Minerals mining boosts jobs in the Midwest

In the U.S. Midwest, unemployment rates have steadily declined as companies respond to an increased demand for minerals.

An article from Bloomberg Businessweek highlights how in Wisconsin, the state Assembly recently sent a Senate bill aimed at making its mining permitting process more efficient, allowing for companies like Gogebic Taconite LLC to create more than 700 iron-mining jobs.

In Illinois, the unemployment rate fell from 11.2 percent to 9.8 percent in 2010 as a result of Caterpillar Inc., the world’s largest maker of mining equipment, expanding to meet the demand for shovels and trucks used by mineral miners.

Read the full article here.