As usual, jno is, how do you Brit's say spot on? The vast areas of our western U.S. that produce millions of tons of coal and other minerals were all once part of a warm inland sea and produced thousands of square miles of sedimentary rocks along with the coal, etc. Huge areas producing, for example, uranium, were sedimentary rocks produced by eroding mountain ranges that exceeded the altitudes of the current Himalayas. The Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana, for example is nearly 400 miles long by 100 mile wide and contains enough high grade, low sulphur coal to power the U.S. for 500 years...
Gold, on the other hand is always found only near ancient volcanos (as is copper, iron and silver), some of which are still in mountainous areas of the U.S. (or in ancient riverbeds that washed down the minerals) Same with diamonds,