2014 Minerals Yearbook

U.S. Department of the Interior December 2017 U.S. Geological Survey The Mineral Industry of Germany By Alberto Alexander Perez

In 2014, Germany was one of the leading industrial countries and financial services sector, with 15%. Sales, marketing, and in the world, with a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) support projects amounted to 42% of all FDI projects; business of $3.86 trillion1 compared with $3.73 trillion (revised) in activity and business services, 15%; and manufacturing, 11% 2013, which was a 3.3% increase in terms of the nominal (Germany Trade & Invest, 2015, p. 3). GDP and a 1.5% increase in terms of real GDP. The financial, In 2014, Germany was a leading global exporter of industrial rental, and business services sectors together produced 26% goods and services (including processed and fabricated mineral of Germany’s GDP in 2014, whereas the manufacturing sector products). The country’s mineral industry, however, depended produced 22.2%, and the commerce, transportation, and catering heavily on imported mineral raw materials. Germany was the sectors together produced 15.4%. The construction sector leading producer of lignite in the world, and essentially all produced 4.8% of the GDP in 2014, and the information and the lignite consumed in the country was supplied by domestic communications sector produced 4.7%; the remainder was production. Germany was dependent on imports of other attributed to various other sectors. mineral fuels for most of the remainder of its primary energy Germany’s GDP was ranked first in the European Union consumption. Germany’s metal-processing sector relied on (EU) in 2014, and accounted for 21% of the total GDP of the imports of metal ores and concentrates and reprocessing of EU. The United Kingdom was ranked second, with 16% of metallic scrap and waste materials (both imported and produced the EU’s GDP; France, third (15%); and Italy, fourth (12%). domestically), because no metals were mined in sufficient In 2014, Germany produced 28.9% of the total GDP of all amounts for metallurgical use in the country. Germany was also countries in the euro area. The inflation rate in Germany in 2014 heavily reliant on imports of numerous industrial minerals and was 0.8%, which was small compared with the rest of the EU many refined metals. The international competitiveness of the and a decrease from the inflation rate of 1.6% in the previous country’s nonfuel mineral-processing and fabrication sector relied year. Germany had an unemployment rate of 4.7% in 2014, primarily on such factors as a highly skilled labor force; research, which was an improvement from the 5.2% rate in 2013 (Federal development, and rapid assimilation of new technologies Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, 2015, p. 59, 63; (including metal and other mineral materials recycling Germany Trade & Invest, 2015, p. 4). technologies); and the development and maintenance of liberal In 2014, the public sector in Germany, including the Federal, trade relationships both within and outside the EU. Germany’s Laender (State), municipal, and the social security systems position in the global mineral economy was predominantly that in the country, as accounted for by the Federal Ministry of of a major consumer and processor of minerals (Bundesanstalt für Finances, achieved a revenue budget surplus, which led to an Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, 2015, p. 5–44). overall budget surplus of 0.4%. The country also reduced its In 2014, Germany was estimated to have been the debt to 74% of its GDP in 2014 compared with 76.9% in 2013. second-ranked producer of refined selenium in the world, the The Government’s goal was to achieve a debt ratio of less than third-ranked producer of kaolin and refined lead, the fourth- 60% of the GDP within 10 years to comply with the long-term ranked producer of salt, and the fifth-ranked producer of potash European Stability and Growth Pact. The Government also and bentonite (table 1; Anderson, 2016; Bolen, 2016; Flanagan, sought to reduce the country’s debt to less than 70% of the GDP 2016; Jasinski, 2016). by 2017 (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, 2015, p. 31). Germany hosted about 55,000 foreign companies, Minerals in the National Economy which employed about 3 million people. Between 2010 and 2014, foreign direct investment (FDI) markets added a total of In 2014, the most valuable mineral commodities were those 4,142 investment projects from about 3,500 foreign companies, related to energy production. The value of marketed production and in 2014, 800 projects were created, which ranked of coal (lignite and bituminous), crude petroleum, natural and Germany fourth in the world in FDI projects. The principal petroleum gas, and peat was a combined $17.94 billion in 2014. countries that were sources of the new investment projects Germany’s potash production was valued at $1.05 billion; lime, were the United States, with 21% of all investment projects; $739 million; rock salt, $732 million; and sulfur, $105 million. Switzerland, 11%; and the United Kingdom, 9%. Projects in In terms of tonnage of output, sand and gravel was a significant the energy, minerals, and metals sectors accounted for 4% of mineral commodity [with a total production of 248 million metric all FDI projects in 2014; the principal sectors that received tons (Mt)], as was natural broken stone and lignite. Lignite was FDI investment were the information and communications the principal locally produced energy source in the country. technology, and software sectors, with 18%, and the business The processing and manufacture of such metals as lead, nickel, and steel were also important to Germany’s economy, as were the processing and manufacture of industrial components 1Where necessary, values have been converted from euro area euros (EUR) to U.S. dollars (US$) at an annual average exchange rate of about and minerals, such as cement (table 1; Bundesanstalt für EUR0.7525=US$1.00 for 2014. All values are nominal, at current prices, unless Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, 2015, 15–17). otherwise stated.

Germany—2014 18.1 Government Policies and Programs which increased by 22%; residual fuel oil, by 16%; and coke, by 12%. Production of liquefied petroleum gas decreased by 12% in Germany’s main mining law is the Federal Mining Act (BGBl. 2014; that of crude petroleum, naphtha, and petroleum coke, by IS. 1310), which was approved on August 13, 1980, and revised 9% each; associated natural gas, by 8%; nonassociated natural on December 9, 2006, through a slight revision to provisions of gas, by 6%; and dry natural gas, by 5% (table 1). Article 11 (BGBl. IS. 2833). The country’s production of some minerals (including anhydrite and gypsum, limestone and some Structure of the Mineral Industry other types of natural stone, peat, and some types of sand and gravel) was not directly regulated under the Federal Mining Act Table 2 lists the major mineral industry facilities in Germany but was covered by a variety of other land-management and in 2014. Since the closure of the last metal mines in 1992, no environmental regulations at both the Federal and State levels. metallic ores (with enough metal content for metallurgical use) Also, the establishment of the Federal Mines Inspectorate was not have been produced in Germany. Many of the leading companies stipulated in the Federal Mining Act (although this inspectorate in the global metal-processing sector owned and operated does enforce many of the regulations in the main mining law); significant facilities in Germany in 2014. ThyssenKrupp AG the Federal Mines Inspectorate was established through Articles (based in Duisburg, Germany) was the leading producer of 83 and 84 of Germany’s Constitution (Bundesministerium der crude steel in Germany and the 19th-ranked producer of crude Justiz, 2007, p. 1; Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und steel in the world. Salzgitter AG (based in Salzgitter, Germany) Rohstoffe, 2013, p. 13–15; Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und was the s