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- Coal is the mainstay of many other manufacturing industries including the cement industry, which uses coal in the range 0.13 - 0.22 tonne to produce one tonne of cement.
- Aggregates are the most widely used mineral products; New Zealanders use over six tonnes per person per year.
- Salt has been used as a religious symbol and a condiment for many centuries, and was a highly prized, tradeable commodity. New Zealand produces an average of 60,000 tonnes of salt per year.
- About 300 tonnes of raw materials per day are used by a major Auckland brickworks.
- New Zealand exports halloysite clay to more than 20 countries where it is used to make white, translucent china and porcelain.
- At least 145 countries have mining industries producing about 70 mineral commodities that are traded on a significant scale.
- The Te Papa (Museum of NZ) building in Wellington contains:
- 80,000 cubic metres of concrete made from local aggregate supplies
- 2,000 km of reinforcing steel
- 14,500 stone panels, mainly of South Island dolomite, which clad much of its exterior
- 80,000 cubic metres of concrete made from local aggregate supplies
- A TV set is made of more than 35 metals, as well as non-metals such as silica for the glass screen.
- An ordinary light bulb is made from eight metals and at least four other minerals.
- Almost all of the gold that has been produced in the 6,000 years that it has been mined, is still in circulation.
- The largest use of silver is in photography which accounts for about 35 percent of all silver that is used throughout the world.
- Thirty years ago a telephone contained only a few metals; today the range has increased to about 17 different metals.
- The Ericsson Stadium is a rehabilitated quarry, which, when it was operating, provided building materials for Auckland City.
- New Zealand has always been a leader in mining technology with:
- The first development of the gold dredge on the Clutha River
- The first mine in the world (Karangahake) to use the cyanide gold recovery process on a commercial scale in 1889.
- The first commercial use of recycled cyanide at the Golden Cross Mine in 1991.
- The economic recovery of iron by direct reduction of ironsand at the Glenbrook Steel Mill in 1970.
- The first development of the gold dredge on the Clutha River
- Gold miners in the early 1870s introduced the herb Thymus vulgaris, which spread and now covers in excess of 2000 hectares of hill country surrounding Alexandra. It is believed that Central Otago is the only place in the world, apart from Spain and other European countries bordering the Mediterranean, where common thyme grows.
- Some rhyolitic volcanic rocks of the Central North Island, known as 'perlites', have the property of swelling as much as 10 times when heated to about 1000ºC.
- The first experiments with metalworking were made in Iran and Turkey soon after 7000 BC.
- The discovery of bronze (mixing tin and copper together), is estimated to have been made about 3000 BC.
- The oldest map in existence is of a gold mining district in ancient Egypt and dates back to about 1350 BC.
- Pure gold coins were first issued in Lydia by King Croesus between 560 and 546 BC.
- A thirteenth centrury golden Buddha statue in Bangkok weighs over five tonnes.
- The largest gold nugget discovered in New Zealand in 1909, was the "Honourable Roddy' which weighed 3.7 kg and was found at Ross Flat on the West Coast.
- The Javeri Bazaar in Bombay, India, is the worlds largest gold-trading street market.
- The large buildings in our major cities each contain about 100,000 tonnes of minerals.
- Antimony minerals were used as early as 6000 years ago in containers, mirrors and bells. Today antimony compounds are widely used in textiles, plastics and paints as a fire-retarding agent.
- 1200 BC was the start of the Iron Age. Iron is the dominant metal used in all modern societies.
- Copper, gold and silver are believed to be the first metals known to man because they exist in the metallic state.
- The Industrial Revolution that began in Britain early last century, was fuelled by coal.
- The largest hoard of gold is in the vaults of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York - more than 12,500 tonnes.
- Copper is the eighth most abundant metal in the Earth's crust.
- The Used Oil Recovery Programme that has been set up by the major oil companies and Milburn New Zealand Ltd, recycles waste engine oil by burning the oil in the cement kilns, thereby reducing the CO2 effect and preventing the oil being dumped into land fills.
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