Sulfur is also a major by-product of and can be extracted from coal, ores, and minerals such as gypsum, cinnabar, barite, and pyrite (fool's gold). From an economic perspective, most of the world's sulfur production is used to make sulfuric acid (H2SO4), approximately 40 million tons every year just in the U.S. Fertilizers and lead-storage automobile batteries consume a large portion of this supply, with smaller amounts used as insecticides, as dyeing agents, in the manufacture of gunpowder, and to vulcanize natural and synthetic rubbers to impart desirable mechanical properties.