Biggest CapEx Basic Materials Stocks
Top basic materials companies ranked by capital expenditures, latest annual filings.
What Capital Expenditures Mean for Basic Materials Companies
Capital expenditures in basic materials fund mines, smelters, refineries, chemical plants, and paper mills, all assets that take years to build and decades to operate. Project development timelines of five years or longer mean that capex decisions made at one point in the cycle determine production capacity well into the next, with permitting delays and cost overruns frequently pushing projects materially off their original budgets and timelines.
Why Capital Expenditures Matter Less Than They Seem
Capex that extends low-cost reserves or builds tier-one processing capacity can produce returns for generations. Still, the sector has repeatedly seen industry-wide buildouts peak together, creating oversupply and collapsing margins for years after commissioning. Aggregated industry capex often predicts weak forward returns because individual producer decisions, each defensible in isolation, combine into a collective overinvestment that the market then has to absorb.
What to Read Alongside
Pair capex with Free Cash Flow for cash after sustaining capital, Net Income for the profit the asset base produces, and Long-term Debt because large projects are often partly debt-financed.
| # | Symbol | Company | Sector | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RIO | Rio Tinto Group | Basic Materials | $12.34B | $136.19B |
| 2 | BHP | BHP Group Limited | Basic Materials | $9.85B | $203.04B |
| 3 | APD | Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. | Basic Materials | $7.02B | $67.88B |
| 4 | LIN | Linde plc | Basic Materials | $5.26B | $236.54B |
| 5 | FCX | Freeport-McMoRan Inc. | Basic Materials | $4.49B | $85.33B |
| 6 | MT | ArcelorMittal S.A. | Basic Materials | $4.34B | $45.85B |
| 7 | PKX | POSCO Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | $3.92B | $14.79B |
| 8 | B | Barrick Mining Corporation | Basic Materials | $3.82B | $66.77B |
| 9 | NUE | Nucor Corporation | Basic Materials | $3.42B | $55.58B |
| 10 | NEM | Newmont Corporation | Basic Materials | $3.04B | $125.65B |
| 11 | CRH | CRH plc | Basic Materials | $2.71B | $63.09B |
| 12 | TX | Ternium S.A. | Basic Materials | $2.66B | $9.65B |
| 13 | DOW | Dow Inc. | Basic Materials | $2.48B | $22.73B |
| 14 | AEM | Agnico Eagle Mines Limited | Basic Materials | $2.42B | $96.85B |
| 15 | NTR | Nutrien Ltd. | Basic Materials | $1.88B | $33.89B |
| 16 | LYB | LyondellBasell Industries N.V. | Basic Materials | $1.88B | $19.63B |
| 17 | AU | AngloGold Ashanti plc | Basic Materials | $1.45B | $47.03B |
| 18 | GFI | Gold Fields Limited | Basic Materials | $1.40B | $34.90B |
| 19 | MOS | The Mosaic Company | Basic Materials | $1.36B | $7.11B |
| 20 | TECK | Teck Resources Limited | Basic Materials | $1.34B | $29.69B |
| 21 | SCCO | Southern Copper Corporation | Basic Materials | $1.33B | $142.73B |
| 22 | SSL | Sasol Limited | Basic Materials | $1.27B | $9.51B |
| 23 | SBSW | Sibanye Stillwater Limited | Basic Materials | $1.23B | $6.72B |
| 24 | GGB | Gerdau S.A. | Basic Materials | $1.22B | $8.59B |
| 25 | KGC | Kinross Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | $1.19B | $26.20B |
| 26 | HMY | Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited | Basic Materials | $1.09B | $10.77B |
| 27 | SID | Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional | Basic Materials | $1.08B | $1.13B |
| 28 | ECL | Ecolab Inc. | Basic Materials | $1.05B | $84.33B |
| 29 | WLK | Westlake Corporation | Basic Materials | $995.00M | $8.12B |
| 30 | CF | CF Industries Holdings, Inc. | Basic Materials | $950.00M | $17.75B |
| 31 | STLD | Steel Dynamics, Inc. | Basic Materials | $948.02M | $31.70B |
| 32 | CX | CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. | Basic Materials | $947.00M | $15.47B |
| 33 | SQM | Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. | Basic Materials | $876.68M | $16.43B |
| 34 | EGO | Eldorado Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | $866.36M | $9.29B |
| 35 | SUZ | Suzano S.A. | Basic Materials | $836.01M | $11.90B |
| 36 | MLM | Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. | Basic Materials | $807.00M | $36.85B |
| 37 | SHW | The Sherwin-Williams Company | Basic Materials | $797.60M | $83.13B |
| 38 | AMRZ | Amrize Ltd | Basic Materials | $788.00M | $22.29B |
| 39 | PPG | PPG Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | $778.00M | $27.03B |
| 40 | LAC | Lithium Americas Corp. | Basic Materials | $765.04M | $700.67M |
| 41 | EQX | Equinox Gold Corp. | Basic Materials | $692.35M | $13.45B |
| 42 | VMC | Vulcan Materials Company | Basic Materials | $677.70M | $36.29B |
| 43 | AA | Alcoa Corporation | Basic Materials | $618.00M | $10.44B |
| 44 | IFF | International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. | Basic Materials | $594.00M | $20.69B |
| 45 | CTVA | Corteva, Inc. | Basic Materials | $591.00M | $7.94B |
| 46 | ALB | Albemarle Corporation | Basic Materials | $589.80M | $11.71B |
| 47 | CLF | Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. | Basic Materials | $561.00M | $6.54B |
| 48 | EMN | Eastman Chemical Company | Basic Materials | $546.00M | $7.36B |
| 49 | AGI | Alamos Gold Inc. | Basic Materials | $507.10M | $13.32B |
| 50 | BVN | Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. | Basic Materials | $473.01M | $7.11B |
| 51 | HBM | Hudbay Minerals Inc. | Basic Materials | $466.70M | $9.29B |
| 52 | EXP | Eagle Materials Inc. | Basic Materials | $416.74M | $5.66B |
| 53 | WFG | West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. | Basic Materials | $411.00M | $5.31B |
| 54 | AAUC | Allied Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | $408.14M | $3.25B |
| 55 | JHX | James Hardie Industries plc | Basic Materials | $383.90M | $16.17B |
| 56 | NEXA | Nexa Resources S.A. | Basic Materials | $351.87M | $1.51B |
| 57 | KNF | Knife River Corporation | Basic Materials | $348.04M | $3.20B |
| 58 | CE | Celanese Corporation | Basic Materials | $343.00M | $5.10B |
| 59 | SOLS | Solstice Advanced Materials, Inc. | Basic Materials | $336.00M | $9.12B |
| 60 | DD | DuPont de Nemours, Inc. | Basic Materials | $333.00M | $19.42B |
| 61 | CSTM | Constellium SE | Basic Materials | $330.00M | $2.93B |
| 62 | RS | Reliance, Inc. | Basic Materials | $328.90M | $21.24B |
| 63 | PAAS | Pan American Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | $314.00M | $16.98B |
| 64 | IAG | IAMGOLD Corporation | Basic Materials | $293.50M | $10.71B |
| 65 | CBT | Cabot Corporation | Basic Materials | $274.00M | $3.65B |
| 66 | UFPI | UFP Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | $269.38M | $4.36B |
| 67 | ERO | Ero Copper Corp. | Basic Materials | $262.75M | $3.01B |
| 68 | HL | Hecla Mining Company | Basic Materials | $252.39M | $9.90B |
| 69 | ARIS | Aris Mining Corporation | Basic Materials | $243.91M | $3.23B |
| 70 | BCC | Boise Cascade Company | Basic Materials | $241.43M | $2.44B |
| 71 | ASTL | Algoma Steel Group Inc. | Basic Materials | $239.57M | $568.46M |
| 72 | SSRM | SSR Mining Inc. | Basic Materials | $230.20M | $5.66B |
| 73 | OLN | Olin Corporation | Basic Materials | $226.30M | $1.97B |
| 74 | SLVM | Sylvamo Corporation | Basic Materials | $224.00M | $1.57B |
| 75 | RPM | RPM International Inc. | Basic Materials | $223.51M | $13.18B |
| 76 | CDE | Coeur Mining, Inc. | Basic Materials | $221.16M | $15.81B |
| 77 | DRD | DRDGOLD Limited | Basic Materials | $215.42M | $2.21B |
| 78 | SKE | Skeena Resources Limited | Basic Materials | $214.71M | $3.88B |
| 79 | CC | The Chemours Company | Basic Materials | $213.00M | $1.92B |
| 80 | AXTA | Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. | Basic Materials | $196.00M | $7.80B |
| 81 | AUGO | Aura Minerals Inc. | Basic Materials | $179.43M | $6.52B |
| 82 | HUN | Huntsman Corporation | Basic Materials | $173.00M | $1.66B |
| 83 | MP | MP Materials Corp. | Basic Materials | $172.38M | $6.31B |
| 84 | EXK | Endeavour Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | $169.20M | $2.32B |
| 85 | SSD | Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc. | Basic Materials | $161.04M | $8.07B |
| 86 | SIM | Grupo Simec, S.A.B. de C.V. | Basic Materials | $160.59M | $3.99B |
| 87 | TTAM | Titan America SA | Basic Materials | $160.54M | $2.08B |
| 88 | VMET | Versamet Royalties Corporation | Basic Materials | $159.46M | $993.61M |
| 89 | FUL | H.B. Fuller Company | Basic Materials | $142.28M | $2.68B |
| 90 | KALU | Kaiser Aluminum Corporation | Basic Materials | $136.90M | $1.75B |
| 91 | AMR | Alpha Metallurgical Resources, Inc. | Basic Materials | $127.15M | $1.87B |
| 92 | SCL | Stepan Company | Basic Materials | $122.51M | $1.52B |
| 93 | WS | Worthington Steel, Inc. | Basic Materials | $121.20M | $1.88B |
| 94 | GAU | Galiano Gold Inc. | Basic Materials | $114.92M | $653.98M |
| 95 | MTUS | Metallus Inc. | Basic Materials | $109.00M | $686.96M |
| 96 | MTX | Minerals Technologies Inc. | Basic Materials | $107.10M | $1.91B |
| 97 | AVNT | Avient Corporation | Basic Materials | $106.60M | $4.17B |
| 98 | TGLS | Tecnoglass Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | $101.26M | $1.95B |
| 99 | CENX | Century Aluminum Company | Basic Materials | $100.20M | $3.31B |
| 100 | SA | Seabridge Gold Inc. | Basic Materials | $99.89M | $2.84B |
No companies match this search.
How this ranking is built
Companies are ranked by capital expenditures as reported in their most recent annual filing with the SEC. Figures shown are in US dollars (or percent, as noted), rounded to two decimals.
- Source: annual 10-K / 20-F filings from companies trading on US exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX).
- Fiscal year: whichever annual period the company has most recently filed. Fiscal years don't always align with the calendar year, so the "as of FY" stamp above reflects the most common year across the table.
- Filtered out: warrants, preferred shares, and duplicate listings that share a parent company's financials.
- Size floor: A company qualifies at $500 million in market cap or above. Below that, one mis-stated figure outranks the companies the list is about.
- Currency check: A company whose annual revenue runs above 15 times its market cap is left out, because at that gap the two figures are not in the same currency.
- Currency check: A company whose balance sheet runs above 150 times its market cap is left out for the same reason.
- Market cap: stated at each company's latest close, which is newer than the annual figure ranked here.
- Update cadence: refreshed as companies file new annual reports (typically within 60–90 days of fiscal year end).
Not financial advice. This is a research tool, not a recommendation.
Frequently asked questions
Why is capex timing so important in basic materials?
Mining projects, smelters, and chemical plants often take five to ten years to bring from concept to first output, which means the market conditions at commissioning can be very different from those that justified the investment. Projects initiated during price peaks often arrive as commodity prices have already fallen, leading to returns well below original expectations. Firms with the discipline to develop through cycles rather than only during boom periods, and the patience to shelve projects when economics weaken, typically earn better returns across the long investment lives involved.
What is the difference between sustaining and growth capex in mining?
Sustaining capex funds the investment required to maintain current production, including underground development, equipment replacement, tailings management, and reclamation obligations that accrue with output. Growth capex funds new mines, expansions, and acquisitions. Sustaining capex often runs higher in basic materials than investors initially appreciate because ore grades decline over time at most mines and environmental requirements add cost. Free cash flow calculated after sustaining capex is therefore a more honest measure of distributable cash than operating cash flow alone.
How does permitting affect capex in the sector?
Major basic materials projects require environmental, water, land use, and often indigenous consultation approvals that can extend timelines by years and add significant cost. Permitting outcomes are uncertain and contested, and projects that were economically viable at initial planning can become marginal by the time approvals land. This dynamic has increased the optionality value of existing operating mines and refineries, since replacement capacity is harder to build, while also raising the capital committed to any single new project. Permitting risk has become a first-order consideration in capex planning.