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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.

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Minerals Information Publications

2019 MCS report cover

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 Publications

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Product collections resulting from previous science activities and external research program grant final reports.

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Select the USB image or button below to open a downloadable and printable handout in .pdf format. The handout provides a select listing of publications, data releases, and websites directly related to the MRP funded science priorities. 

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Filter Total Items: 2294

Temporal relations between the Boulder Batholith and Elkhorn Mountains Volcanics, western Montana: “The Nature of Batholiths” revised

No abstract available. 
Authors
Karen Lund, John N. Aleinikoff
By
Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Hyperspectral remote sensing of white mica: A review of imaging and point-based spectrometer studies for mineral resources, with spectrometer design considerations

Over the past ~30 years, hyperspectral remote sensing of chemical variations in white mica have proven to be useful for ore deposit studies in a range of deposit types. To better understand mineral deposits and to guide spectrometer design, this contribution reviews relevant papers from the fields of remote sensing, spectroscopy, and geology that have utilized spectral changes caused by chemical v
Authors
John Michael Meyer, Elizabeth A. Holley, Raymond F. Kokaly
By
Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center, Spectroscopy Lab

Nanoscale isotopic evidence resolves origins of giant Carlin-type ore deposits

The western North American Great Basin's Carlin-type deposits represent the largest accumulation of gold in the Northern Hemisphere. The controversy over their origins echoes the debate between Neptunists and Plutonists at the birth of modern geology: were the causative processes meteoric or magmatic? Sulfur isotopes have long been considered key to decoding metal cycling in the Earth's crust, but
Authors
Elizabeth A. Holley, Alexandria M Fulton, C Jilly-Rehak, Craig A. Johnson, Michael Pribil
By
Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Geophysical imaging of the Yellowstone hydrothermal plumbing system

The nature of Yellowstone National Park’s plumbing system linking deep thermal fluids to its legendary thermal features is virtually unknown. The prevailing concepts of Yellowstone hydrology and chemistry are that fluids reside in reservoirs with unknown geometries, flow laterally from distal sources and emerge at the edges of lava flows. Here we present a high-resolution synoptic view of pathways
Authors
Carol A. Finn, Paul A. Bedrosian, W. Steven Holbrook, Esben Auken, Benjamin R. Bloss, Kayla (Jade) J Crosbie
By
Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Early Neoproterozoic gold deposits of the Alto Guaporé province, southwestern Amazon craton, western Brazil

The Alto Guaporé gold province, southwestern Amazon craton, contains gold deposits that have been mined since the beginning of the 18th century and these deposits, together, have modern-day, pre-mining gold resources of at least 1.8 Moz. The ore is associated with quartz vein systems along the southeastern part of the Aguapei belt, a ~35-km-wide and ~500-km-long, NNW-trending shear zone formed due
Authors
Rodrigo Prudente de Melo, Marcos Aurélio Farias de Oliveira, Richard J. Goldfarb, Craig A. Johnson, Erin E. Marsh, Roberto Perez Xavier, Leandro Rocha de Oliveira, Leah E. Morgan
By
Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Assessing mineral supply concentration from different perspectives through a case study of zinc

Increasing demand for nonfuel mineral commodities has increased concerns regarding the reliability of their supplies. “Criticality” assessments over the past decade have attempted to capture this concern through a set of indicators, the most common of which quantifies the risk associated with market concentration by applying the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) to the world production of a given c
Authors
Christine L. Thomas, Nedal T. Nassar, John H. DeYoung
By
Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Mineral Resources Program, National Minerals Information Center

A geochronological review of magmatism along the external margin of Columbia and in the Grenville-age orogens forming the core of Rodinia

A total of 4344 magmatic U-Pb ages in the range 2300 to 800 Ma have been compiled from the Great Proterozoic Accretionary Orogen along the margin of the Columbia / Nuna supercontinent and from the subsequent Grenvillian collisional orogens forming the core of Rodinia. The age data are derived from Laurentia (North America and Greenland, n = 1212), Baltica (NE Europe, n = 1922), Amazonia (central S
Authors
Ake Johansson, Bernard Bingen, Hannu Huhma, Tod Waight, Rikke Vestergaard, Alvar Soesoo, Grazina Skridlaite, Ewa Krzeminska, Leonid Shumlyanskyy, Mark E. Holland, Christopher Holm-Denoma, Wilson Teixeira, Frederico Faleiros, Bruno Riberio, Joachim Jacobs, Cheng-Cheng Wang, Robert Thomas, Paul Macey, Christopher Kirkland, Michael Hartnady, Bruce Eglington, Stephen Puetz, Kent Condie
By
Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous orogenic gold mineralization in the Klamath Mountains, California: Constraints from 40Ar/39Ar dating of hydrothermal muscovite

The Klamath Mountains gold province is the second most important historical producer in California, having produced more than 7 Moz of gold from both lode and placer sources. Hydrothermal muscovite grains from gold-bearing veins provide the first 40Ar/39Ar age constraints indicative of a protracted period of mineralization in the Klamath Mountains. The data indicate that the window for orogenic go
Authors
Ryan D. Taylor, Leah E. Morgan, Fred Jourdan, Thomas Monecke, Erin E. Marsh, Richard J. Goldfarb
By
Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Tungsten skarn potential of the Yukon-Tanana Upland, eastern Alaska, USA—A mineral resource assessment

Tungsten (W) is used in a variety of industrial and technological applications and has been identified as a critical mineral for the United States, India, the European Union, and other countries. These countries rely on W imports mostly from China, which leaves them vulnerable to supply disruption. Consequently, the U.S. government has a current initiative to understand domestic resource potential
Authors
George N. D. Case, Garth E. Graham, Erin E. Marsh, Ryan Taylor, Carlin J. Green, Philip J. Brown, Keith A. Labay
By
Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Alaska Science Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Data-driven prospectivity modelling of sediment-hosted Zn-Pb mineral systems and their critical raw materials

Demand for critical raw materials is expected to accelerate over the next few decades due to continued population growth and the shifting consumption patterns of the global economy. Sedimentary basins are important sources for critical raw materials and new discoveries of sediment–hosted Mississippi Valley–type (MVT) and/or clastic–dominated (CD) Zn–Pb deposits are likely required to mitigate futu
Authors
Christopher J. M. Lawley, Anne E. McCafferty, Garth E. Graham, David L. Huston, Karen D. Kelley, Karol Czarnota, Suzanne Paradis, Jan M. Peter, Nathan Hayward, Mike Barlow, Poul Emsbo, Joshua Aaron Coyan, Carma A. San Juan, Michael G. Gadd
By
Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Towards a holistic sulfate-water-O2 triple oxygen isotope systematics

Triple oxygen isotope (∆17O with δ18O) signals of H2O and O2 found in sulfate of oxidative weathering origin offer promising constraints on modern and ancient weathering, hydrology, atmospheric gas concentrations, and bioproductivity. However, interpretations of the sulfate-water-O2 system rely on assuming fixed oxygen-isotope fractionations between sulfate and water, which, contrastingly, are sho

Authors
Bryan Alan Killingsworth, Pierre Cartigny, Justin A. Hayles, Christophe Thomazo, Pierre Sansjofre, Virgil Pasquier, Stefan V. Lalonde, Pascal Philippot
By
Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Mendenhall Research Fellowship Program

Pb-Pb and U-Pb dating of cassiterite by in situ LA-ICPMS: Examples spanning ~1.85 Ga to ~100 Ma in Russia and implications for dating Proterozoic to Phanerozoic tin deposits.

This paper investigates applicability of cassiterite to dating ore deposits in a wide age range. We report in situ LA-ICPMS U-Pb and Pb-Pb dating results (n = 15) of cassiterite from six ore deposits in Russia ranging in age from ~1.85 Ga to 93 Ma. The two oldest deposits dated at ~1.83–1.86 Ga are rare metal Vishnyakovskoe located in the East Sayan pegmatite belt and tin deposits within the Tuyuk
Authors
Leonid A. Neymark, Anatoly M. Larin, Richard J. Moscati
By
Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center