What Are Critical Minerals?

Critical minerals are naturally occurring inorganic substances that are essential to the functioning of modern economies and technologies, yet face significant risks to their reliable supply. Unlike common industrial minerals such as sand or gravel, critical minerals are distinguished by a combination of high economic value, concentrated supply chains, and limited substitutability in their most important applications.

The concept of mineral criticality emerged in the early 2000s as governments began to recognize that certain raw materials were becoming strategic chokepoints. The European Commission published its first Critical Raw Materials list in 2011, the United States followed with Executive Order 13817 in 2017, and by 2024 more than 30 nations maintained formal critical minerals lists. These lists vary between countries because criticality depends on a nation's specific industrial base, import dependencies, and geopolitical relationships.

Key Examples of Critical Minerals

While the exact composition of critical minerals lists differs from country to country, several materials appear on virtually every major assessment:

• Lithium is indispensable for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and grid-scale energy storage. Global production is dominated by Australia, Chile, and China, with processing heavily concentrated in China.
• Cobalt serves as a cathode material in many battery chemistries and is used in superalloys for jet engines. Over 70% of mined cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, raising acute supply concentration and ethical sourcing concerns.
• Rare earth elements such as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium are essential for permanent magnets in wind turbines, electric vehicle motors, and defense systems. China controls roughly 60% of rare earth mining and over 85% of processing.
• Gallium and germanium are vital for semiconductors, fiber optics, and infrared optics. China dominates global production of both elements and imposed export controls in 2023, demonstrating how supply concentration translates into geopolitical leverage.
• Platinum group metals (platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, and osmium) are critical for catalytic converters, hydrogen fuel cells, and industrial catalysis. South Africa and Russia together supply the vast majority of PGM production.
• Graphite, both natural and synthetic, is the dominant anode material in lithium-ion batteries. China produces over 65% of the world's natural graphite and an even larger share of the processed spherical graphite used in batteries.

Why Are They Called "Critical"?

The designation "critical" does not necessarily mean that these minerals are geologically scarce. Many critical minerals exist in substantial quantities in the Earth's crust. Instead, criticality reflects a vulnerability assessment. A mineral is considered critical when disruption to its supply would cause significant economic harm, threaten national security, or impede the ability to meet strategic objectives such as decarbonization or defense readiness.

Several factors contribute to this designation. Supply risk arises when production is concentrated in a small number of countries, particularly those with political instability or adversarial trade relationships. Economic importance is measured by the value a mineral contributes to downstream industries and the difficulty of operating without it. The absence of viable substitutes in key applications further elevates criticality, as does the risk that a mineral is produced primarily as a byproduct of another metal, meaning its supply cannot be independently scaled.

Who Defines Critical Minerals?

Multiple government agencies and international organizations maintain critical minerals assessments:

• The United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Department of Energy (DOE) jointly assess criticality for the United States, most recently publishing a list of 50 critical minerals in 2022.
• The European Commission conducts a Critical Raw Materials Assessment every three years, with the 2023 edition identifying 34 critical raw materials.
• The Australian Government published its Critical Minerals Strategy in 2023, listing 31 minerals considered critical to Australian economic interests.
• Canada, Japan, India, South Korea, and the United Kingdom all maintain their own critical minerals lists, each reflecting national industrial priorities and supply vulnerabilities.
• The International Energy Agency (IEA) provides global analysis of critical minerals for the energy transition, influencing policy discussions across member nations.

Why Critical Minerals Matter Now

The importance of critical minerals has intensified dramatically due to the global energy transition. Technologies central to decarbonization, including electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines, battery storage, and hydrogen electrolyzers, require substantially more mineral inputs per unit of energy generated than fossil fuel systems. The IEA has estimated that achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 would require a four- to six-fold increase in mineral inputs to the energy sector by 2040.

Simultaneously, geopolitical tensions have underscored the strategic dimension of mineral supply chains. Export restrictions, trade wars, and resource nationalism have demonstrated that access to critical minerals cannot be taken for granted. Nations that depend on imports for these materials are increasingly investing in domestic mining, allied-nation partnerships, recycling infrastructure, and research into substitute materials to reduce vulnerability.

Understanding critical minerals, their supply dynamics, and the frameworks used to assess their importance, is therefore essential for anyone engaged in energy policy, industrial strategy, investment, or technology development. The pages in this section provide a thorough grounding in every dimension of mineral criticality.