Technology has changed since the U.S. Geological Survey first began assessing U.S. mineral resources and analyzing mineral production and needs in 1879 - and issued its first statistical report on the U.S. mining industry in 1882.  Today, the USGS uses airborne hyperspectral surveys to understand U.S. mineral resources, an option not available to our second director, John Wesley Powell, who descended the Colorado River in wooden rafts.

Yet, U.S. leaders, industry and the public still need world-class science to decide how to supply the minerals the nation needs.

Today, the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Minerals Information Center in Reston, Virginia collects the official statistics on the domestic and global production of, supply of, demand for and trade of the minerals the Nation needs.

This mission is carried out by deeply experienced geologists, metallurgists, economists, engineers and supply chain analysts who, each year, collect data on over 90 mineral commodities from the United States and its territories, in 180 countries, and across 235 manufacturing industries. 

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Their data are relied on by national security and defense logistics leaders within the U.S. government, as well as manufacturers, mining companies, and investors.  To share all this information, the National Minerals Information Center produces over 675 publications each year, equaling approximately two publications a day, including annual Mineral Commodity Summaries which are released every year on January 31.

These data are powerful, providing deep insights into how much and how many minerals the United States are producing, which countries it relies on for imports, and how mineral production and consumption are changing over time. When combined with the center’s nearly century-long history, these data become even more valuable. 

“We do much more than collect and archive data; we serve as a link between the past and what’s to come,” said Elisa Alonso, assistant chief of National Minerals Information Center Minerals Intelligence section. “By studying the mineral economy’s patterns of the past, we can estimate how they will unfold in the future and help alert our leaders to supply chain risks.” 

The Center’s leaders explained that the mineral economy is complex, composed of moving parts all over the world. 

“The minerals used to create a cell phone, for instance, may have been mined in one country, processed in another, combined with other metals, and manufactured in yet another country before being assembled into the final product in your hand,” said Braden Harker, director of the National Minerals Information Center. 

According to Harker, the supply chains that deliver vehicles, appliances, technology, and military equipment are equally as complex. 

Tackling these complexities requires mountains of data. Experts at NMIC use the Center’s wealth of data and expertise to understand how supply of and demand for minerals is changing, and how natural disasters or international crises could send ripple effects through the U.S. and the world. 

For instance, the Center’s experts have studied the impact that earthquakes could have on global copper supplies, since many major copper mines, smelters and refineries are located in areas geologically prone to earthquakes. One take-away: the potential lost revenue for copper mining from earthquake disruptions could be as high as $1.29 billion.

“Both public and private sectors rely on NMIC to understand how minerals travel through the world and, crucially, which parts of essential supply chains could choke off the supply of minerals to the United States if disrupted,” Harker said.

NMIC analyses also highlight how potential mineral shortages could impact specific economic sectors within the United States.

Another study estimated the impact of a potential China export ban on gallium and germanium, two critical minerals used in technology and defense, finding a worst-case scenario of $3.4 billion in losses to the U.S. economy, borne largely by the U.S. semiconductor industry. These insights are helping prepare U.S. leaders and the private sector since China subsequently imposed such a ban.

As another example, NMIC data show that, while cobalt is a vital ingredient of lithium-ion batteries that power phones, laptops, cordless tools and gas turbines, it is also used in large quantities to manufacture equipment, airplanes and satellites. 

A disruption to U.S. cobalt supply could disrupt the technology industry within the United States. And cobalt has a high supply risk because cobalt production is overwhelmingly dominated by the Democratic Republic of Congo, and cobalt refining is dominated by China.

Scientists from NMIC advise the White House, Congress, and numerous other government organizations, including the intelligence agencies, the National Defense Stockpile, the Federal Reserve Board, Homeland Security, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, and State.  

The value of this kind of information was highlighted in the Energy Act of 2020, which asked the USGS to accelerate and expand NMIC’s critical mineral supply chain forecasting and analysis capabilities. Since then, NMIC has added additional data to its Mineral Commodity Summaries, developed a new World Minerals Outlook that projects global production capacity for critical minerals for the next five years, and is developing new methods to assess the economic impacts of specific disruptions. 

Teresa Kirschling, Acting USGS Associate Director for Energy and Mineral Resources, lauds the center as a high-quality and consistent source of transparent data essential to sound decision making. 

“A comprehensive understanding of our nation's mineral supply chains is essential for safeguarding the nation’s economy and national security. With its unparalleled data collection, analysis, and deep expertise across diverse mineral-based sectors of the economy, and across the globe, NMIC is uniquely positioned to inform solutions to the pressing supply chain challenges now and into the future.

The Center’s long run of continuous minerals data shows that as technology and infrastructure evolve and trade relationships change, the types of minerals we require and how we source them will continue to change. The information and analysis provided by the USGS are essential for solving pressing supply chain challenges now and into the future.

To learn more about the National Minerals Information Center, click here.