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
2 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 | Shelf | World production 2025 | World reserves | Leading producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Phosphate Rock criticalRock full of the element phosphorus — the P in fertiliser, and now the P in the LFP batteries…
|
Agricultural Minerals | 250,000thousand metric tons · Mine production | 73,000,000 | China44% of world production |
|
Nitrogen (Ammonia)Nitrogen pulled out of the air and joined to hydrogen under pressure — the invention that…
|
Agricultural Minerals | 160,000thousand metric tons · Plant production | — | China31% of world production† |
† 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 · 3
- Potash evaporation ponds near Moab, UT, May 2013.jpg · Orange Suede Sofa · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Apatite Sapo Mine Minéraux SU.jpg · Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart · CC BY 4.0
- Eliminating a minor ammonia leak at the nitrogen fertilizer plant - pan… · Tseno Tanev (цено та… · CC BY-SA 3.0
Every photograph is from Wikimedia Commons and is used under the licence shown.