All · 146
Rare Earth Elements · 18Aerospace & Defence Materials · 10Agricultural Minerals · 3Battery Materials · 5Copper & Electrical Materials · 4Energy Raw Materials · 7Industrial Minerals · 35Nuclear Materials · 5Precious Metals · 10Semiconductor Materials · 11Steel & Alloy Metals · 13Wood & Forest Products · 25
Critical Mineral · 63Strategic · 36Construction · 35Byproduct Only · 27Energy Transition · 26Defence · 24Chip Chain · 17Forest Product · 12Recyclable at Scale · 9Magnet Chain · 8Hardwood · 8Softwood · 7Renewable · 6Food Chain · 6Engineered Wood · 4Grid Chain · 2
10 materials shown. Figures are from USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · as each source defines it for each commodity · source ↗
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Material | World production 2025 | World reserves | Leading producer | U.S. imported |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Titanium criticalA metal as strong as steel at about half the weight, which does not corrode in seawater or in…
|
370,000metric tons · Titanium sponge metal production | — | China70% of world production† | — |
|
Titanium Mineral Concentrates criticalBlack beach sand — ilmenite and rutile — that is the starting point both for titanium metal and…
|
9,400thousand metric tons · Mine production: ilmenite, rounded | 490,000 | — | 88% |
|
Tungsten criticalThe metal with the highest melting point of them all — you can heat it to 3,400 C before it…
|
85,000metric tons · Mine production | 4,700,000 | China79% of world production | 50% |
|
Niobium criticalA metal that makes steel much stronger when added in tiny amounts — a few hundred grams per…
|
112,000metric tons · Mine production | 21,000,000 | Brazil93% of world production† | 100% |
|
Tantalum criticalA dense metal whose oxide layer stores charge extremely reliably, which is why it is in the…
|
2,500metric tons · Mine production | — | Congo (Kinshasa)52% of world production | 100% |
|
Rhenium criticalOne of the rarest metals in the crust, recovered from molybdenum roasting, and the ingredient…
|
81,000kilograms · Mine production | — | Chile37% of world production | 75% |
|
Antimony criticalA brittle, silvery metalloid used mostly to stop things burning, and in the primers and tracer…
|
110,000metric tons · Mine production | 2,000,000 | China36% of world production | — |
|
Bismuth criticalA heavy metal that is, unusually, not very toxic — which is why it replaces lead in solders…
|
16,000metric tons · Refinery production | — | China88% of world production | 92% |
|
|
not published | — | — | 100% |
|
Rubidium criticalCaesium's cheaper neighbour, recovered from the same rare deposits, and the basis of the atomic…
|
not published | — | — | 100% |
† Worked out from the USGS production table: the leading country’s output divided by the world total. Where the USGS publishes the share itself, that figure is shown instead.
Photographs on this page · 11
- Turbine disc and blades of sectioned Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop.jpg · Olivier Cleynen · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Titanium sponge cylinder, 120 grams.jpg · Hi-Res Images of Chemical Elements · CC BY 3.0
- Ilmenite sand.jpg · Mx. Granger · CC0
- Wolframiteportugal2.jpg · Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2024 Artsy Niobium Cavity - Flickr - Jefferson Lab.jpg · Jefferson Lab from Newport News, USA · Public domain
- Polymer Tantalum Capacitor Cross Section.jpg · TubeTimeUS · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Rhenium metal.jpg · Keresluna · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Stibnite, Antimony sulfide.jpg · Bobjgalindo · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Bismuth crystal Créer le cristal n01.jpg · Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart · CC BY 4.0
- Pollucite Paprok MNHN Minéralogie.jpg · Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart · CC BY 4.0
- Rb5.JPG · Dnn87 · CC BY 3.0
Every photograph is from Wikimedia Commons and is used under the licence shown.