SIC 1481 Nonmetallic Minerals Services, Except Fuels

Contenidos

• NAICS CODE(S).
• FURTHER READING.

SIC 1481

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in the removal of overburden, strip mining, and other services for nonmetallic minerals, except fuels, for others on a contract or fee basis. Establishments primarily engaged in providing geophysical exploration services for metal mines are covered in SIC 1081: Metal Mining Services. Establishments primarily engaged in performing oil and gas field geological exploration services are covered in SIC 1382: Oil and Gas Field Exploration Services.

NAICS CODE(S)

213115

Support Activities for Non-metallic Minerals, (except Fuels)

541360

Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services

In addition to performing contracted strip mining and overburden removal, industry firms perform general non-testing drilling and blasting, miscellaneous mining services, and prospect and test drilling. Industry firms also offer geophysical exploration services, sink mine shafts, and drain and pump mines—all on a contract basis and all within the nonmetallic minerals mining industry. However, almost 60 percent of the industry's total receipts derive from for-contract mineral services performed by firms classified as mining rather than mining services companies and from industry firms too small to be canvassed by the Bureau of the Census. Among the largest firms in the industry in 2004 was GZA Drilling Inc. of Brockton, Massachusetts, a subsidiary of privately owned GZA Geo Environmental Technologies Inc.

The U.S. nonmetallic minerals mining industry was traditionally considered highly capital intensive. Before a mining firm could begin to consider establishing a mine at a site suggested as potentially viable by geological literature and maps, a complex range of activities had to be undertaken to ensure that a workable deposit of economically viable mineral existed at the location. Extensive exploratory and assessment activities were conducted; highly detailed maps were made of the prospective deposit; and costly and sophisticated equipment was brought in to test, dig, develop, work, and maintain the mining operation. Because most costs at a mine are fixed, the more ore that can be processed lowers the producer's total cost per ton. High-volume, highly efficient mineral extraction is thus crucial, and contractors in the mineral services industry play a key role in this process. Because smaller mining firms either did not have the capital resources to perform exploration...