Manufacturing - In the late 1960s Virginia's rapidly growing manufactures ranked third among the eleven Southeastern states and seventeenth in the nation in numbers employed and value added. The four chief industries in order of value added were chemicals and chemical products, food and kindred products, tobacco products, and textile mill products. Its manufacturing structure is one of the most diversified and widely distributed in the nation, Almost half of the manufactures are outside metropolitan districts in each county and city in the state. Minerals - The most important of Virginia's mineral commodities in quantity and value is bituminous coal, found in seven counties of the Appalachian Plateau region. During the 1960s production increased from about 26,000,000 tons to more than 35,000,000 tons.
Tidewater furnishes sand, gravel, clay, and marl.
The sand and gravel combination used for building roads, third in importance among Virginia's mineral industries, comes mainly from this region. Clay from all sections of the state is used in brick, tile, and ceramic products. Underneath the Piedmont and Blue Ridge regions are belts of crystalline rocks that furnish a great reserve of stone. Production of crushed stone and concrete aggregate is statewide, ranking second in importance among mineral resources. Piedmont also furnishes soapstone and greenstone.