|
Spain Mining
Though Spain's mining sector, including the coal-mining
industry, employed only 80,000 persons and was responsible
for
only about 1 percent of the country's GDP in the late
1980s,
Spain was an important producer of minerals. It was one of
the
world's leading producers of slate and strontium. It
ranked
second in the production of granite and marble; third, in
pyrites
and natural sodium sulfate; sixth, in fluorspar; seventh,
in
kyanite and other refractory minerals; eighth, in
magnesite and
potash; ninth, in tantalite; and tenth, in anthracite,
asphalt,
and bentonite.
Spanish mineral production was of particular
significance to
the EC because Spain was its sole producer of mercury,
natural
sodium sulfate, and tantalite. Moreover, Spain mined
approximately 9 percent of all EC copper, 86 percent of
its
antimony, 65 percent of its gold and pyrite, 47 percent of
its
silver, 41 percent of its lead and magnesite, 38 percent
of its
iron ore and tungsten, and 28 percent of its fluorspar and
zinc.
In addition to mining, Spain was an important processor of
raw
minerals, both those produced domestically and those
imported
from abroad. Although Spain was the most self-sufficient
member
of the EC with regard to minerals, imports were needed to
meet
about 30 percent of its needs.
In the mid-1980s, Spain's mining industry suffered from
the
depressed state of the world minerals market, and the
production
of most substances had declined. The drop in the value of
the
dollar, the dominant currency in the mineral trade,
further
reduced the sector's profits, which had already been
damaged by
declining sales. Spanish production of copper, tin, and
wolfram
all declined by more than 75 percent in 1987 (see
table 9,
Appendix). The production of iron, pyrites, and fluorspar
also
dropped significantly in the same year. Zinc, potassium
salts,
uranium, and lead production remained steady during this
period,
however.
Data as of December 1988
|
