Press Room ::

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 16, 2008

For more information contact:
Dale Hoffman
State Energy Program Director
Wyoming Business Council
Office: 307.777.2805

Tom Lacock
Senior Marketing and Public Relations Specialist
Wyoming Business Council
Office: 307.777.2834

Minerals and Energy Yearbook to be released

CHEYENNE – Even with a drop of natural gas valuation, the minerals industry is still by far the largest single contributor to Wyoming’s economy. That is one of several findings in the 2007 Minerals and Energy Yearbook, which has been released by the Wyoming Business Council’s State Energy Office.

The Minerals and Energy Yearbook, assembled by Dale Hoffman, program manager of the state energy program, in the Wyoming Business Council’s State Energy Office, is now available on the Wyoming Business Council Web site at (http://www.wyomingbusiness.org/pdf/energy/ 2007_Yearbook.pdf).

This report outlines the distribution and status of the mineral industry in Wyoming during 2007. The 2007 valuation on minerals produced in 2006 was $14,586,380,458. This is 68 percent of the state’s total valuation and places Wyoming among the top ten mineral producing states in the nation. Total mineral income to the state of Wyoming, not including real property taxes, in 2007 was $3,031,269,007.

Despite a drop of nearly 1.4 billion dollars in natural gas valuation, Wyoming mineral income fell by a relatively small 320 million dollars, due to increases in other commodities, led by coal and oil, which experienced valuation gains of $600 million and $382 million, respectively.

“This book has been published in some form for 37 years,” said Hoffman. “It covers everything from coal, natural gas, petroleum, trona and bentonite to rock and decorative stone.”

The yearbook tracks the year’s mineral activity in Wyoming and contains information from the Wyoming Department of Revenue, the Wyoming State Treasurer’s Office, the State Office of Lands and Investments, and the Wyoming Geological Survey. Among the statistics are production, valuation and unit valuation of every mineral commodity produced in the state.

The yearbook will be available in hardcopy form in May. The hardcopy is free and can be obtained by contacting Hoffman at 307.777.2805 or by emailing dale.hoffman@wybusinness.org.

The mission of the Wyoming Business Council is to facilitate the economic growth of Wyoming. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.wyomingbusiness.org.

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