Natural Resources: We’re Number 2

The United States is fortunate to have an abundance of natural resources and on a worldwide scale is second after the Russian Federation. The US has the world’s largest proven coal reserves, and has abundant supplies of copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, rare earth elements, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber, and arable land. Yet the United States imports 100 percent of it needs for arsenic, cesium, fluorspar, gallium, graphite, Indium, manganese, niobium, rare earths, rubidium, scandium, tantalum, and yttrium.

The most resource-rich country is Russia, with large deposits of coal, timber, and rare earth metals. It contains the world’s largest proven natural gas reserves, accounting for approximately 20 percent of 2020 global totals. Further, Russia has the second largest gold reserves, about 12 percent of the world’s total. It has 12 percent of the world’s crude oil supply, and its oil reserves were the sixth largest in the world.

Saudi Arabia’s most important natural resource is oil and it has been the leading exporter of oil since the 1930s. Canada has the third largest oil deposits, after Venezuela and Saudi Arabia; it is also a leading producer of natural gas. For China, coal and rare minerals make up 90 percent of its natural resources.

Source: “United States,” The World Factbook, US Central Intelligence Agency, https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/united-states/