Quarried natural resources

Quarried natural resources

Natural stone and earth materials include a variety of mineral resources, in particular gravel and sand, crushed natural stone, natural stone, limestone, marlstone and dolomite, gypsum and anhydrite stone as well as coarse ceramic clay and loam. Stone and earth are bulk raw materials; they are site-specific due to geological conditions and are not evenly distributed across the country.

History

Quarrying has been handed down since the beginning of human history. According to scientific findings, the oldest known “stones from human hands” originate from the 9th to the 8th millennium B.C., taken from ground fortifications in the Middle East. The extraction of quarried natural resources also has a very long tradition in Germany. In the past, these natural resources were mainly extracted by hand, but companies today use modern technology. Geophysics, GPS, intelligent machine and plant control and largely automated processes control the extraction of these natural resources.

Economic Importance

Every year, the building materials and quarrying industry extracts roughly 560 million tonnes of primary raw materials (excluding quartz sand and gravel, kaolin and fine ceramic clay; these natural resources are covered in the section on industrial minerals) or uses these materials in production. In 2023, gravel and sands with 232 million tonnes and broken natural stone with 203 million tonnes represented the largest share of natural resources in terms of quantity in the German extractive industry. The total value of quarried natural resources was around EUR 5.7 billion in 2023. Thus in 2023 almost 40 % of the total value of natural resources mined in Germany was attributed to quarried natural resources.

Germany meets its own requirements for quarried natural resources largely from reserves within the country. In 2023, the extraction of quarried natural resources amounted to 515 million tonnes. Quarried products are generally mined on a regional basis and are transported over short distances to the consumers. The reason for this is that the transport costs are relatively high compared to the value of the material. Accordingly, foreign trade plays mainly a role in areas adjacent to the border. The main customers are the countries which are Germany’s direct neighbours, e.g. the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium. In 2023 (2024), imports in terms of volume were approx. 14.5 (14.6) million tonnes valued at EUR 1.2 (EUR 1.2) billion. Exports in terms of volume were approx. 23.2 (21.6 million tonnes valued at EUR 0.9 (EUR 0.9) billion.¹ In 2023 (2024), the quarried natural resources sector (including Other mining) employed 37,777 (37,364) people in Germany who are subject to social insurance contributions (see also Employment and Social Affairs).

Extraction

Quarried natural resources are mined decentrally and, with just a few exceptions, are extracted in open-cast operations. According to the association, mass building materials such as gravel and sand or natural stones were produced in around 2,700 plants in 2023. A plant/location may include several production sites in Germany.² When extracting sand and gravel, a distinction is made between dry and wet extraction, depending on the groundwater situation, and these two scenarios require different production techniques. Nearly all quarried natural resources require processing and refinement before they are sent on for their intended use. As non-renewable natural resources, they are also site-bound because of their volumes.

Uses

Around 80% of the quarried materials are supplied directly to the building industry (e.g. civil engineering to build road bases and wearing courses, track ballast) or are initially processed by the building products sector into basic and building materials (e.g. cement, concrete, quick lime, mortar, insulation materials, tiles, bricks) and then supplied to the construction industry. The remaining approx. 20% are used in the chemical, steel or glass industries. In addition to the quarried quantities of primary earth and stone, approx. 100 million tonnes of secondary raw materials (mineral construction waste and by-products from industrial processes) are used in the building industry every year.³ These result from e.g. the demolition of buildings, the production of pig iron (blast furnace slag) or from electricity generation in conventional power stations (FGD gypsum, fly ash). The use of secondary raw materials contributes to the substitution of primary natural resources. The substitution rate is around 15 %.^4,5

Other natural resources

Industrial minerals

History

Industrial minerals are mineral rocks that can be immediately used in industry due to their special chemical and physical properties, i.e. without any substance conversion. In addition to the salts already mentioned in section v., this group includes kaolin (also called porcelain earth), quartz sand (clay), special clay (fine ceramic clay), quartzite, feldspar, sticky sand, bentonite, silicas, fluorite and barite. Industrial minerals have been extracted in Germany for hundreds of years in very diverse quantities.

Economic Importance

Apart from salts, the two most important industrial minerals in Germany in terms of volume are quartz sand/gravel and fine ceramic clay with production volumes of around 9.1 million tonnes and about 1.9 million tonnes respectively in 2023. In 2023, the total value of the industrial minerals extracted in Germany was around EUR 262 million. In 2023, 400 thousand tonnes of quartz sands were imported, mainly from the Netherlands, France and Poland. In addition, around 330 thousand tonnes of kaolinic clay and loam were imported in 2023, mainly from the Netherlands, Great Britain and France.

Extraction

The extraction of industrial minerals in Germany is extremely regional in structure, due to natural conditions. While, for example, kaolin is produced in Bavaria and Saxony and silica in Bavaria, the extraction of special clay is mainly concentrated in Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. Apart from salts, industrial minerals in Germany are mainly mined above ground by small and medium-sized enterprises. In contrast, fluorite and barite are also mined underground. In Germany, industrial minerals are extracted at around 200 extraction sites, although this number varies slightly each year.

Uses

Due to their chemical and physical properties, industrial minerals are mainly used in the paper, chemical, glass, ceramic, refractory, foundry and steel industries. However, the pharmaceutical industry, environmental management (exhaust gas purification, wastewater treatment plants, solar panel and wind turbine plants) and the automotive industry also use industrial minerals.

Iron ore

In Germany, iron ore is mined in North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony-Anhalt. The iron ores extracted here are not smelted into iron, however, they are used mostly in the form of crushed stone, chippings and brittle sands as a coloured and iron-rich aggregate for the concrete or cement industry. Germany’s requirement for iron ore to produce pig iron is covered entirely through imports. In 2023 and 2024, this figure was around 35 million tonnes.⁶ In 2023 and 2024, the ore came mainly from Brazil, Canada, the Republic of South Africa, Sweden and the USA.

 

¹ Destatis (2025): Query export and import (foreign trade): Germany, years, commodity classification (51000-0005), GP2019 (4-digit). The following commodity groups were summed for the value determination: GP19-0811 ((natural stone, artificial stone, limestone, gypsum stone, chalk, slate); GP19-0812 (gravel, sand, clay and kaolin); GP19-0899 (quarried natural resources, not stated otherwise, other mining products)- The 2024 figures are provisional. As of February 2024.

² Bundesverband Mineralische Rohstoffe e.V. [Federal Association of Mineral Resources] (2024): Management Report for 2023/2024

³ RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research (2025): Study commissioned by the Bundesverband Baustoffe – Steine und Erden e.V. (bbs): Demand for raw materials 2045: Securing resources, building the future. Prospects for mineral primary and secondary raw materials

⁴ Bundesverband Baustoffe – Steine und Erden e.V. (bbs): Supply of raw materials

⁵ RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research (2025): Study commissioned by the Bundesverband Baustoffe – Steine und Erden e.V. (bbs): Demand for raw materials 2045: Securing resources, building the future. Prospects for mineral primary and secondary raw materials

⁶ Destatis (2025): Query export and import (foreign trade): Germany, years, commodity classification (51000-0005), GP2019 (4-digit). Data for 2024 are provisional, DESTATIS revision status 02/2024 for iron ore imports.