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2025 Draft List of Critical Minerals

By Mineral Resources Program
Please see "Detailed Description"
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About the 2025 Draft List of Critical Minerals

Six icons and labels illustrating what the List of Critical Minerals informs. Detail in description.

Check here for 2025 List of Critical Minerals information, including status updates, related publications, and more.

About the List

What are Critical Minerals?

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Minerals that are “critical” are both essential to the Nation’s economy or national security and have supply chains that are vulnerable to disruption. 

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2025 List of Critical Minerals Methodology

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This analysis represents the latest technical input for evaluating each mineral commodity’s supply risk and determining their recommended status on the List.

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Detailed Description

The List of Critical Minerals Informs: 

  • Supply chain risk mitigation 

  • Federal policy and strategy 

  • Stockpiles 

  • Permitting Processes 

  • Scenario Planning 

  • Private investment 

USGS Methodology 

  1. Eighty-four mineral commodities are grouped into supply chains 

  2. To determine if the impacts of trade disruption on the U.S. economy are significant, an economics effects assessment and a scenario probabilities assessment are conducted. Over 400 industries and more than 1,200 trade disruption scenarios are analyzed as part of the assessments.    

  3. Each mineral commodity is then categorized by its risk of a trade disruption. A risk probability weighting is calculated by multiplying the likelihood of a scenario occurring by the impact of the scenario. If the risk is high, elevated, or moderate, the commodity is proposed for inclusion on the List.   

  4. If the risk is limited, negligible, or negative, the commodity is then assessed for a single point of failure in the supply chain. If there is a single domestic producer for that commodity, it is proposed for inclusion on the List. 

Minerals in Focus 

Samarium 

  • List Ranking: 1 

  • Leading Producer:  China 

  • Industries at Risk:  Defense, Navigation 

Rhodium 

  • List Ranking:  2 

  • Leading Producer:  South Africa 

  • Industries at Risk:  Automotive, Electronics 

Niobium 

  • List Ranking: 10 

  • Leading Producer:  Brazil 

  • Industries at Risk:  Construction, Medical Equipment 

2025 Draft List of Critical Minerals (Ranked by Risk Classification) 

High 

  • Samarium 

  • Rhodium 

  • Lutetium 

  • Terbium 

  • Dysprosium 

  • Gallium 

  • Germanium 

  • Gadolinium 

  • Tungsten 

  • Niobium 

  • Magnesium 

  • Yttrium 

  • Potash 

Elevated 

  • Hafnium 

  • Aluminum 

  • Thulium 

  • Neodymium 

  • Silicon 

  • Antimony 

  • Barite 

  • Graphite 

  • Indium 

  • Vanadium 

  • Palladium 

  • Manganese 

  • Lanthanum 

  • Praseodymium 

  • Titanium 

  • Copper 

  • Platinum 

  • Ruthenium 

  • Zinc 

  • Iridium 

  • Cobalt 

  • Erbium 

  • Chromium 

  • Silver 

  • Tin 

  • Bismuth 

Moderate 

  • Nickel 

  • Tantalum 

  • Holmium 

  • Fluorspar 

  • Lithium 

  • Rhenium 

  • Cerium 

  • Lead 

  • Beryllium 

  • Europium 

  • Ytterbium 

Single Point of Failure 

  • Zirconium 

Qualitatively Assessed 

  • Cesium 

  • Rubidium 

  • Scandium 

Sources/Usage

Public Domain.

Related

Methodology and technical input for the 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals—Assessing the potential effects of mineral commodity supply chain disruptions on the U.S. economy Methodology and technical input for the 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals—Assessing the potential effects of mineral commodity supply chain disruptions on the U.S. economy

The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, is tasked by section 7002 (“Mineral Security”) of title VII (“Critical Minerals”) of the Energy Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–260, December 27, 2020, 116th Congress) with reviewing and revising the methodology used to evaluate mineral commodity supply risk and the U.S. List of Critical Minerals (LCM)...
Authors
Nedal Nassar, David Pineault, Sydney Allen, Dalton McCaffrey, Abraham Padilla, Jamie Brainard, Mani Bayani, Ensieh Shojaeddini, John Ryter, Sara Lincoln, Elisa Alonso
By
National Minerals Information Center

Related

Methodology and technical input for the 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals—Assessing the potential effects of mineral commodity supply chain disruptions on the U.S. economy Methodology and technical input for the 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals—Assessing the potential effects of mineral commodity supply chain disruptions on the U.S. economy

The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, is tasked by section 7002 (“Mineral Security”) of title VII (“Critical Minerals”) of the Energy Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–260, December 27, 2020, 116th Congress) with reviewing and revising the methodology used to evaluate mineral commodity supply risk and the U.S. List of Critical Minerals (LCM)...
Authors
Nedal Nassar, David Pineault, Sydney Allen, Dalton McCaffrey, Abraham Padilla, Jamie Brainard, Mani Bayani, Ensieh Shojaeddini, John Ryter, Sara Lincoln, Elisa Alonso
By
National Minerals Information Center
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