Extractive Industry
What is the “extractive industry”?
The extractive industry is the business sector that physically removes exhaustible raw materials - such as metals, minerals, rocks, and oil - from the Earth.
How does the extractive industry fit into the structure of a nation’s economy?
A nation’s economy can be broadly broken into three basic industries:
- Primary industry is any activity that yields a physical product that does not require processing. Primary industry can be divided into two categories: extractive industry and genetic industry. Genetic industry is the harvesting of materials that can be made more plentiful through human intervention; thus, the genetic industry includes forestry, fishing and farming.
- Secondary industry is all manufacturing, whether of consumer, nonconsumer or capital goods. Energy production, such as oil refining, is considered a part of the secondary industry though oil drilling is considered a part of the extractive industry. The secondary industry can be divided into three categories: small-scale, light and large-scale industry.
- Tertiary industry is synonymous with the service industry. It produces no tangible goods.