Mineral Resources Program
Publications
Results from our Program’s research and minerals information activities are published in USGS publications series as well as in outside journals. To follow Minerals Information Periodicals, subscribe to the Mineral Periodicals RSS feed.
Minerals Information Publications
National Mineral Information Center (NMIC) products focus on the worldwide supply of, demand for, and flow of minerals and materials. These products are organized by mineral commodity, geographic area, or monthly/annual statistical compilation.
NMIC PublicationsProduct Collections
Product collections resulting from previous science activities. Also includes final reports submitted by the Mineral Resources External Research Program (MRERP) grant recipients.
Global Mineral Resource Assessments
Historical-Federal Government Mineral Exploration-Assistance Programs
U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources ProgramMineral resource science supporting informed decisionmaking
Mineral resource database for deposits related to the Mesoproterozoic Midcontinent Rift System, United States and Canada
The Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) of North America is one of the world’s largest continental rifts and has an age of 1.1 Ga (giga-annum). The MRS hosts a diverse suite of magmatic and hydrothermal mineral deposits in the Lake Superior region where rift rocks are exposed at or near the surface. As part of the construction of a database summarizing...
Woodruff, Laurel G.; Schulz, Klaus J.; Dicken, Connie L.; Nicholson, Suzanne W.
International geoscience collaboration to support critical mineral discovery
The importance of critical minerals and the need to expand and diversify critical mineral supply chains has been endorsed by the Federal governments of Australia, Canada, and the United States. The geoscience organizations of Geoscience Australia, the Geological Survey of Canada and the U.S. Geological Survey have created the Critical Minerals...
Conceptual framework and approach for conducting a geoenvironmental assessment of undiscovered uranium resources
This report presents a novel conceptual framework and approach for conducting a geologically based environmental assessment, or geoenvironmental assessment, of undiscovered uranium resources within an area likely to contain uranium deposits. The framework is based on a source-to-receptor model that prioritizes the most likely contaminant sources,...
Gallegos, Tanya J.; Walton-Day, Katherine; Seal, Robert R.
Northward migration of the Oregon forearc on the Gales Creek fault
The Gales Creek fault (GCF) is a 60-km-long, northwest-striking dextral fault system (west of Portland, Oregon) that accommodates northward motion and uplift of the Oregon Coast Range. New geologic mapping and geophysical models confirm inferred offsets from earlier geophysical surveys and document ∼12 km of right-lateral offset of a basement high...
Wells, Ray; Blakely, Richard J.; Bemis, Sean Surficial geochemistry and bioaccessibility of tellurium in semi-arid mine tailings
Tellurium (Te) is a critical element due to its use in solar technology. However, some forms are highly toxic. Few studies have examined Te behavior in the surficial environment, thus little is known about its potential human and environmental health impacts. This study characterizes two physicochemically distinct Te-enriched mine tailings piles...
Hayes, Sarah M.; Ramos, Nicole A
Mineral Commodity Summaries 2019
Published on an annual basis, this report is the earliest Government publication to furnish estimates covering nonfuel mineral industry data and is available at https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/mcs/. Data sheets contain information on the domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, and 5-year salient statistics for more than...
The Zn–Pb mineralization of Florida Canyon, an evaporite-related Mississippi Valley-type deposit in Bongará district, northern Peru
The Florida Canyon evaporite-related Zn–Pb sulfide deposit, in northern Peru, is one of the largest Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) deposits in South America. Triassic carbonate and former evaporite-bearing rocks of the Pucará Group host the ore bodies that comprise two different styles: (i) predominantly stratabound ore associated with hydrocarbon-...
de Oliveira, Saulo B; Leach, David L; Juliani, Caetano; Monteiro, Lena VS; Johnson, Craig A.
Geology and assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Lomonosov-Makarov Province, 2008
The Lomonosov-Makarov Province lies in the central Arctic Ocean and encompasses the northern part of the oceanic Amerasia Basin (Makarov and Podvodnikov Basins) and the adjoining Lomonosov Ridge and Siberian continental margins. The Amerasia Basin is thought to have been created in the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous by rotational rifting of the...
Moore, Thomas E.; Gautier, Donald L.; Moore, Thomas E.; Bird, Kenneth J.; Pitman, Janet K.
Alaska Geochemical Database Version 3.0 (AGDB3)—Including “Best Value” Data Compilations for Rock, Sediment, Soil, Mineral, and Concentrate Sample Media
The Alaska Geochemical Database Version 3.0 (AGDB3) contains new geochemical data compilations in which each geologic material sample has one “best value” determination for each analyzed species, greatly improving speed and efficiency of use. Like the Alaska Geochemical Database Version 2.0 before it, the AGDB3 was created and designed to compile...
Granitto, Matthew; Wang, Bronwen; Shew, Nora B.; Karl, Susan M.; Labay, Keith A.; Werdon, Melanie B.; Seitz, Susan S.; Hoppe, John E.
Hydrologic balance, water quality, chemical-mass balance, and geochemical modeling of hyperalkaline ponds at Big Marsh, Chicago, Illinois, 2016–17
Hyperalkaline (pH greater than 12) ponds and groundwater exist at Big Marsh near Lake Calumet, Chicago, Illinois, a site used by the steel industry during the mid-1900s to deposit steel- and iron-making waste, in particular, slag. The hyperalkaline ponds may pose a hazard to human health and the environment. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in...
Gahala, Amy M.; Seal, Robert R.; Piatak, Nadine M.
Airborne radiometric maps of Mountain Pass, California
Geophysical investigations of Mountain Pass and vicinity were begun as part of an effort to study regional crustal structures as an aid to understanding the geologic framework and mineral resources of the eastern Mojave Desert. The study area encompasses Mountain Pass, host to one of the world’s largest rare earth element carbonatite deposits. The...
Ponce, David A.; Ponce, David A.; Denton, Kevin M.
Soil mineralogy and geochemistry along a north-south transect in Alaska and the relation to source-rock terrane
Soils collected along a predominately north-south transect in Alaska were used to evaluate regional differences in the soil mineralogy and geochemistry in the context of a geotectonic framework for Alaska. The approximately 1,395-kilometer-long transect followed the Dalton, Elliott, and Richardson Highways from near Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. Sites...
Wang, Bronwen; Hults, Chad P.; Eberl, Dennis D.; Woodruff, Laurel G.; Cannon, William F.; Gough, Larry P.