[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 214 (Friday, November 7, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50494-50497]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-19813]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Geological Survey
Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals
AGENCY: Geological Survey, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: Critical minerals are essential for national security,
economic stability, and supply chain resilience because they underpin
key industries, drive technological innovation, and support critical
infrastructure vital for a modern American economy. The United States
is heavily reliant on imports of certain mineral commodities from
foreign sources, some of which are at risk of serious, sustained, and
long-term supply chain disruptions. The United States' dependence on
imports and the vulnerability of supply chains raise the potential for
risks to national security, defense readiness, price stability, and
economic prosperity and resilience. The Nation possesses vast mineral
resources that can create jobs, fuel prosperity, and significantly
reduce our reliance on foreign nations, and the United States is taking
actions to facilitate domestic mineral production. The List of Critical
Minerals guides strategies to secure the Nation's mineral supply
chains. By this notice, the Secretary of the Interior, acting through
the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), presents the final
2025 List of Critical Minerals and the methodology used to develop the
List. Mineral criticality changes over time and therefore this final
2025 List of Critical Minerals is not a permanent list but will be
dynamic and updated not less than biannually to reflect current data on
supply, demand, and concentration of production, as well as current
policy priorities. The final 2025 List of Critical Minerals, which
revises the final List published by the Secretary in 2022, includes the
following 60 minerals: aluminum, antimony, arsenic, barite, beryllium,
bismuth, boron, cerium, cesium, chromium, cobalt, copper, dysprosium,
erbium, europium, fluorspar, gadolinium, gallium, germanium, graphite,
hafnium, holmium, indium, iridium, lanthanum, lead, lithium, lutetium,
magnesium, manganese, metallurgical coal, neodymium, nickel, niobium,
palladium, phosphate, platinum, potash, praseodymium, rhenium, rhodium,
rubidium, ruthenium, samarium, scandium, silicon, silver, tantalum,
tellurium, terbium, thulium, tin, titanium, tungsten, uranium,
vanadium, ytterbium, yttrium, zinc, and zirconium.
ADDRESSES: Public comments received on the draft 2025 List of Critical
Minerals are available at www.regulations.gov under docket number USGS-
2025-0039; GX25GB00PAMR000.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: By email at [email protected] or
Jenifer Bracewell by telephone at (703) 648-5276. Individuals in the
United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a
speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United
States should use the relay services offered within their country to
make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.
The Federal Relay Service (FRS) is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week, to leave a message or question with this individual. You will
receive a reply during normal business hours. Normal business hours are
9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except for Federal
holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 2020, Congress enacted the Energy Act of
2020 (the Energy Act, Pub. L. 116-260, as amended by Pub. L. 118-233),
which established the definition of a critical mineral, required the
USGS on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior to update the List of
Critical Minerals ``not less than'' at least every 3 years, and
identified requirements for public comment, interagency review, and the
publication of the draft and final List in the Federal Register.
Executive Order 14154, ``Unleashing American Energy'' (January 20,
2025), directed the Secretary in section 9(c) to ``instruct the
Director of the U.S. Geological Survey to consider updating the
Survey's List of Critical Minerals, including for the potential of
including uranium.'' Additionally, Executive Order 14261,
``Reinvigorating America's Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending
Executive Order 14241'' (April 8, 2025). directed the Secretary in
section 9(b) to ``determine whether metallurgical coal used in the
production of steel meets the criteria to be designated as a `critical
mineral' under the Act and, if so, [. . .] take steps to place coal on
the Department of the Interior Critical Minerals List.''
On August 26, 2025, the Secretary of the Interior, acting through
the Acting Director of the USGS, published in the Federal Register the
draft 2025 List of Critical Minerals and the updated methodology in
accordance with section 7002 of the Energy Act. 90 FR 41591. The draft
2025 List included 54 mineral commodities, with six mineral commodities
(potash, silicon, copper, silver, rhenium and lead) recommended for
addition to the List and two mineral commodities (arsenic and
tellurium) recommended for removal compared to the final 2022 List.
Further details on the underlying rationale and the specific approach,
data sources, and assumptions used to calculate each component of the
supply risk metrics are described in the references cited in this
notice. The Federal Register notice provided for a 30-day public
comment period, which closed on September 25, 2025. The comments are
available for public viewing at www.regulations.gov under docket USGS-
2025-0039; GX25GB00PAMR000.
The USGS developed the List of Critical Minerals using methodology
based on the definition of ``critical mineral'' and the criteria
specified in the Energy Act. Earlier versions of the methodology have
been published by the USGS in 2020 \1\ and 2021.\2\ In 2025, the USGS
substantially enhanced the methodology to quantify the risks that
potential supply chain disruptions may pose to the U.S. economy and
national security, and to recommend mineral commodities for inclusion
on the List.\3\
The updated 2025 methodology is based on two primary criteria: (1)
an economic effects assessment that quantified the potential impacts of
foreign trade disruption scenarios on the U.S. economy, and (2) an
examination of whether the mineral commodity's supply chain relied on a
sole domestic producer that represented a single point of failure. The
supply chain disruption model assessed the potential effects of over
1,200 disruption scenarios of 84 mineral commodities on 402 individual
industries and the U.S. economy overall.
The Department received 163 public comments on the draft 2025 List,
supporting or opposing the inclusion of 62 minerals. Comments were
received from individuals, technical experts, industry, companies,
associations, Federal and State agencies, and members of Congress.
Section 7002(c)(4)(C) of the Energy Act requires the Secretary of
the Interior to ``consult with the Secretaries of Defense, Commerce,
Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Energy and the United
States Trade Representative in designating minerals, elements,
substances, and materials as critical.'' The Secretary engaged in this
interagency review process, concurrent with the public comment period,
to ensure that perspectives and analyses from other agencies are
captured in the final List. In this review process, the Department of
War noted the importance of arsenic and tellurium for national
security. The Department of Energy recommended the addition of
metallurgical coal and uranium, citing the use of these minerals in
steel production, energy, and defense. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture recommended the addition of
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phosphate, citing its importance to food security.
Section 7002(c)(4)(B) of the Energy Act allows the Secretary to
designate a critical mineral determined by another Federal agency to be
strategic and critical to the defense or national security of the
United States, notwithstanding the Energy Act's criteria for
designating a critical mineral. Based on the recommendations and
expertise from the Department of Energy, Department of War, and
Department of Agriculture, the Secretary hereby includes arsenic,
tellurium, metallurgical coal, uranium, and phosphate on the final 2025
List of Critical Minerals.
The USGS also received additional information on the boron supply
chain during the public comment process. Although the USGS could not
model the supply chain risk for ferroboron, three other steel alloys
with similar (70 to 80 percent) Chinese market control--silicon,
titanium, and chromium ferroalloys--had sufficient probability-weighted
impacts on the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that the USGS
methodology recommended including them on the List. After considering
all comments received, the USGS believes that the updated methodology
described in USGS Open-File Report 2025-1047 (https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20251047) is a valid basis for the review and revision of the List
of Critical Minerals.
In response to the public and interagency input required by the
Energy Act, the Secretary hereby includes arsenic, boron, metallurgical
coal, phosphate, tellurium, and uranium on the final 2025 List of
Critical Minerals. The final 2025 List of Critical Minerals, together
with information about the occurrence of each mineral as a byproduct,
is provided in the following table. Note that a number of the listed
byproducts are increasingly recovered as co-products, which are
additional mineral commodities that contribute significant value to
mining or processing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mineral commodities for Produced as a Main host commodities
inclusion on the final 2025 byproduct/co- for byproducts/co-
List of Critical Minerals product products
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aluminum...................... No.
Antimony...................... Yes.............. Lead, gold, other
base and precious
metals.
Arsenic....................... Yes.............. Copper, gold, lead,
zinc.
Barite........................ No.
Beryllium..................... No.
Bismuth....................... Yes.............. Lead, tungsten,
copper, tin,
molybdenum,
fluorspar, zinc.
Boron......................... No.
Cerium........................ Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Cesium........................ No.
Chromium...................... No.
Cobalt........................ Yes.............. Nickel, copper.
Copper........................ No.
Dysprosium.................... Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Erbium........................ Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Europium...................... Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Fluorspar..................... No.
Gadolinium.................... Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Gallium....................... Yes.............. Bauxite and zinc.
Germanium..................... Yes.............. Zinc and coal fly
ash.
Graphite...................... Yes (for Needle coke (for
synthetic synthetic graphite).
graphite but not
for natural
graphite).
Hafnium....................... Yes.............. Zirconium.
Holmium....................... Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Indium........................ Yes.............. Zinc.
Iridium....................... Yes.............. Platinum, nickel.
Lanthanum..................... Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Lead.......................... No.
Lithium....................... No.
Lutetium...................... Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Magnesium..................... No.
Manganese..................... No.
Metallurgical coal............ No. .
Neodymium..................... Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Nickel........................ No.
Niobium....................... No.
Palladium..................... Yes.............. Nickel, platinum.
Phosphate..................... No.
Platinum...................... No.
Potash........................ No.
Praseodymium.................. Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Rhenium....................... Yes.............. Molybdenum, copper.
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Rhodium....................... Yes.............. Nickel, platinum.
Rubidium...................... Yes.............. Cesium, lithium.
Ruthenium..................... Yes.............. Nickel, platinum.
Samarium...................... Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Scandium...................... Yes.............. Cobalt, nickel,
titanium, zirconium.
Silicon....................... No.
Silver........................ Yes.............. Zinc, lead, copper,
gold.
Tantalum...................... No.
Tellurium..................... Yes.............. Copper, lead, nickel,
platinum, zinc.
Terbium....................... Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Thulium....................... Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Tin........................... No.
Titanium...................... No.
Tungsten...................... No.
Uranium....................... No.
Vanadium...................... Yes.............. Steel slag from
vanadiferous iron
ore, spent
catalysts.
Ytterbium..................... Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Yttrium....................... Yes.............. Other rare earths,
iron ore, heavy
mineral sands
(titanium,
zirconium).
Zinc.......................... No.
Zirconium..................... Yes.............. Titanium, tin.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The List of Critical Minerals is not static and will be reviewed
dynamically (as needed) and revised as necessary to reflect current
data on supply, demand, and concentration of production, as well as
current policy priorities, as required under the Energy Act of 2020.
The U.S. Government and other organizations may also use other
definitions and rely on other criteria to identify a mineral as
critical or otherwise important. In addition, there are many minerals
not on the final 2025 List of Critical Minerals that are nevertheless
important to the economic and national security of the United States.
This final 2025 List of Critical Minerals is not intended to replace
related terms and definitions of minerals that are deemed strategic or
otherwise important.
Authority: Sec. 7002, Pub. L. 116-260, as amended by Pub. L. 118-
233 (30 U.S.C. 1606).
Endnotes
\1\ Nassar, N.T., Brainard, J., Gulley, A., Manley, R., Matos,
G., Lederer, G., Bird, L.R., Pineault, D., Alonso, E., Gambogi, J.,
Fortier, S.M., 2020, Evaluating the mineral commodity supply risk of
the U.S. manufacturing sector Sci. Adv., 6(8) (2020), p. eaay8647,
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aay8647.
\2\ Nassar, N.T., and Fortier, S.M., 2021, Methodology and
technical input for the 2021 review and revision of the U.S.
Critical Minerals List: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report
2021-1045, 31 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20211045.
\3\ Nassar, N.T., Pineault, D., Allen, S.M., McCaffrey, D.M.,
Padilla, A.J., Brainard, J.L., Bayani, M., Shojaeddini, E., Ryter,
J.W., Lincoln, S., and Alonso, E., 2025, Methodology and technical
input for the 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals--Assessing the
potential effects of mineral commodity supply chain disruptions on
the U.S. economy: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2025-1047,
32 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20251047.
Ned Mamula,
Director, U.S. Geological Survey.
[FR Doc. 2025-19813 Filed 11-6-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4338-11-P