Critical Minerals: Official Lists, Supply Chains and Prices
Critical minerals are minerals that a government judges vital to its economy or security and whose supply is vulnerable to disruption. The United States lists 60 of them, the European Union 34, Australia 31 and Canada 34, and only 20 minerals or mineral groups appear on all four lists. This site compares the lists and gives each of the 60 US-listed minerals a profile with 2025 production, import reliance, prices, uses and substitutes from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026.
Facts checked against sources on . How we check facts.
60
minerals on the final 2025 US critical minerals list, ten more than on the 2022 list
Source: USGS, November 2025
17 of 34
minerals with a USGS country table that China leads in production in 2025
11
minerals for which the United States imported 100% of what it used in 2025
20
minerals or mineral groups on all four official lists, out of 49 in the comparison
Source: This site's list comparison
Which critical minerals does each country produce? Filter all 60
Every mineral on the 2025 USGS list with its leading producer, US import reliance and whether the EU, Australia and Canada also list it. Select a mineral for its full profile.
Showing 60 of 60 minerals
| Mineral | Group | Leading producer (share) | US import reliance | US | EU | AU | CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminum | Base Metal | China (61%) | 60% | Yes | Yes | - | Yes |
| Antimony | Specialty Metal | China (36%) | 91% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Arsenic | Specialty Metal | Peru (49%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | - |
| Barite | Industrial Mineral | India (34%) | >75% | Yes | Yes | - | - |
| Beryllium | Specialty Metal | United States (53%) | Net exporter | Yes | Yes | Yes | - |
| Bismuth | Specialty Metal | China (86%) | 92% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Boron | Industrial Mineral | Turkey | Net exporter | Yes | Yes | - | - |
| Cerium | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 67% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cesium | Specialty Metal | See profile | 100% | Yes | - | - | Yes |
| Chromium | Refractory Metal | South Africa (45%) | 79% | Yes | - | Yes | Yes |
| Cobalt | Battery Metal | Congo (Kinshasa) (73%) | 79% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Copper | Base Metal | Chile (23%) | 57% | Yes | Yes | - | Yes |
| Dysprosium | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Erbium | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Europium | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 67% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fluorspar | Industrial Mineral | China (59%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gadolinium | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 67% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gallium | Technology Metal | China (99%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Germanium | Technology Metal | See profile | >50% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Graphite | Battery Metal | China (78%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hafnium | Refractory Metal | See profile | NA | Yes | Yes | Yes | - |
| Holmium | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Indium | Technology Metal | China (69%) | 100% | Yes | - | Yes | Yes |
| Iridium | Platinum Group Metal | See profile | NA | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lanthanum | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 67% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lead | Base Metal | China (42%) | 33% | Yes | - | - | - |
| Lithium | Battery Metal | Australia (32%) | >50% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lutetium | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Magnesium | Base Metal | China (86%) | >75% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Manganese | Battery Metal | South Africa (38%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Metallurgical Coal | Energy Mineral | See profile | NA | Yes | Yes | - | - |
| Neodymium | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 67% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Nickel | Battery Metal | Indonesia (67%) | 41% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Niobium | Refractory Metal | Brazil (93%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Palladium | Platinum Group Metal | Russia (43%) | 57% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Phosphate | Industrial Mineral | China (44%) | 16% | Yes | Yes | - | Yes |
| Platinum | Platinum Group Metal | South Africa (71%) | 89% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Potash | Industrial Mineral | Canada (31%) | 92% | Yes | - | - | Yes |
| Praseodymium | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 67% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rhenium | Refractory Metal | Chile (37%) | 75% | Yes | - | Yes | - |
| Rhodium | Platinum Group Metal | See profile | NA | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rubidium | Specialty Metal | See profile | 100% | Yes | - | - | - |
| Ruthenium | Platinum Group Metal | See profile | NA | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Samarium | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 67% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Scandium | Specialty Metal | See profile | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Silicon | Technology Metal | China (87%) | >50% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Silver | Precious Metal | Mexico (24%) | 77% | Yes | - | - | - |
| Tantalum | Refractory Metal | Congo (Kinshasa) (52%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tellurium | Technology Metal | China (78%) | >25% | Yes | - | Yes | Yes |
| Terbium | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Thulium | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tin | Base Metal | China (24%) | 77% | Yes | - | - | Yes |
| Titanium | Refractory Metal | China (70%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tungsten | Refractory Metal | China (79%) | >50% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Uranium | Energy Mineral | See profile | NA | Yes | - | - | Yes |
| Vanadium | Battery Metal | China (72%) | 41% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ytterbium | Rare Earth Element | China (69%) | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Yttrium | Rare Earth Element | See profile | 100% | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zinc | Base Metal | China (32%) | 73% | Yes | - | - | Yes |
| Zirconium | Refractory Metal | Australia (32%) | <25% | Yes | - | Yes | - |
US column: all 60 minerals are on the 2025 USGS list. Compare the full lists on the comparison page.
Which governments publish a critical minerals list?
Four lists matter most for supply chains. Each is built with its own method and updated on its own schedule, which is why the lists differ.
| Jurisdiction | Entries | Version | Last checked here | Primary source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 60 minerals | November 2025 | October 11, 2026 | USGS |
| European Union | 34 critical raw materials, 17 of them also strategic | May 2024 (2023 assessment) | October 12, 2026 | Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 |
| Australia | 31 critical minerals plus 5 strategic materials | 20 February 2024 update | October 11, 2026 | Department of Industry, Science and Resources |
| Canada | 34 minerals | June 2024 update | October 11, 2026 | Natural Resources Canada |
Each list page links to the primary document. The US definition is in 30 U.S.C. 1606.
Latest updates
All updates and corrections-
Update
Company tables added for the heavy rare earths, rhodium, ruthenium and scandium
Dysprosium, terbium, samarium, europium, yttrium, holmium, ytterbium, lutetium, gadolinium, erbium, thulium, rhodium, ruthenium and scandium now name companies, each row linked to the annual report, exchange announcement or company release that says what the company does. They include Lynas, Iluka, Energy Fuels, Neo, Solvay, Aclara and China Northern Rare Earth for the rare earths, Implats, Valterra, Sibanye-Stillwater and Johnson Matthey for rhodium and ruthenium, and Rio Tinto, NioCorp and Sunrise Energy Metals for scandium. Two Chinese annual reports, read in Chinese, supply China Rare Earth Group's separation capability and Xiamen Tungsten's quote of Baiinfo data on China's 2025 dysprosium and terbium oxide output.
See the page -
Update
Company tables added for barite, iridium, indium, tin, tungsten, erbium and thulium
These seven mineral pages named few or no companies. They now list companies from annual reports, exchange announcements, the USGS Minerals Yearbook table of barite mines and mills, Indian Bureau of Mines yearbooks and company releases, each row with its document. Examples are Minsur, PT Timah, Yunnan Tin and Metals X for tin, Jiaxin International and Xiamen Tungsten for tungsten, and Teck and Nyrstar for indium. Alphamin's tin figure now comes from its 2026 presentation instead of a website sentence with no year. Rows for companies that only use a metal, such as IPG Photonics for erbium and thulium, are marked as users.
See the page -
Correction
Home page rebuilt and the privacy policy, terms and contact page corrected
The home page now opens with a definition and the four list counts, shows key facts computed from the USGS and list data, and no longer describes the explorer as showing criticality ratings, which the mineral library no longer carries. The privacy policy now says that the Google tag loads on every page and can send cookieless pings when analytics storage is denied, and that the newsletter box loads a script from Zoho before anything is submitted. The terms no longer refer to price ranges that were removed with the old database, and the contact page no longer promises response times.
See the page
What does the site cover?
Start with the topic that matches your question.
Critical Minerals
What makes a mineral critical, how governments assess it and why supply is at risk.
Strategic Minerals
Defense dependencies, stockpiling programs and the minerals essential to national security.
Mineral Library
Profiles of all 60 USGS-listed minerals: uses, producers, prices, companies and substitutes.
Supply Chain
From mine to manufacturer: every stage of the critical minerals value chain.
Markets & Pricing
How critical minerals are priced, benchmarked and traded.
Geopolitics
Export controls, resource nationalism, friendshoring and the forces shaping mineral supply.
Which industries depend on critical minerals?
See which critical minerals each industry depends on.
Which countries matter most for critical mineral supply?
Each country profile shows its share of 2025 world production, calculated from the USGS tables, and its dated policy changes.
More resources
Specialised topics across the critical minerals landscape.
Rare Earth Elements
The 17 rare earth elements: properties, supply chains, separation, recycling and prices.
Recycling & Circularity
Secondary supply, urban mining and circular economy approaches to critical minerals.
Companies
Miners, refiners, recyclers and manufacturers in the critical minerals sector.
Projects
Mines, refineries, separation and recycling plants named on the EU and US project lists.
Glossary
Key terms and definitions used across the critical and strategic minerals industry.
Updates and corrections
A dated log of every change to the lists, datasets and facts on this site.
Frequently asked questions
What are critical minerals?
Critical minerals are minerals that a government judges vital to its economy or security and whose supply is vulnerable to disruption. In the United States the designation rests on three tests in 30 U.S.C. 1606: the mineral is essential to economic or national security, its supply chain is vulnerable to disruption, and it is essential to manufacturing a product whose absence would have significant consequences.
How many minerals are on the US critical minerals list?
The final 2025 list names 60 critical minerals. It keeps the 50 minerals from the 2022 list and adds 10: boron, copper, lead, metallurgical coal, phosphate, potash, rhenium, silicon, silver and uranium. The US list page shows all 60.
Which country produces the most critical minerals?
China is the leading producer of 17 of the 34 critical minerals for which USGS gives a country production table, using 2025 estimates. Shares differ widely by mineral, so the mineral library ranks the minerals by the share held by the leading country, and the China profile lists them.
Why do the US, EU, Australian and Canadian lists differ?
Each government builds its list with its own method and publishes it on its own schedule. The EU calls a raw material critical when its supply risk is at least 1.0 and its economic importance at least 2.8, while the United States relies on a USGS model of trade disruption scenarios. Only 20 minerals or mineral groups appear on all four lists; the comparison table shows the rest.
Sources
Read on October 13, 2026. Figures on this page come from these documents; where a number is an estimate, the source says so.
- 30 U.S.C. 1606: Critical mineral designation
- USGS: Interior Department releases final 2025 list of critical minerals
- Federal Register: Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 (Critical Raw Materials Act)
- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026. Production, import reliance and Table 7
- USGS Open-File Report 2025-1047. The model of trade disruption scenarios
- Updates and corrections log. This site
