Lyell noted the "economic advantages" that geological surveys could provide, citing their felicity in mineral-rich countries and provinces.

Iran is one of the most important mineral producers in the world, ranked among 15 major mineral-rich countries.

The future is grim for this largely agricultural but mineral-rich country of 29 million.

Most experts say the rebels control the eastern third of Congo, a mineral-rich country in Central Africa.

After three decades of corrupt rule under Mobutu Sese Seko, Congo, a vast and mineral-rich country, is impoverished and undeveloped, desperately needing allies, aid and foreign investment.

Across this Texas-sized, mineral-rich and immensely fertile country, the government offers its 12 million citizens social inequity and repression.

But this is only one trouble spot in the huge, mineral-rich country still struggling to recover from a 1998-2003 war that left millions dead and displaced and led to a humanitarian crisis.

Decades of misrule have reduced the 60 million people of this mineral-rich country to among the poorest in the world.

New regulation and process of legislative reforms aims to enrich the harmonization and stability of the mining sector in mineral-rich countries.

By the beginning of 20th century the booming and more complex mining sector in mineral-rich countries provided only slight benefits to local communities in terms of sustainability.