NSB’s environmental accounts reveal contrasting trends in timber, sand and mineral resources, highlighting the need to balance construction demand and mining activity with long-term resource sustainability
Bhutan’s natural-resource accounts show contrasting trends in the availability and extraction of timber, sand and minerals, with timber supply rising sharply in 2025, sand stocks recording modest growth and several non-renewable mineral reserves continuing to decline.
The figures, published in the National Statistics Bureau’s (NSB) Annual Environmental Accounts Statistics 2025, provide a comparative picture of resources that support construction, infrastructure development and industrial activity. The asset account covers timber, sand and selected mineral resources, including coal, dolomite, limestone, gypsum, quartzite, talc and iron ore. It uses information from agencies including the Natural Resources Development Corporation Limited (NRDCL), the Department of Forests and Park Services (DoFPS) and the Department of Geology and Mines (DGM).
The accounts are intended to help assess resource availability, extraction and depletion, although the report notes that data on metallic mineral resources is not available and that some mineral reserve estimates remain uncertain.
Timber recorded one of the clearest increases among the resources covered. Supply reached 12.87 million cubic feet in 2025, an increase of 36.79 percent from 9.41 million cubic feet in 2024.
The DoFPS supplied 81 percent of the total, while NRDCL accounted for the remaining 19 percent, according to the report.
Total timber supply stood at 16.19 million cubic feet in 2016 before falling in subsequent years, reaching 7.61 million cubic feet in 2023 and recovering to 9.41 million cubic feet in 2024.
In 2025, commercial use accounted for 9.78 million cubic feet of timber. A further 2.66 million cubic feet was supplied on a concessional basis, while 0.42 million cubic feet was recorded as free supply. The NSB reported that total sand stocks increased by 0.59 percent compared with 2024, while sand disposal declined by 1.75 percent. The figures were in a comparatively stable position during the year, in contrast to the much sharper increase in timber supply. Among the minerals covered, dolomite recorded the highest extraction in 2025 at 3.10 million metric tonnes. Its average annual extraction between 2015 and 2025 was estimated at 2.57 million metric tonnes, making it the most heavily extracted mineral in the report’s comparison. Coal extraction stood at 0.13 million metric tonnes in 2025, below its reported peak of 0.19 million tonnes in both 2018 and 2019. Extraction had fallen to 0.07 million tonnes in 2020 before rising to 0.17 million tonnes in 2024.
Limestone and gypsum extraction remained relatively stable over the 2015–2025 period, averaging 1.13 million and 0.48 million metric tonnes annually, respectively.
Quartzite and iron ore were also included in the physical asset accounts. The report recorded average iron ore extraction of about 0.02 million metric tonnes a year over the period, while talc extraction fluctuated considerably and was recorded at zero in 2025.
The physical asset accounts estimate that, by the end of 2025, Bhutan had 14,506.64 million metric tonnes of dolomite reserves, 148.01 million tonnes of limestone, 127.15 million tonnes of gypsum, 2.90 million tonnes of quartzite and 2.39 million tonnes of iron ore.
The report records coal and talc reserves as null in the closing-stock estimates. It explains that extraction has exceeded known reserves from 2018 onwards for these two minerals, which fall under the “possible” category, making the remaining quantities difficult to estimate accurately.
The report also cautions that coal and talc quantities cannot currently be accurately quantified and that preliminary estimates may be revised following further assessment.
The NSB also estimates the monetary value of selected mineral resources using the net present value of expected future extraction. The calculation uses a 12 percent discount rate based on the Bank of Bhutan’s fixed lending rate to mining and quarrying companies.
Under the report’s stated assumptions, the net present value for dolomite was estimated at Nu 128,713.17 million in 2025, compared with Nu 32,358.44 million for limestone, Nu 4,471.31 million for gypsum, Nu 518.41 million for quartzite and Nu 48.22 million for iron ore.
Tashi Namgyal, Thimphu
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