National Geochemical Database on Ore Deposits: New data featuring fusion digestion analytical methods

There is a growing demand for commodities (elements, compounds, minerals) used in today's advanced technologies. Critical minerals are usually found in ore deposits that are deemed vital to economic and national security. National Geochemical Database on Ore Deposits: New data featuring fusion digestion (NGDOD) analytical methods contains chemistry and geologic information for 16,579 ore and ore-related rock and mineral samples from mineral deposits and mining districts in the United States. Geochemical data sets from various mineral deposits were submitted by geologists of the Systems Approach to Critical Minerals Inventory, Research, and Assessment project within the U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resource Program. The data sets represent 22 mineral system types and 85 mineral deposit types, and were derived by using fusion digestion analytical methods that provide a near complete digestion and decomposition of the analyzed samples. The NGDOD also includes data from 966 rock samples of the Global Geochemical Database for Critical Minerals in Archived Ore Samples (2020) and 370 rock samples of the National Geochemical Database on Ore Deposits: Legacy data (2021). Much of this data has been compiled and is additionally found within smaller contributions. Please see references for the original sources of the data. The data may also have been utilized in interpretive manuscripts that have been published in peer-reviewed journals or other U.S. Geological Survey reports that can be found through cursory literature searches using authors and locations.