0

I tried to find a generic name for buildings that are involved in raw resources production. I thought about factory but it sounds more like transforming raw (or already manufactured) resources into something else.

Does a generic name exist for buildings producing raw resources ?

Edit: When I mention buildings, I'm talking about infrastructures involved in the extraction like oil platforms.

10
  • 4
    You cannot produce "raw" resources. Raw means they're found - in their natural state, unaltered - and therefore are not the result of some process. You can mine resources, or collect them, of course, but that doesn't happen inside a building. You might have a building which refines the raw resources collected externally, but then the output of the building is refined resources - the raw resources are the building's input.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Jul 21, 2015 at 14:01
  • The name for the process might be "resource extraction", "resource gathering", or, perhaps more poetically, "resource harvesting". I don't think there is a single word for a facility that does this. I might go with "extraction facility", "harvesting facility", etc. Commented Jul 21, 2015 at 14:17
  • @Dan Bron I'm not sure I entirely agree with you. It boils down to a question of what one considers a "raw" state. The OED has voluminous entries on the word "raw". But if you were, for example talking about raw silk - the OED defines it as: untreated silk fibres as reeled from cocoons; a fabric made from such fibres. There are many examples of this kind. I would feel happy talking about 'raw sugar', which is produced in a 'refinery' from sugar cane or sugar beet. In short raw does not always imply it as being exactly as the substance which was mined or harvested from the soil.
    – WS2
    Commented Jul 21, 2015 at 14:41
  • An offshore oil platform is a structure with buildings, but I don't think most people would refer to it as a building itself.
    – choster
    Commented Jul 21, 2015 at 14:46
  • @DanBron You can produce wood; surely wood qualifies as a "raw resource".
    – Val Kornea
    Commented Jul 22, 2015 at 0:06

4 Answers 4

2

Perhaps processing plant?

a factory where raw materials are treated or prepared by a special method, esp one where food is treated in order to preserve it

(Collins)

1

Mine is used literally and figuratively to describe a place where previously untapped resources can or are being produced.

The literal meanings (1-3) and figurative meaning (4) are (from Dictionary.com)

  1. an excavation made in the earth for the purpose of extracting ores, coal, precious stones, etc.
  2. a place where such minerals may be obtained, either by excavation or by washing the soil.
  3. a natural deposit of such minerals.
  4. an abundant source; store: a mine of information.

The corresponding verb is used to show the figurative use in this article, Oregon Truffles, Mining Oregon's Culinary Gold This shows how natural resources don't have to be resources to be produced (extracted) from the ground. Also, the resource doesn't necessarily have to be minerals in nature.

An article like this one, Mining Minerals from Seawater illustrates the point that mining physical doesn't need to be limited to working in the ground.

Also, let's not overlook the fact that any producer that is very productive of it's resources is often called a gold mine regardless of what is being produced.

1

A refinery is, according to Wikipedia,

a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value.

0

You are probably looking for warehouse:

  • a commercial building for storage of goods. Stored goods can include any raw materials, packing materials, spare parts, components etc.

Wikipedia

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .