Record setting exports from Colorado

Denver Business Journal reported last week that Colorado is on track this year to set a record in exports at $8.6 billion. Part of this growth is due to mineral and manufactured products, including motors and engines.

In 2012, Colorado mining produced $1.93 billion worth of molybdenum concentrates, gold and other minerals and employed 46,260 residents.

Unfortunately, future growth of minerals mining in Colorado could be stifled by the recent decision by the Bureau of Land Management to revoke public lands from mining in favor of solar energy research, jeopardizing the very technologies the government is trying to nurture while increasing our reliance on foreign sources of minerals.

In a state where manufacturing exports have grown only 2 percent since 2003 compared to the national average of 70 percent, according to the National Association of Manufacturers, the government should be doing all that it can to support minerals development in Colorado — not limiting it unnecessarily.