Critical Minerals Glossary

Alloy. A metallic substance made of two or more elements, at least one a metal. Alloys are engineered for strength, corrosion resistance or conductivity that the constituent metals lack on their own. Steel (iron and carbon), brass (copper and zinc) and the superalloys used in jet engines are examples.

Apparent consumption. In USGS tables, production plus imports minus exports, adjusted for stock changes. It estimates what an economy used, but because it includes stock building it can overstate use when buyers are restocking. Inventories and stock cycles

Beneficiation. The first processing of mined ore to raise the concentration of the target mineral, usually by crushing, grinding, magnetic separation or flotation. The output is a concentrate with a higher grade than the ore. Beneficiation and concentration

Black mass. The powder left after spent lithium-ion batteries are shredded, rich in cathode and anode material. The European Commission announced on 5 March 2025 that it would classify black mass as hazardous waste, which it said would ban its export to non-OECD countries, and China has allowed imports of qualifying black mass since 1 August 2025. Battery recycling

Byproduct. A mineral recovered from the ore or processing stream of another metal, so its supply follows the host metal rather than its own price. The Federal Register notice of 7 November 2025 marks 35 of the 60 minerals on the US list as byproducts or co-products. Byproducts and co-products

Cathode. The positive electrode of a battery. Cathode chemistry drives demand for lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese. Common lithium-ion types are NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt), NCA (nickel-cobalt-aluminium) and LFP (lithium iron phosphate). Cathodes and anodes

Co-product. A byproduct that contributes significant value to the mining or processing operation. The Federal Register notice says a number of byproducts are increasingly recovered as co-products. Byproduct risk

Concentrate. The product of beneficiation: ore processed to raise the share of the target mineral. Concentrates are sold to smelters or refineries and are priced on the metal they contain. Concentrate prices

Contract price. A price fixed in a bilateral contract for a period, as opposed to the spot price. In 2025 USGS recorded the average US fixed-contract price of lithium carbonate falling 31% to $9,000 per tonne while the Chinese spot price rose. Spot vs contract pricing

Critical mineral. A mineral a government judges essential to its economy or security and whose supply is vulnerable to disruption. Each government publishes its own list: the United States lists 60 minerals, the European Union 34, Canada 34 and Australia 31. What are critical minerals?

Critical raw material (EU). A material listed in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252. The EU 2023 study judged materials critical when supply risk was at least 1.0 and economic importance at least 2.8, and every strategic raw material is also on the critical list. EU critical raw materials

Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). Regulation (EU) 2024/1252, in force since 23 May 2024. It sets benchmarks that by 2030 EU capacity should meet at least 10% of annual consumption of strategic raw materials in extraction, 40% in processing and 25% in recycling, and it creates the strategic project designation. Strategic projects

Downstream. The later stages of a mineral supply chain: refining, component manufacture and finished goods. Chinese companies supplied more than 94% of electric vehicle anode material in January to September 2025, and China makes about 94% of rare earth magnets. Manufacturing chokepoints

E-waste. Discarded electrical and electronic equipment. The UN Global E-waste Monitor 2024 counted 62 million tonnes generated in 2022, of which 22.3% was documented as properly collected and recycled. Also called waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). E-waste

End-of-life recycling input rate (EoL-RIR). In the EU method, the share of EU demand for a material met by secondary material from post-consumer (old) scrap. Factory scrap does not count. The 2023 study gave 55% for copper and 0% for gallium and lithium. Recycling potential

Export controls. Licensing requirements, quotas or bans on exports. China has required licenses for gallium and germanium exports since August 2023 and added graphite, antimony, tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum, indium and seven medium and heavy rare earths since. Export controls tracker

FAST-41. The permitting title of the US Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act. The Permitting Council gives covered projects a coordinated federal permitting timetable and posts transparency projects on its dashboard; it reported 50 critical mineral and mining projects receiving these benefits on 20 November 2025. Strategic projects

Flotation. A beneficiation process in which ground ore is mixed with water and reagents; air bubbles carry the target mineral particles to the surface as a froth that is collected as concentrate. It is the main method for sulfide ores of copper, lead, zinc and nickel.

Friendshoring. A strategy of building supply chains among aligned or trusted countries so that no single supplier can use its position as leverage. In 2026 the US State Department launched the Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement (FORGE), which replaced the Minerals Security Partnership. Friendshoring and partnerships

Gangue. The commercially worthless rock and minerals intermixed with the ore minerals. It is separated during beneficiation, and the amount of gangue affects processing cost and waste volumes.

Grade. The concentration of the target mineral or metal in an ore body, expressed as a percentage by weight, grams per tonne or parts per million. Grade is one of several factors, with size, location and mining method, that decide whether a deposit is viable.

Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI). A measure of concentration: the sum of the squared market shares of the suppliers. The EU criticality method calculates it for global supply and for EU sourcing and weights each supplier by its governance score. Supply risk

Hydrometallurgy. Extraction of metals with aqueous solutions, through leaching, solvent extraction, ion exchange and electrowinning. It is used for laterite nickel ores, for cobalt and lithium recovery from batteries and for rare earth separation, and it generally runs at lower temperatures than pyrometallurgy.

Import reliance. The share of consumption met by net imports. USGS reports net import reliance as a percentage of apparent consumption (it was 100% for gallium in 2025). The EU formula is imports minus exports divided by domestic production plus imports minus exports. National security

In-situ recovery. Mining without excavation: a leaching solution is injected into the deposit through boreholes and the dissolved mineral is pumped to the surface. Also called in-situ leaching or solution mining, it is widely used for uranium.

Laterite. A soil or rock rich in iron and aluminium oxides formed by intense tropical weathering. USGS reports that 54% of global nickel resources are in laterites and 35% in magmatic sulfide deposits. Laterite ores are processed by high-pressure acid leaching or smelted to ferronickel or nickel pig iron.

Leaching. A hydrometallurgical step in which an acid or alkaline solution dissolves the target metal from ore or concentrate. It is done in heaps, tanks or in place.

LFP (lithium iron phosphate). A battery cathode chemistry that uses no cobalt or nickel. SNE Research reports that LFP made up about 72% of cathode material shipped in 2025. Substitution and thrifting

Metallurgy. The science and technology of metals: extracting them from ores, making alloys and shaping them for use. Pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy are the two main branches of extractive metallurgy.

Midstream. The stages between mining and end-use manufacturing: smelting, refining, chemical processing and production of intermediates such as battery chemicals, metal powders and precursors. Processing bottlenecks

NdPr. Neodymium-praseodymium oxide, the main raw material for NdFeB magnets. USGS gives an average 2025 price of $69 per kilogram, and three government agreements since July 2025 set a $110 per kilogram floor. Rare earth prices

Offtake agreement. A contract in which a buyer commits to purchase a defined volume of a producer's output over a set period, often before the project is built. Lenders use it as evidence of future revenue. Governments are now offtake parties, as in the Department of Defense agreement with MP Materials. Offtake agreements

Ore. A natural material from which a metal or mineral can be extracted profitably. The distinction from ordinary rock is economic as well as geological, because price and technology decide whether material counts as ore.

Permanent magnet. A magnet that keeps its magnetism without power. The two main rare earth types are neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) and samarium-cobalt (SmCo). The Congressional Research Service says China makes about 94% of rare earth magnets. Permanent magnets

PGM (platinum group metals). Six metals with similar properties: platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium. Catalytic converters are the leading US use. South Africa mined about 71% of world platinum in 2025 and Russia about 44% of palladium. Catalysts and chemicals

Price floor. A guaranteed minimum price written into a contract. The $110 per kilogram NdPr floor appears in MP Materials' ten-year agreement with the Department of Defense and in two Lynas agreements. How critical minerals are priced

Price reporting agency (PRA). A company that publishes assessed prices for commodities traded mostly in private contracts. USGS cites Benchmark Mineral Intelligence for lithium, Argus Media for rare earth oxides, germanium and tungsten, and the London Metal Exchange for nickel. Benchmarks and price reporting agencies

Pyrometallurgy. Extraction and refining of metals at high temperature by roasting, smelting, converting and fire refining. It is widely used for copper, nickel, lead, zinc and tin and can handle a wide range of feed.

Rare earth element (REE). A group of 17 chemically similar elements: the 15 lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium. Most are not rare in the crust but seldom occur in concentrations that can be mined. Sources differ on where the light-heavy dividing line falls. What are rare earths?

Recycled content. The share of a product made from recovered material. The EU Batteries Regulation requires covered batteries to contain at least 16% recycled cobalt, 85% lead, 6% lithium and 6% nickel from 18 August 2031. Battery recycling

Refining. Purifying a crude metal or intermediate to commercial specification, by electrorefining, solvent extraction, precipitation, zone refining or vacuum distillation. In the EU 2023 study China held 94% of gallium processing, 91% of magnesium, 86% of tungsten and 100% of heavy rare earths. Chemical processing

Reserve. The part of identified resources that meets economic criteria for extraction at the time of the estimate. USGS reserves are dynamic: world copper reserves were estimated at 980 million tonnes in 2024, more than 3.5 times the 1970 estimate, despite about 712 million tonnes mined since. Exploration and resources

Resource. A concentration of minerals with reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. Identified resources include economic, marginally economic and subeconomic parts, graded as measured, indicated or inferred. Cobalt illustrates the gap: USGS reports world reserves of 12 million tonnes and identified terrestrial resources of about 25 million. Exploration and resources

Resource nationalism. The use of export bans, quotas, processing mandates, state ownership or higher royalties by producing countries to capture value or control supply. Congo (Kinshasa) replaced a cobalt export ban with quotas in October 2025, and Indonesia bans nickel ore exports. Resource nationalism

Scrap, new and old. New (preconsumer) scrap is metal left over from manufacturing; old (postconsumer) scrap comes from products at the end of their life. USGS reports that US copper recovered from scrap in 2025 was about 760,000 tonnes from new scrap and 160,000 tonnes from old scrap. Industrial scrap

Smelting. A pyrometallurgical process that uses heat and a reducing agent to extract a base metal from ore or concentrate, leaving impurities in a slag. It is used for copper, nickel, lead, zinc and tin.

Spot price. The price for immediate delivery. In 2025 the Chinese spot price of lithium carbonate rose from about $9,300 to about $10,300 per tonne between January and November, according to USGS. Spot vs contract pricing

Strategic mineral. A material a government treats as vital to defense, industry and essential civilian needs, especially in an emergency. The EU names 17 strategic raw materials, Australia keeps a separate list of five, and the United States uses "strategic and critical materials" in its stockpile law. What are strategic minerals?

Strategic project. A project recognised for faster permitting and support. Under the Critical Raw Materials Act the European Commission has recognised 106, and the status does not by itself bring EU funding. Strategic projects

Substitution index. In the EU method, a number up to 1.00 applied to economic importance and to supply risk. 1.00 means no proven substitute; the 2023 study gave 0.59 for gadolinium and 1.00 for manganese. Substitutability

Superalloy. An alloy that keeps its strength, surface stability and resistance to creep and oxidation at high temperature. Superalloys are based on nickel, cobalt or iron and often contain rhenium, hafnium, tantalum or tungsten. About 80% of rhenium goes into turbine engine superalloys. Steel and superalloys

Tailings. The waste left after valuable minerals are extracted from ore, usually a slurry of fine rock, water and process chemicals held in a storage facility. Some old tailings are being re-evaluated as sources of critical minerals.

Thrifting. Using less of a mineral per unit of product without replacing it. USGS notes that most substitutes for tungsten in cemented carbides reduce rather than replace the amount of tungsten used. Substitution and thrifting

Upstream. The early stages of a mineral supply chain: exploration, mine development and extraction of ore. Investment decisions made upstream determine supply years later.

Urban mining. Recovering metals from products at the end of their life rather than from geological deposits. It works at scale where a product returns in volume: USGS reports that secondary lead was 70% of US lead consumption in 2025. Urban mining

USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries. The annual US Geological Survey publication of production, trade, price and reserve data for non-fuel mineral commodities. This site cites the 2026 edition, published in February 2026. USGS