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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Platinum-Group Metals criticalSix metals — platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium and osmium — that occur together…
|
not published | 76,000,000 | — | — |
|
Silver criticalThe best electrical conductor there is, and the metal that has been used as money for longer…
|
26,000metric tons · Mine production | 610,000 | Mexico24% of world production | 77% |
|
GoldThe metal that does not tarnish, does not corrode and never runs out once mined — which is why…
|
3,300metric tons · Mine production | 66,000 | China12% of world production† | — |
|
Platinum criticalA dense, unreactive metal that speeds up chemical reactions without being consumed by them.
|
170,000kilograms · Mine production: Platinum, rounded | — | South Africa71% of world production | 89% |
|
Palladium criticalPlatinum's cheaper cousin for most of the twentieth century, then briefly more expensive than…
|
190,000kilograms · Mine production: Palladium, rounded | — | Russia44% of world production | 57% |
|
Rhodium criticalThe rarest of the metals traded in any volume, produced in tens of tonnes a year, and the only…
|
not published | — | — | — |
|
Iridium criticalThe most corrosion-resistant metal known, and the second densest — a litre of it weighs about…
|
not published | — | — | — |
|
Ruthenium criticalA hard platinum-group metal used in tiny quantities inside hard drives and increasingly in chip…
|
not published | — | — | — |
|
OsmiumThe densest naturally occurring element, and one of the least used — most of it sits unrefined…
|
not published | — | — | — |
|
GemstonesMinerals people want because of how they look — hardness, clarity and colour, priced on rarity…
|
69,000 thousands of carats · Mine production | 2,000,000 | Russia30% of world production† | 99% |
† 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
- Gold bullion bars.jpg · Stevebidmead · CC0
- Elektrociepłownia PGE Toruń1.jpg · Mateuszgdynia · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Native silver 1.jpg · Parent Géry · CC BY-SA 3.0
- AZ Gold Nugget Quartz.jpg · Bryan Barnes · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wellgreen Platinum project in Yukon (22284209294).jpg · MINING.com · CC BY 2.0
- Palladium (Element - 46) 2.jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Rhodium powder pressed melted.jpg · Alchemist-hp ( talk ) www.pse-mendelejew.de der… · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
- Iridium (Element - 77) 2.jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Ru metal 1g.JPG · Leiem · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Osmium star.jpg · Bilovitskiy · CC BY 4.0
- Zultanite rough crystal and gemstones.jpg · Zultgems, LLC · CC0
Every photograph is from Wikimedia Commons and is used under the licence shown.