Description
This report was prepared by the Bureau of Mines (U.S. Department of the Interior) and the CGS to provide the latest available data and information on the mineral industry of Colorado, and to invite comments, revisions, or additional information on the subject. Digital PDF download. MI-15D
From the Introduction:
The area of Colorado is 104,247 square miles, of which 59 percent is privately owned, 36 percent is Federally owned, 4 percent is State owned, and 1 percent is Indian owned. The population of Colorado on July 1, 1978, was 2,670,000, an increase of 21 percent from the 1970 census figure. The mining industry is the fourth largest private industry in the State behind manufacturing, agriculture, and construction. The value of minerals produced has risen from about $425 million in 1972 to $1.4 billion in 1978. Personal income from mining in the same period tripled from about $160 million to over $500 million. The $1.4 billion worth of minerals produced in 1978 is a slight decrease, about 1 percent, from that of 1977. Colorado was first in the Nation in production of molybdenum, tin, and vanadium in 1978, second in tungsten, third in lead and silver, and fourth in uranium. The value of minerals produced in Colorado in 1978 was about $519 per capita compared to about $550 per capita in 1977 when the nationwide value of mineral production was about $83 per person; the value per square mile was about $13,300.
