Mineral Resources Program

Mineral elements provide the color in fireworks. Barium produces bright greens; strontium yields deep reds; copper produces blues; and sodium yields yellow. Other colors can be made by mixing elements: strontium and sodium produce brilliant orange; titanium, zirconium, and magnesium alloys make silvery white; copper and strontium make lavender. Gold sparks are produced by

The 43rd annual Mineral Commodity Summaries report from the USGS National Minerals Information Center is the earliest comprehensive source of 2019 world mineral production data. It includes information on the domestic industry structure, government programs, and tariffs as well as five-year salient statistics on more than 90 mineral commodities that are important to the U.

Bokan Mountain, Alaska.

Geologist at Yukon Tanana Uplands Alaska.  This is part of the Earth MRI project.

The Alaska North Slope is rich in gas hydrate-bearing formations which contain significant natural gas resources. The USGS has released a geologically based assessment for how much of these resources is technically recoverable.

53.8 trillion cubic feet
Estimate of the undiscovered technically recoverable amount of natural gas that is stored in

To make America’s economy and defense more secure, the Administration has released “A Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals.” Among other roles, these mineral commodities are vital to renewable energy infrastructure like solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries.

Solar Panels |

Figure 1 from USGS Fact Sheet 2019-3007 The Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI): Mapping the Nation’s Critical Mineral Resources.

Figure 1. Planned applications for data acquired during the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI). Images are from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Sources for images in left column, from top to bottom: Topography:

Table 6.  Summary of OH-related near-infrared spectral features of unexpanded and expanded vermiculite ores.

Notes: Vibrational positions from spectra of handpicked, ground mica flakes from the unexpanded GDS469 ore sample from Libby, MT; and the expanded vermiculite ores as noted.  Vibrational assignments from this study.  o_a = OH overtone;

Table A5.  Electron probe microanalysis analyses and resulting formula of an unexpanded VTx-1 Mg-vermiculite sample from Llano, Texas. 

Notes:

^a Microprobe data for all Fe are binned into FeO.

^b There are no data on H₂O content. 

Table 1.  Expanded vermiculite ores examined in this study: their sources and amphibole, talc, and/or serpentine impurities.

Notes: XRD = X-ray diffraction analysis of bulk ore samples (B) and sink fractions (S).  SEM-EDS = Scanning Electron Microscope – Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy.  Band Depth Ratio = 1.40/1.42-µm band depth ratio.  The use of "sodic-

Table 2.   Average EPMA chemical analyses and calculated mineral formulas of selected unexpanded vermiculite ores.

Notes: Compositions of bulk samples not individual minerals.  n = number of microprobe spot analyses collected on multiple mica flakes used to calculate the averaged composition of each sample.   ---- = not enough cation Al and/or Mg to assign to this