Final List of Critical Minerals 2022
As per the Energy Act of 2020, Section 7002, subsection 2, the critical minerals list is revised every three years by the US Geological Survey. The most recent final list is that of 2022.
These minerals are deemed critical minerals by the US government in light of their role in national security or economic development. There must be a clear supply chain strategy as they are mostly imported and are, under the US definition, prone to supply chain disruption. Additionally, fuel minerals are excluded from the list of critical minerals.
Under the 2022 list, there are 50 minerals which are deemed critical:
- Aluminium*
- Antimony
- Arsenic
- Barite
- Beryllium
- Bismuth
- Cerium*
- Cesium
- Chromium
- Cobalt
- Dysprosium
- Erbium
- Europium
- Fluorspar
- Gadolinium*
- Gallium
- Germanium
- Graphite*
- Hafnium
- Holmium
- Indium
- Iridium
- Lanthanum*
- Lithium
- Lutetium
- Magnesium
- Manganese
- Neodymium*
- Nickel
- Niobium
- Palladium*
- Platinum*
- Praseodymium*
- Rhodium*
- Rubidium
- Ruthenium*
- Samarium*
- Scandium
- Tantalum
- Tellurium
- Terbium
- Thulium
- Tin
- Titanium
- Tungsten
- Vanadium
- Ytterbium
- Yttrium
- Zinc
- Zirconium
Note that the bolded items were newly added in 2022 and the items with an asterisk were edited.
Modifications from the previous list include:
- Aluminium was previously listed as Aluminium (bauxite)
- Graphite was previously listed as Graphite (natural)
- Helium, Potash, Rhenium, Strontium, and Uranium have been removed from the list. Uranium was removed as it is classified as a fuel mineral.
- Platinum group metals (Iridium, Palladium, Platinum, Rhodium, Ruthenium and Osmium) were previously listed together as one group. They have been separated and Iridium and Osmium have been removed from the list.
- Metals belonging to the rare earth elements group (Cerium, Gadolinium, Lanthanum, Neodymium, Praseodymium and Samarium) were previously listed together as one group. They have been separated.
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