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Production of Crucial Materials
The data on this map portray the production of the world's most important metals for the operation of a modern industrial economy. The sector graphs across the bottom of the map show the percentage of production of crucial materials by the 10 leading countries for each of 10 materials. For copper, lead, mercury, nickel, tin, and zinc, the annual production data reflect the metal content of the ore mined. Aluminum (or bauxite ore) and iron ore production are expressed in gross weight of ore mined. Cadmium production refers to the refined metal, and crude steel production to usable ingots, cast products, and liquid steel. Some of the world's top consumer nations of these critical metals are also among the world's top producer nations. | ||||||