Official Critical Minerals Lists by Country

Four governments publish the critical minerals lists that most policy and market coverage refers to: the United States (60 minerals, November 2025), the European Union (34 critical and 17 strategic raw materials, in force since May 2024), Australia (31 critical minerals and five strategic materials, February 2024) and Canada (34 minerals, June 2024). Each list answers a different legal question, so the same mineral can be critical in one country and not in another.

What does each country's list contain, and when is it reviewed?

The table sets the four lists side by side. The U.S., EU and Australian governments state a review interval of at least every three years; Canada's government page states none.

Why do countries keep these lists?

Each list does a different job in its own legal system. The U.S. list defines the statutory term "critical mineral" under the Energy Act of 2020. The EU lists are annexes to a regulation, and only the strategic raw materials count towards the 2030 targets for extraction, processing and recycling. Australia's critical list supplies the initial mineral subset for its strategic reserve, while its processing tax incentive is tied to a separate list in tax law and excludes strategic materials. Canada's list sits inside a strategy funded with up to C$3.8 billion.

How do the four lists differ?

The lists differ in their tests, their groupings and their scope. The EU groups rare earths into light and heavy sets, Australia and Canada treat rare earths and platinum group metals as single entries, and the U.S. lists them one by one. Australia alone keeps a strategic list outside its critical list. The comparison page shows every mineral on every list, and the page on what makes a mineral critical explains the tests.

Frequently asked questions

Which countries have an official critical minerals list?

The United States, the European Union, Australia and Canada all publish official lists, and this site covers those four. Other governments keep lists too: the Australian government's table also compares its list with those of India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom as of December 2023.

Which critical minerals list is the most recent?

The U.S. list is the most recent, published on 7 November 2025 with 60 minerals. The EU lists took effect in May 2024, Canada's list was updated in June 2024 and Australia's in February 2024.

What is the difference between critical and strategic minerals on these lists?

The terms are used differently in each jurisdiction. In the EU, every strategic raw material is also critical. In Australia, strategic materials are a separate list for materials whose supply chains are not vulnerable enough to be critical. In the U.S., "strategic and critical materials" is a separate stockpile term.

How many minerals are on all four lists?

20 entries are critical on all four lists in our comparison. The comparison page names them and also lists the minerals that appear on only one list.

Sources

Read on October 12, 2026. Figures on this page come from these documents; where a number is an estimate, the source says so.

1. Federal Register: Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals (7 November 2025)
2. Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 (Critical Raw Materials Act)
3. Department of Industry, Science and Resources: Australia's Critical Minerals List and Strategic Materials List. Includes the department's table of other countries' lists as of December 2023
4. Government of Canada: Canada's critical minerals