Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

National Minerals Information Center

Statistics and information on the worldwide supply of, demand for, and flow of minerals and materials essential to the U.S. economy, the national security, and protection of the environment.

News

USGS Releases Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024, finds US Mineral Production Jumped 4 billion to exceed 105 billion dollars

USGS Releases Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024, finds US Mineral Production Jumped 4 billion to exceed 105 billion dollars

USGS Records Nonfuel Mineral Production Jump of $3.6 Billion in 2022

USGS Records Nonfuel Mineral Production Jump of $3.6 Billion in 2022

The USGS Seeks Public Comment on Helium Supply Risk

The USGS Seeks Public Comment on Helium Supply Risk

Publications

Mineral commodity summaries 2024

Each mineral commodity chapter of the 2024 edition of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries (MCS) includes information on events, trends, and issues for each mineral commodity as well as discussions and tabular presentations on domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, 5-year salient statistics, and world production, reserves, and resources. The MCS is the

Rare earth element sources, end-use demand trends, and hydrometallurgical separations

Rare earth elements are increasing in demand due to the movement towards electrification. In particular, there is a growing need for high performance rare earth permanent magnets for motors and generators used to convert electrical energy to mechanical energy, and vice versa. Current trends in rare earth demand are reviewed and discussed as the specific rare earth metal demand can influence the ch
Authors
James Vaughan, Vitor L. Gontijo, Rick Valenta, Elisa Alonso

China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and artisanal cobalt mining from 2000 through 2020

From 2000 through 2020, demand for cobalt to manufacture batteries grew 26-fold. Eighty-two percent of this growth occurred in China and China’s cobalt refinery production increased 78-fold. Diminished industrial cobalt mine production in the early-to-mid 2000s led many Chinese companies to purchase ores from artisanal cobalt miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), many of whom have
Authors
Andrew L. Gulley