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
5 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 | U.S. imported |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lithium criticalA soft, silvery metal so light it floats on water, and the element that lets a rechargeable…
|
Battery Materials | 290,000metric tons · Mine production | 37,000,000 | Australia32% of world production | 50% |
|
Cobalt criticalA hard, bluish metal that keeps a battery's cathode stable so it does not overheat, and that…
|
Battery Materials | 310,000metric tons · Mine production | 12,000,000 | Congo (Kinshasa)74% of world production | 79% |
|
Nickel criticalA silvery metal that resists rust, which is why it goes into stainless steel — and, more…
|
Battery Materials | 3,900,000metric tons · Mine production | 140,000,000 | Indonesia67% of world production | 41% |
|
Graphite criticalPure carbon in soft, slippery sheets — the same stuff as pencil lead — and the material that…
|
Battery Materials | 1,800,000metric tons · Mine production | 310,000,000 | China78% of world production | 100% |
|
Manganese criticalA brittle grey metal that steel cannot be made without, and that is now being used to stretch…
|
Battery Materials | 20,000thousand metric tons · Mine production | 1,700,000 | South Africa37% of world production | 100% |
Photographs on this page · 6
- Tesla Gigafactory 1 - December 2019.jpg · Smnt · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Spodumene Nuristan Créer le cristal.jpg · Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart · CC BY 4.0
- Cobaltite (GeoDIL number - 1151).jpg · Darla Sondrol · CC0
- Pyrrhotite with pentlandite (late Paleoproterozoic, 1.85 Ga; 800 Orebod… · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Minerals in the Indian Museum, Kolkata 05.jpg · Kritzolina · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Pyrolusite Mineral with Dendrite Macro Digon3.jpg · “Jonathan Zander ( Digon3 )" · CC BY-SA 3.0
Every photograph is from Wikimedia Commons and is used under the licence shown.