Final 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals (60 Minerals)
Published on November 7, 2025 (`90 FR 50494`) by the U.S. Geological Survey pursuant to the Energy Act of 2020, the Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals designates 60 mineral commodities - retaining all 50 minerals from the 2022 list and adding 10: boron, copper, lead, metallurgical coal, phosphate rock, potash, rhenium, silicon, silver, and uranium. Across the 58 nonfuel critical minerals, all are covered in the 40 USGS statistical chapters below.
Complete 2025 Critical Minerals Designation & End-Use Matrix
| Specimen | 2025 U.S. List Status | Cohort | #1 Producer | US Import Reliance | Primary Industrial Applications |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminum (Al) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (61%) | 60% | Metallurgy, transport, power transmission lines, packaging, and construction. |
| Antimony (Sb) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (36%) | 91% | Flame retardants, lead-acid battery alloys, defense munitions, and specialty chemicals. |
| Arsenic (As) | Listed on 2025 US List | Retained from 2022 list | Peru (49%) | 100% | Gallium-arsenide and indium-gallium-arsenide semiconductors, wood preservatives, and agricultural chemicals. |
| Barite (BaSO₄) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | India (35%) | >75% | High-density weighting agent in oil and gas drilling muds, medical imaging contrast media, and industrial fillers. |
| Bauxite (Ore) | Principal feedstock (Aluminum listed) | Feedstock chapter | Guinea (34%) | >75% | Primary ore feedstock for alumina refineries and downstream aluminum metal production, plus refractories and abrasives. |
| Beryllium (Be) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | United States (54%) | Net Exporter | Aerospace structural components, defense optics, X-ray windows, and copper-beryllium electronic connectors. |
| Bismuth (Bi) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (88%) | 92% | Pharmaceuticals, low-melting-point fusible alloys, lead-free solders, and metallurgical additives. |
| Boron (B) | Listed on 2025 US List | Added in 2025 Final List | - | Net Exporter | Borosilicate glass, fiberglass insulation, ceramics, nuclear control systems, and agricultural micronutrients. |
| Cesium (Cs) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | - | 100% | Atomic clocks for GPS and telecommunications syncing, high-density formate drilling fluids, and specialty optics. |
| Chromium (Cr) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | South Africa (45%) | 79% | Stainless steel manufacturing, superalloys, chrome plating, refractories, and leather tanning chemicals. |
| Cobalt (Co) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | Democratic Republic of the Congo (74%) | 79% | Lithium-ion battery cathodes, high-temperature aerospace superalloys, cemented carbides, and chemical catalysts. |
| Copper (Cu) | Listed on 2025 US List | Added in 2025 Final List | Chile (23%) | 57% | Electrical wiring, power grids, electric motors, building plumbing, telecommunications, and industrial machinery. |
| Fluorspar (CaF₂) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (60%) | 100% | Hydrofluoric acid feedstock, fluoropolymers, refrigerants, aluminum smelting flux (aluminum fluoride), and steelmaking flux. |
| Gallium (Ga) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (100%) | 100% | Gallium nitride (GaN) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductors, RF amplifiers, LEDs, and defense radar. |
| Germanium (Ge) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | - | >50% | Fiber-optic communication cables, infrared night-vision optics, satellite solar cells, and semiconductor substrates. |
| Natural graphite (C) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (78%) | 100% | Lithium-ion battery anodes, steelmaking refractories, crucibles, foundry facings, and industrial lubricants. |
| Indium (In) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (69%) | 100% | Indium tin oxide (ITO) transparent conductive coatings for flat-panel displays, touchscreens, solders, and thin-film photovoltaics. |
| Lead (Pb) | Listed on 2025 US List | Added in 2025 Final List | China (42%) | 33% | Lead-acid starting-lighting-ignition (SLI) and industrial backup batteries, radiation shielding, and ammunition. |
| Lithium (Li) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | Australia (32%) | >50% | Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and grid storage, glass-ceramics, and high-temperature greases. |
| Magnesium metal (Mg) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (86%) | >75% | Lightweight automotive and aerospace aluminum-magnesium alloys, die castings, iron desulfurization, and titanium sponge reduction. |
| Manganese (Mn) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | South Africa (38%) | 100% | Essential deoxidizing and alloying input in steelmaking (ferromanganese and silicomanganese) and battery cathodes. |
| Nickel (Ni) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | Indonesia (67%) | 41% | Austenitic stainless steel, high-nickel EV battery cathodes, aerospace superalloys, and electroplating. |
| Niobium (Nb) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | Brazil (93%) | 100% | High-strength low-alloy (HSLA) structural and pipeline steels, jet-engine superalloys, and superconducting magnets. |
| Phosphate rock (P) | Listed on 2025 US List | Added in 2025 Final List | China (44%) | 16% | Phosphoric acid for agricultural NPK fertilizers, animal feed supplements, industrial phosphorus chemicals, and LFP battery cathodes. |
| Platinum-group metals (PGM) | Group profile (5 listed PGMs) | 2022 & 2025 lists | Russia (44%) | 57% | Automotive catalytic converters, chemical and petroleum refining catalysts, hydrogen fuel cells, electronics, and glass manufacturing equipment. |
| Potash (K₂O) | Listed on 2025 US List | Added in 2025 Final List | Canada (31%) | 92% | Agricultural potassium fertilizers (muriate of potash and sulfate of potash) and industrial potassium chemicals. |
| Rare earths (REE) | Group profile (15 listed elements) | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (69%) | 67% | Neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets for EV traction motors and wind turbines, fluid-cracking catalysts, lasers, and phosphors. |
| Rhenium (Re) | Listed on 2025 US List | Added in 2025 Final List | Chile (37%) | 75% | Single-crystal nickel-base superalloy turbine blades for jet engines and industrial gas turbines, and platinum-rhenium petroleum reforming catalysts. |
| Rubidium (Rb) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | - | Not Reported | Vapor-cell atomic clocks, telecommunications network synchronization, specialty glasses, night-vision devices, and medical imaging. |
| Scandium (Sc) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | - | 100% | High-strength weldable aluminum-scandium aerospace alloys and solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrolytes. |
| Silicon (Si) | Listed on 2025 US List | Added in 2025 Final List | China (87%) | <50% | Ferrosilicon for steel deoxidation, metallurgical-grade silicon for aluminum alloys and silicones, and polysilicon for solar PV and semiconductor wafers. |
| Silver (Ag) | Listed on 2025 US List | Added in 2025 Final List | Mexico (24%) | 77% | Photovoltaic solar cell conductive pastes, electrical contacts and switches, brazing alloys, catalysts, and investment bullion. |
| Tantalum (Ta) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | Democratic Republic of the Congo (52%) | 100% | High-reliability electronic capacitors for smartphones, automotive electronics, defense systems, superalloys, and chemical process equipment. |
| Tellurium (Te) | Listed on 2025 US List | Retained from 2022 list | China (80%) | >25% | Cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar cells, thermoelectric cooling devices, free-machining steel/copper alloys, and infrared detectors. |
| Tin (Sn) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (25%) | 77% | Electronic circuit solders, tinplate food packaging, bronze and bearing alloys, and PVC heat stabilizers. |
| Titanium minerals (Ti) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (34%) | 88% | Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) white pigments for paints, plastics, and paper, and titanium sponge/metal for aerospace airframes and jet engines. |
| Tungsten (W) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (79%) | >50% | Cemented tungsten carbide cutting tools, mining and drilling bits, high-density penetrators, and high-temperature mill products. |
| Vanadium (V) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (75%) | 41% | High-strength reinforcing steel (rebar) and structural steels, titanium-aluminum-vanadium aerospace alloys, sulfuric acid catalysts, and vanadium redox flow batteries. |
| Zinc (Zn) | Listed on 2025 US List | 2022 & 2025 lists | China (32%) | Net Exporter | Hot-dip galvanizing to protect iron and steel from corrosion, brass and bronze alloys, die-casting alloys, and zinc oxide chemicals. |
| Zirconium & hafnium (Zr / Hf) | Shared chapter (Zirconium & Hafnium listed) | 2022 & 2025 lists | Australia (33%) | <25% | Zirconium for high-temperature ceramics, foundry sands, refractories, and nuclear fuel cladding; hafnium for nuclear control rods, aerospace superalloys, and high-k semiconductor dielectrics. |