The United States’ supply of critical minerals has been a concern and a source of potential strategic vulnerabilities for U.S. economic and national security interests for decades (for example, see Strategic and Critical Minerals Stockpiling Act, 1939). More recently, with the rapid increase in the types of materials being used in advanced technologies (Fortier et al. 2018a), and...

Authors

Steven M. Fortier, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Sarah J. Ryker, Warren C. Day, Robert R. Seal,

Geology, Energy, and Minerals Mission Area, Mineral Resources Program, National Minerals Information Center, Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI)

April 28, 2019

China’s domestic and foreign influence in the global cobalt supply chain China’s domestic and foreign influence in the global cobalt supply chain

In addition to increasing interest in the supply risk of minerals produced in China, there is also concern that China’s efforts to mitigate mineral supply risk—through foreign direct investment—may limit mineral availability for other countries in the short-term (due to production capacity constraints). However, little is publicly known about the quantity of global mineral production...

Authors

Andrew L. Gulley, Erin McCullough, Kim Shedd

Mineral Resources Program, National Minerals Information Center

March 1, 2019

Mineral resource of the month: Garnet Mineral resource of the month: Garnet

Garnet is the general name given to a group of complex silicate minerals, all with isometric crystal structure and similar properties and chemical composition. The most common garnet minerals are classified into three groups: the aluminum-garnet group, the chromium-garnet group and the iron-garnet group. Worldwide, garnet resources are large and occur in a wide variety of rocks...

Authors

Kenneth C. Curry

National Minerals Information Center