Critical minerals

Extracted Attributes

• Key Examples

  Lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, graphite, rare earth elements, copper, and aluminum

• Market Concentration

  Over 40% of global smelting and refining capacity for copper, lithium, rare earths, and cobalt is concentrated in China

• Primary Applications

  Renewable energy technologies, EV batteries, defense systems, semiconductors, and electricity networks

• Legal Definition Criteria

  Essential to economic/national security, vulnerable supply chain, and non-replaceable manufacturing function

• Total Minerals (US 2025 List)

  60 mineral commodities

Timeline

• The U.S. Energy Act of 2020 is enacted, establishing the legal framework and criteria for defining minerals as 'critical'. (Source: Belfer Center Explainer)

  2020-12-27

• The U.S. Secretary of the Interior publishes the 2022 Final List of Critical Minerals. (Source: Federal Register / USGS)

  2022-02-22

• The Acting Director of the USGS publishes the draft 2025 List of Critical Minerals and updated methodology for public comment. (Source: Federal Register 90 FR 41591)

  2025-08-26

• The Secretary of the Interior publishes the Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals, including 60 minerals such as copper, silver, and lead. (Source: Federal Register 2025-19813)

  2025-11-07

Critical raw materials

Critical raw materials (CRM), also referred to as critical materials or critical minerals, are raw materials designated by governments as critical for their economies. There is no single list of such materials, as the list varies from country to country, as does the definition of "critical". Critical raw materials usually include technology-critical elements, rare-earth elements, and/or strategic materials. Demand has risen and prices have dropped for some critical minerals, due to the demand driven by the expansion of renewable energy technologies.

Web Search Results

• What Are Critical Minerals, and Why Are They So Important? - UNU

  Critical minerals are a subset of minerals considered crucial for the manufacturing and technological needs of companies, industries, nations, or even the world. For example, rare earth elements are required for the production of permanent magnets used in wind turbines, while electricity networks need vast amounts of copper and aluminium. The definition of whether a mineral is considered critical or not is somewhat flexible, since this classification depends on not only the context and the stakeholder's point of view, but is also subject to change over time because the current techno-socio-economic paradigm largely defines the criticality level of minerals. [...] The reason why the supply chains of critical minerals are so complex is that disruption risks can emerge from different stages of the supply chains. Some minerals are critical because they are present in minimum concentrations as by-products of so-called 'major' minerals (minerals that are present in higher concentrations in mineral deposits); for example, ruthenium, rhodium and palladium are by-products of platinum. Other minerals are critical due to market concentration in the downward processing stages; for instance, over 40% of the global smelting and refining capacity for copper, lithium, rare earths and cobalt is concentrated in China. All of these different factors make this subject an undoubtedly fascinating one to study, which is what led me to co-author two recent UNU-MERIT

• Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals - Federal Register

  In response to the public and interagency input required by the Energy Act, the Secretary hereby includes arsenic, boron, metallurgical coal, phosphate, tellurium, and uranium on the final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. The final 2025 List of Critical Minerals, together with information about the occurrence of each mineral as a byproduct, is provided in the following table. Note that a number of the listed byproducts are increasingly recovered as co-products, which are additional mineral commodities that contribute significant value to mining or processing. [...] Minerals, which revises the final List published by the Secretary in 2022, includes the following 60 minerals: aluminum, antimony, arsenic, barite, beryllium, bismuth, boron, cerium, cesium, chromium, cobalt, copper, dysprosium, erbium, europium, fluorspar, gadolinium, gallium, germanium, graphite, hafnium, holmium, indium, iridium, lanthanum, lead, lithium, lutetium, magnesium, manganese, metallurgical coal, neodymium, nickel, niobium, palladium, phosphate, platinum, potash, praseodymium, rhenium, rhodium, rubidium, ruthenium, samarium, scandium, silicon, silver, tantalum, tellurium, terbium, thulium, tin, titanium, tungsten, uranium, vanadium, ytterbium, yttrium, zinc, and zirconium. [...] On August 26, 2025, the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Acting Director of the USGS, published in the Federal Register the draft 2025 List of Critical Minerals and the updated methodology in accordance with section 7002 of the Energy Act. 90 FR 41591. The draft 2025 List included 54 mineral commodities, with six mineral commodities (potash, silicon, copper, silver, rhenium and lead) recommended for addition to the List and two mineral commodities (arsenic and tellurium) recommended for removal compared to the final 2022 List. Further details on the underlying rationale and the specific approach, data sources, and assumptions used to calculate each component of the supply risk metrics are described in the references cited in this notice. The Federal Register notice provided

• Critical Minerals – Topics - IEA

  Critical minerals are essential for a range of today’s energy technologies and for the broader economy. For example, lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite are crucial to battery performance. Rare earth elements are essential for the permanent magnets used in wind turbines and EV motors. Electricity networks need a huge amount of aluminium and copper, the latter of which is the cornerstone of all electricity-related technologies. As demand for these materials grows strongly, their strategic importance has also increased – and policy makers have made ensuring secure and resilient mineral supply chains a major priority. [...] The types of mineral resources used vary by technology. Lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite are crucial to battery performance. Rare earth elements are essential for permanent magnets used in wind turbines and EV motors. And electricity networks need a huge amount of aluminium and copper, the latter of which is the cornerstone of all electricity-related technologies. The IEA Critical Minerals Security Programme is the Agency’s flagship framework designed to help countries strengthen mineral security. Building on the IEA’s leading analytical capabilities in critical minerals markets and its long-standing experience in safeguarding energy security. What are critical minerals? the photo depicts a not focused on the surface of nickel ore saprolite in open pit mines

• The Critical Minerals Conundrum: What You Should Know - WRI.org

  Most countries' critical mineral lists include copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements. These are used widely in clean energy technologies, such as wind turbines, solar panels, EV batteries and motors, as well as in energy transmission infrastructure like power lines. Additional minerals important for the energy transition include aluminum, manganese, silicon and silver, among others. table visualization Many critical minerals are integral to other industries as well. NATO includes several on its list of essential raw materials for defense. And they are needed to manufacture the semiconductors that underpin our electronics, from smartphones and computers to lighting and medical devices. [...] ### What Are Critical Minerals and Why Do They Matter? Critical minerals are those that are essential to countries' economies or development. They are generally in high demand and prone to supply chain disruptions, although countries differ on which minerals they define as "critical" depending on their level of access, what the minerals are used for, their export value and national supply risks. [...] # The Critical Minerals Conundrum: What You Should Know The world is racing to increase supplies of lithium, cobalt, copper and other "critical minerals" that are building blocks of modern technology. Not only are these minerals used in industries like defense, healthcare and electronics, but they are also key to producing the clean energy technologies that are increasingly powering our lives.

• Critical Minerals Explained: Why They Matter for Geopolitics, Clean ...

  The U.S. Energy Act of 2020 defines a mineral as “critical” if it meets three conditions: it is essential to economic or national security, its supply chain is vulnerable to disruption, and it performs a function in manufacturing that cannot be replaced without serious consequences, whether higher costs for key technologies, slower deployment of clean energy, or risks to defense and communications systems.2 Put more simply, critical minerals are raw materials without which modern economies cannot function but whose supply is at risk, minerals such as lithium for EV batteries or gallium for semiconductors. Other critical minerals include cobalt, graphite, manganese, and nickel, each with distinct uses and supply chains. They are strategic assets, forming the base for clean energy systems, [...] 1. Terminology note: The term critical minerals is sometimes used interchangeably with critical materials, though the latter covers a broader range of strategically important inputs beyond mined resources. Critical materials can include refined metals, alloys, semiconductors, polymers, and engineered materials. In this report, critical minerals refers specifically to raw materials that are mined and processed. 2. U.S. Department of Energy. (2020). Energy Act of 2020 (Background document). 3. U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior. (2022). Final list of critical minerals. 4. U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior. (2025). Draft list of critical minerals: Notice of opportunity for public comment. [...] ## Conclusion Critical minerals are the new oil. Every country needs them, but mining and refining are concentrated in a few hands. China’s dominance in processing gives it significant leverage over supply chains. At the same time, producing nations are tightening export rules to keep more value at home, and new discoveries in Ukraine, Greenland, and Africa are reshaping where future supply may come from.