS 2022 Manual.
Index entries (291)
- 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