A US Census Bureau report has recorded a massive surge in mining machinery shipments for 2006. According to the report, Mining Machinery and Mineral Processing Equipment: 2006, US mining equipment manufacturers shipped $2.5 billion worth of goods in 2006, marking a 26.3% increase over the $2 billion shipped in 2005, which was nearly 40% better than shipments in 2004.

According to the report, shipments of underground mining machinery and equipment in 2006 totalled $684 million, marking a 14.6% increase over the 2005 figure. Shipments of portable drilling rigs jumped 41.6%, totalling $952.2 million in 2006. The growth in portable drilling rig shipments in 2006 follows a 46% increase recorded in 2005, while 2006 shipments of stationary, crushing, pulverising and screening machinery were valued at $478.5 million, an increase of 21.2%.

A complete copy of the report is available at: http://www.census.gov/industry/1/ma333f06.pdf.