Spain has a geologically diverse territory and a wide range of mineral resources. In 2021, the country produced roughly 3.8 billion euros worth of mineral products. Spain is an important producer of copper, tungsten, fluorspar, magnesite, and bentonite, among others. In 2021, it ranked as the fourth
. While the mining sector in Spain has suffered from several ups and downs in the past years, recently there has been a renewed interest in the sector in line with the European Union's need for critical minerals and an attempt to reduce its raw material dependency.
Mining sites in Spain
The
number of active mining sites in Spain has decreased annually throughout the past decade. As of 2020, the Mediterranean country had roughly 2,600 active mines. Recently, the closure of all coal mines by the end of 2018 has contributed to the decline of the sector. Regarding the different mineral resources extracted, quarry stones like sand and gravel, limestone, gypsum, and granite account for the
largest number of sites in Spain, with more than 2,000 in 2020. The country is, in fact, one of the world’s leading producers of some of these materials, ranking fourth in
gypsum production and eighth in
sand and gravel production. Other types of mineral resources extracted in the country include ornamental rocks such as marble, quartzite, and alabaster; industrial minerals like bentonite, magnesite, quartz, and potash; and metallic minerals like copper, zinc, nickel, gold, and tungsten.
Metal mining in Spain
Although smaller in number, with a total of 10 mining sites active as of 2020, metallic minerals contribute the most to the revenue of Spain's mining sector. In 2020, the
production value of metallic minerals surpassed one billion euros. Most of Spain’s metal mines are located in the Iberian pyrite belt, which extends from southern regions of Portugal to Spain. The Spanish part is located in the autonomous community of Andalusia, the country’s region with the highest number of metal mines and mines overall. In 2020, Andalusia accounted for roughly 40 percent of the country’s
mining production value. Some of the most emblematic metal mines located in this region include the Rio Tinto copper mines, which after being closed for roughly a decade reopened again in 2016, operated by the company Atalaya mining.
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