USGS Critical Minerals List 2025: All 60 Minerals
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The final 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals names 60 minerals. The Department of the Interior, acting through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), published it in the Federal Register on 7 November 2025. The list keeps all 50 minerals from the 2022 list and adds ten: boron, copper, lead, metallurgical coal, phosphate, potash, rhenium, silicon, silver and uranium. Every mineral below links to its profile in the mineral library.
54 to 60
the August 2025 draft had 54 commodities; the final list added four more
Source: Federal Register notice
Which minerals are on the 2025 USGS critical minerals list?
The 2025 USGS list covers metals, industrial minerals and two coal and uranium entries, and it lists rare earth elements and platinum group metals one by one. "Added 2025" marks the ten minerals that were not on the 2022 list; the last column gives the reason the notice or the USGS methodology report records for each.
| Mineral | Group | Status | Why it was added |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminum | Base Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Antimony | Specialty Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Arsenic | Specialty Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Barite | Industrial Mineral | On 2022 list | |
| Beryllium | Specialty Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Bismuth | Specialty Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Boron | Industrial Mineral | Added 2025 | USGS could not model ferroboron directly. It relied on modelled results for silicon, titanium and chromium ferroalloys, where China has similar market control. |
| Cerium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Cesium | Specialty Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Chromium | Refractory Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Cobalt | Battery Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Copper | Base Metal | Added 2025 | Recommended in the August 2025 draft after the economic model showed a probability-weighted GDP loss from a supply disruption. |
| Dysprosium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Erbium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Europium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Fluorspar | Industrial Mineral | On 2022 list | |
| Gadolinium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Gallium | Technology Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Germanium | Technology Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Graphite | Battery Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Hafnium | Refractory Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Holmium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Indium | Technology Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Iridium | Platinum Group Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Lanthanum | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Lead | Base Metal | Added 2025 | Recommended in the August 2025 draft on the same economic test. |
| Lithium | Battery Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Lutetium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Magnesium | Base Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Manganese | Battery Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Metallurgical Coal | Energy Mineral | Added 2025 | Added on the Department of Energy recommendation, citing steel, energy and defense use. |
| Neodymium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Nickel | Battery Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Niobium | Refractory Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Palladium | Platinum Group Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Phosphate | Industrial Mineral | Added 2025 | Added on the Department of Agriculture recommendation, citing food security. |
| Platinum | Platinum Group Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Potash | Industrial Mineral | Added 2025 | Recommended in the August 2025 draft on the economic test. It was on the 2018 list and dropped in 2022. |
| Praseodymium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Rhenium | Refractory Metal | Added 2025 | Recommended in the August 2025 draft on the economic test. It was on the 2018 list and dropped in 2022. |
| Rhodium | Platinum Group Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Rubidium | Specialty Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Ruthenium | Platinum Group Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Samarium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Scandium | Specialty Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Silicon | Technology Metal | Added 2025 | Recommended in the August 2025 draft on the economic test. |
| Silver | Precious Metal | Added 2025 | Recommended in the August 2025 draft on the economic test. |
| Tantalum | Refractory Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Tellurium | Technology Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Terbium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Thulium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Tin | Base Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Titanium | Refractory Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Tungsten | Refractory Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Uranium | Energy Mineral | Added 2025 | Added on the Department of Energy recommendation. |
| Vanadium | Battery Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Ytterbium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Yttrium | Rare Earth Element | On 2022 list | |
| Zinc | Base Metal | On 2022 list | |
| Zirconium | Refractory Metal | On 2022 list |
Source: Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals, Federal Register, 7 November 2025; group labels from our mineral library.
How did the list change from 2022 and from the draft?
The 2025 list is the third U.S. list since Executive Order 13817 of 2017. It adds ten minerals to the 2022 list, and two of them, potash and rhenium, had been on the 2018 list before USGS dropped them in 2022.
| Version | Minerals | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 final list (22 February 2022) | 50 | Added nickel and zinc; removed helium, potash, rhenium and strontium. The list grew by 15 overall, largely because rare earths and platinum group metals were listed individually instead of as groups. |
| 2025 draft (26 August 2025) | 54 | Recommended adding potash, silicon, copper, silver, rhenium and lead, and removing arsenic and tellurium. A 30-day comment period closed on 25 September 2025. |
| 2025 final list (7 November 2025) | 60 | Kept arsenic and tellurium; added boron, metallurgical coal, phosphate and uranium to the six draft additions. |
Sources: USGS release on the 2022 list; Federal Register notice, 7 November 2025.
Why were arsenic and tellurium kept on the list?
Arsenic and tellurium stayed on the 2025 list because the Department of War stressed their national security importance, even though the USGS economic model had recommended removing them. The final notice applies the Secretary's authority under section 7002(c)(4)(B) of the Energy Act, which lets the Secretary designate a mineral that another federal agency has determined is strategic and critical to defense or national security. The notice applies the same authority to metallurgical coal, uranium and phosphate, which the Departments of Energy and Agriculture recommended.
How were the additions chosen?
USGS built the 2025 list on two criteria. The first is an economic effects assessment: an input-output model of the U.S. economy was run through more than 1,200 foreign trade disruption scenarios for 84 mineral commodities, covering 402 industries, and each scenario was weighted by its probability. The second asks whether a commodity depends on a sole domestic producer that would be a single point of failure. The full method is on the page about how the USGS list is made.
How often will the list be updated?
The Energy Act of 2020 requires the Secretary of the Interior to review the list at least every three years. USGS says the 2025 list is intended to be dynamic and will be updated at least every two years. The Federal Register notice words the same intention as "not less than biannually".
Frequently asked questions
How many minerals are on the 2025 USGS critical minerals list?
The final 2025 USGS critical minerals list has 60 minerals. It was published in the Federal Register on 7 November 2025 and keeps all 50 minerals from the 2022 list.
Which minerals were added to the USGS list in 2025?
The 2025 USGS list added boron, copper, lead, metallurgical coal, phosphate, potash, rhenium, silicon, silver and uranium. Copper is the addition that changes comparisons with other countries, because it is now critical in the U.S. and strategic or priority in the EU and Canada.
Were any minerals removed from the USGS list in 2025?
No mineral was removed in 2025. The August 2025 draft proposed dropping arsenic and tellurium, but the final list kept both after the Department of War stressed their national security importance. Four minerals were removed earlier, in 2022: helium, potash, rhenium and strontium.
Why are coal and uranium on a critical minerals list?
Metallurgical coal and uranium are on the 2025 list because the Department of Energy recommended them. The Energy Act definition of a critical mineral excludes fuel minerals, so the notice relies on the Secretary's authority to designate minerals that another agency finds strategic and critical to defense or national security.
Sources
Read on October 12, 2026. Figures on this page come from these documents; where a number is an estimate, the source says so.
- Federal Register: Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals (7 November 2025). Read in full through the Federal Register text file; the Federal Register website itself blocks automated readers
- USGS: Interior Department releases final 2025 list of critical minerals
- Interior Department press release, 7 November 2025
- USGS Open-File Report 2025-1047: Methodology and technical input for the 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals. Nassar and others; first posted 25 August 2025, revised 15 April 2026
- USGS: U.S. Geological Survey releases 2022 list of critical minerals
- 30 U.S.C. 1606 (Energy Act of 2020, section 7002)
