There are some businesses that people do not pay much attention to. I have also discovered that in business, people usually have this bandwagon attitude; ‘Oh! Forex business is trending, let’s all go and do Forex’’ then everyone jumps into Forex business and before you know it, the business crashes and it’s back to square one and then we blame it on the economy or the government.

If there is one thing I have learned, it is that successful business owners think outside the box. They offer products and services that no one else is offering. They don’t jump on other people’s ideas; they create theirs or study the lapses in other people’s innovations and businesses and create a better option.

Everyone wants to buy and sell the same thing or offer the same services but the real money is not in these kinds of businesses. The real money is in the businesses that no one is paying attention to. Businesses like agriculture and mining are in the list of businesses that people do not pay much attention to. I agree that it is comparably difficult to set up a mining business and the business poses a lot of risks but which business is easy? If you take a quick trip to a website like Alibaba.com, you would see tons of buyers interested in buying products in the mining industry. So what are the business opportunities available in the mining industry?

Top 20 Small Business Opportunities in the Mining Industry

1. Limestone mining-: Limestone is the main ingredient used in making cement. You can start a business of mining limestone and selling to cement manufacturers. So, if you live in countries like USA, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, France, Nigeria or England, you could start a limestone mining business.

2. Iron-ore mining-: Iron-ore is the major mineral used in producing steel and can be found in countries like Nigeria, China, Australia, Brazil to mention few.

3. Mining Consultant-: Every industry needs a consultant who could offer advice, directions or suggestions to help the industry move forward.

4. Transportation Services-: After mining, these items need to be transported to places where they would be refined or used. You could build a haulage business that focuses on helping investors in the mining industry transport their goods safely.

5. Brokerage services-: I talked about Alibaba.com earlier in this article. There are several of such websites where you would find a lot of people who are hungry for several solid minerals. Likewise, there are miners who do not have an idea of where to sell their goods. You could earn commission from linking buyers and sellers together.

6. Financial Consultant-: You could also become a financial consultant to people in the mining business. You would help them secure funding, help them with tax issues and anything that has to do with the financial aspect of the business.

7. Machine sales-: Another business idea is to start selling equipment to people who are already in the mining business. Equipment used for mining is generally expensive, so you must be ready to invest a lot of capital in this business.

8. Oil-well leasing-: If you live in an oil producing country like Nigeria, Saudi-Arabia, Canada, Venezuela, Kuwait, Russia, China where there are large deposits of crude oil, you could lease an oil-well from the government or sub-lease from private investors and start mining crude oil.

9. Quarry-: Starting a quarry is also a very good business idea because stones are very important materials used in the construction industry.

10. Equipment leasing-: Not everyone in the mining industry can afford to buy all of the equipment that they need. You could purchase these equipment’s and rent them out to other people for a fee.

11. Power supply-: You could also start a business of selling generators or constructingalternative energy sources like solar energy or wind energy to people in the mining industry in order to help them cut power costs.

12. Crude oil importation/ exportation-: This is a two-way kind of business. If you live in an oil-producing country, you could start a crude oil exportation business while if you live in a country that doesn’t have natural crude oil deposits, you could start a business of importing crude oil into your country.

13. Petroleum refinery-: In countries like Nigeria where lack of functioning refineries is the major reason given for lack of affordable fuel in the country despite the fact that the country produces crude oil, you could set up a mini-refinery where petroleum products could be refined.

14. Gold mining-: Another business idea for miners is gold mining. Gold can be found in sizeable deposits in countries like Ghana, Australia, South Africa, Mongolia, Dominican Republic, and Russia. You could also start a business of buying and selling raw gold.

15. Business plan writing-: People who want to invest in the mining industry may not be able to write their own business plan or conduct feasibility studies by themselves. You could start a business of conducting feasibility studies, marketing research, writing business plans as well as business proposals.

16. Safety services-: Mining is a risky business. There are a lot of things that could go wrong if proper safety precautions are not taken which is why safety services are always needed in the mining industry. You could start a safety consultancy business which provides safety services in the mining industry.

17. Blogging/ Industry magazine-: There are several websites out there that provide information for people who want to invest in the mining industry or people who are already in the industry. A typical example is mining.com. You could start your own blog or online magazine with focus on the mining industry.

18. Risk assessment services-: You could also start a business of analyzing risks and possible problem areas for miners to avoid landslides, spills, earth-quakes and several unfortunate occurrences that have happened due to mining in the past.

19. Software development-: You could also develop and sell software that would make mining easier.

20. Data mining-: The mining industry is not strictly for solid minerals and oil deposits. There is something called data mining and it involves helping companies search for data and analyzing them in order to help them cut costs and increase revenue.