Our Environment - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 318

Economic Sectors

The economy can be divided or classified, in various ways. One common approach is to
define economic sectors. Some examples follow.
●

Extractive industry (oil and gas, mining, and quarrying), the extraction of our natu-
ral mineral wealth such as oil, gas, coal, gold, diamonds, or sand and gravel. In many
countries (e.g. Peru, Bolivia, Chile, South Africa, and Australia) the extractive indus-
try was the first industrial sector in the economy and the whole subsequent economic
structure has grown up around this sector. In other regions the extractive industry is a
new sector, often becoming the dominant economic activity.

In many countries (e.g. Peru,
Bolivia, Chile, South Africa, and
Australia) the extractive industry
was the first industrial sector
in the economy and the whole
subsequent economic structure
has grown up around this sector.

●

Agriculture to produce foods such as rice, wheat, fruit, vegetables, fish, and meat. In
many developing countries the agricultural sector continues to outweigh the contribu-
tion of the industrial sector.

●

Manufacturing, the production of goods in factories. This includes a wide range of
products such as food, beverages, textiles and clothing, wood and paper and their prod-
ucts, petroleum products, metals like steel as well as machinery and metal equipment,
electrical goods, transport equipment, and furniture.

●

Utilities including electricity, gas, and water supplies to the community and to indus-
try, infrastructure and services usually provided by the state.

●

Construction, the building of houses, roads, bridges, factories, and other buildings.

●

Finance, the institutions that hold the savings, or surplus wealth, such as banks, pen-
sion funds, and the insurance industry. The products these institutions sell to the pub-
lic (such as life insurance and bank accounts) account for a significant proportion of the
goods and services produced in developed countries, but the financial sector is small in
most developing countries.

●

Government, all government taxation and spending contributes to economic interac-
tions in society. Government contributions to the economy can be divided into three
types of economic interaction (1) transfers, where the government takes money from
one sector the economy and gives it to another; (2) consumption, the paying of salaries
and other recurring costs that keeps the system of government moving; and (3) invest-
ment, where the government builds new infrastructure.

●

Retail, comprising activities such as wholesale, retail, catering, and accommodation. It
includes the shops, the restaurants, the hotels, and other services that we use every day.

●

Transport (transport and communications), the moving of goods and people by road,
rail, ship, and air, as well as communications via telephone.

Another way of looking at the economy is to define it according to primary, secondary,
and tertiary sectors. The primary sector is the closest to natural resources and includes
mining, agriculture, forestry, and fishing. Both mining and agriculture work directly on
the products of nature found on, or under, our soil. The secondary sector is a step away
from this: it consists of activities that process raw materials into manufactured products
or material goods that are used by consumers (such as electricity and water). While min-
ing and mineral processing is part of the primary sector, the production of steel or copper
pipes is a manufacturing process. The tertiary sector is even further removed from natu-
ral resources. This is where the steel or copper pipes are sold to the consumer and mar-
keted under a particular brand identity. Other activities belong to the service sector (such
as finance, government, accommodation, and transport).
Having defined economic sectors and grouped them into broader economic catego-
ries, we can assess the economic change associated with a new mining project. Since each

Both mining and agriculture
work directly on the products
of nature found on, or under,
our soil.