学生版Section 3 Mining and Manufacturing.pdfVIP

Understanding U.K. Ireland Understanding U.K. Chapter Ten Political System and National Economy B．National Economy Section 3 Mining and Manufacturing Mining Mining has been enormously important in British economic history, for example, in ancient times traders from the Mediterranean shipped tin from the mines of Cornwall; salt mining dates from prehistoric times. But today these tin mines are exhausted, and the last tin mine in Britain closed in 1998. Britain’s abundant coal resources were very important during the Industrial Revolution, when it was mined, used, and exported in large quantities, the entire populations moved to work at coal and iron sites in the north and Midlands of England. Peak production occurred in 1913, when more than 300 million tons were mined. Today coal has become less important to the British economy and supplies an ever-smaller proportion of Britain’s total energy need, production in 2003 was only 28 million tons. Raw materials for construction form the bulk of mineral production, including limestone, dolomite, sand, gravel, sandstone, common clay, and shale. Some coal is still mined, but petroleum and natural gas are far more important. Mining and quarrying, including oil and gas extraction, accounted for 2.6 percent of the GDP in the early 2000s and employed less than 1 percent of the labor force. M