Images

From Maybe to Mineable

Scientists use different terms to communicate the strength of evidence - or uncertainty - for mineable minerals. 

On a scale from less information and higher uncertainty to more information and lower uncertainty:

Critical Mineral Focus Areas in the Conterminous United States Infographic Poster (24" X 36" original size)

The life cycle of molybdenum, from primary material to downstream products.

U.S. Geological Survey geophysicists Ray Kokaly (left) and Todd Hoefen (right) monitor incoming hyperspectral data in the hangar as NASA’s high‑altitude ER‑2 aircraft conducts mineral‑mapping flights over the western United States.

NASA’s ER‑2 high‑altitude research aircraft touches down in Colorado Springs May 11, 2026, after completing a hyperspectral survey flight for the joint USGS–NASA effort to map critical minerals across the western United States.

Graph of U.S. production (in millions of metric tons) of materials from 1900 to 2020, adapted from Materials flow in the United States—A global context, 1900–2020. 

Infographic flowchart summarizing the USGS methodology for technical input to the 2025 List of Critical Minerals. The full methodology is found here: Methodology and technical input for the 2025 U.S.

Mine wastes are produced at each stage of mineral production - mine wastes that can contain critical and other minerals, and could potentially be reprocessed. This infographic shows three kinds of mine wastes produced during mineral production, and a sense of scale of how much waste is produced:

Image for the USGS Colorado River Basin Actionable and Strategic Integrated Science and Technology (ASIST) Initiative, geonarrative about the intersection of water use for copper mining and historic drought in the Lower Colorado River Basin (primarily Arizona), April 7, 2026.

This is a partial representation of a geologic map of the Surficial geology of the glaciated region of the US. The blue dashed lines represent glacial and glaciofluvial features, roughly outlining the boundary of the glaciated region. The black outlined states represent the eight member states of the Great Lakes Geologic Mapping Coalition. 

This chart depicts funding amounts in US dollars awarded by the NCGMP's STATEMAP program by state for the time period between 1993 and 2025. Paler hues indicate lower funding amounts (with white being no funding), where darker hues show higher funding amounts. 

This photo shows members of the Utah Geological Survey staff alongside members of the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources as they conduct a field review of the Oljeto 7.5-minute quadrangle geologic map that was produced as a joint mapping project between both groups. 

The screenshot was captured from the 3D web viewer tool created by Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS).

This screen clipped image was generated with the Illinois State Geological Survey's 3D viewer. This map shows the surficial geology of Boon County, Illinois above a generated cross section along the red diagonal indicator line.

USGS Mineral Resources Program coloring page for cassiterite and the critical mineral tin.

The mineral cassiterite, chemical formula SnO₂, is the most important mineral source for the critical mineral tin. Fun facts: tin is one of the earliest metals used by humans! The chemical symbol for tin, Sn, comes from its Latin name, stannum.

USGS Mineral Resources Program color by number for the critical mineral graphite.

Critical Mineral Crossword Puzzle: Manganese

Manganese is listed as a "critical mineral". Learn about where we get manganese and how we use it by solving the crossword puzzle clues!

More information:

USGS Mineral Resources Program coloring page for the mineral galena and the critical mineral lead.

USGS Mineral Resources Program Critical Mineral Word Scramble Puzzle: Tantalum

USGS Mineral Resources Program coloring page for the critical mineral barite.

Barite, chemical formula BaSO₄, is a critical mineral. Fun fact: barite is one of the heaviest minerals that isn't a metal.

Critical Mineral Crossword Puzzle: Rhenium.

Rhenium is listed as "critical mineral". Learn about where we get rhenium and how we use it by solving the crossword puzzle clues!

More information