Mineral Resource Formation

Beryllium (Be) is a critical metal mineral commodity with unique chemical properties, making it indispensable to the computer, telecommunication, aerospace, medical, defense, and nuclear industries. We are studying known deposits of beryllium to determine where undiscovered beryllium resources might be found, analyzing how and where beryllium becomes concentrated in Earth’s crust, gathering a...

Project objectives are to develop a modern probabilistic quantitative mineral resource assessment of Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and adjacent geologically similar areas that examines the potential for minerals-based economic development and trade within the region.

The Development of Assessment Techniques and Analysis Project (DATAPII) objective is to modernize the application and development of USGS mineral resource and integrated multiresource assessment methodologies and capacity that are applicable at a variety of spatial and temporal scales, and national and international in scope.

Project objectives are to 1) assess the overall life cycle of selected byproduct critical elements tellurium (Te), indium (In), gallium (Ga), and germanium (Ge), 2) perform an assessment of critical element resources and examine the processes and conditions controlling the concentration of byproduct critical elements by deposit type, and 3) improve understanding of the surficial geochemistry of...

Scientific research can make our resource assessments of critical minerals more effective. This project focuses on the Stillwater Complex, Montana, which has rocks enriched in platinum-group elements (PGE), chromium, cobalt, and nickel. Project objectives are to update databases, evaluate new mapping techniques, document new styles of mineralization, and document and support research on the...

Our objectives are to: 1) collect and assimilate digital geospatial data in a standardized format for minerals-related research and assessments, 2) develop and improve analytical procedures for using geospatial data in minerals products, 3) provide support for timely, quality, and reproducible mineral assessments, 4) provide easy access to the data, and 5) report results of our work in a digital...

The Yukon-Tanana upland in eastern interior Alaska is a geologically complex block containing deposits of base-metal, platinum-group-element, and gold-silver-copper mineralization. It also hosts numerous mineral systems that are known or suspected to contain critical minerals.

One of the geologic environments that host rare earth and other critical and strategic element deposits are alkaline intrusive rocks.

Alaska hosts a well-documented belt of ore deposits that lies roughly parallel to the Alaska Range, beginning at the Alaska Peninsula in the southwest, continuing up through the Fairbanks Mining District in the north, and curving back into the Tintina Gold Belt on its eastern end. Known mineral prospects and occurrences include porphyry copper, intrusion-related gold, volcanogenic massive sulfides...

Our project will develop new and innovative spectral methods and remote sensing tools for understanding how critical minerals are concentrated by weathering, regolith/soil formation, mining, runoff and ore processing. These tools will help us to use mineralogy derived from spectral measurements (lab, field, and remote sensing) to help delineate vectors towards recoverable resources and to identify...

Regional geophysical data that are available over continental scales such as magnetic, gravity, and magnetotelluric data can provide a foundation towards identifying and understanding the footprints and deep plumbing systems underlying these important ore systems. Our project will use continental-scale geophysical data to map the locations of deep crustal and mantle structures that may act as...

The Mineral Resources Program has advanced methods of imaging spectroscopy (hyperspectral remote sensing) that are now used routinely by the earth science and remote sensing communities for mineral mapping, soil quality mapping, hazard mitigation, and other terrestrial and planetary applications. The USGS is highly qualified to advance this technology based on its world class expertise in mineral...