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
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Iron OreRust-coloured rock that is roughly one-third to two-thirds iron, and the single largest tonnage…
|
2,600,000thousand metric tons · Mine production: Usable ore, rounded | 87,000 | — | — |
|
Iron & SteelIron with a little carbon in it, and the most-produced manufactured material on the planet.
|
360.0million metric tons · world iron slag production was estimated to be between 330 million and 390 million tons, | — | — | — |
|
Chromium criticalThe element that makes stainless steel stainless — at about eleven percent chromium, steel…
|
51,000thousand metric tons · Mine production | 540,000 | South Africa45% of world production | 79% |
|
MolybdenumA silvery metal added to steel so it keeps its strength at high temperature and under pressure.
|
260,000metric tons · Mine production | 17,000 | China37% of world production† | — |
|
Vanadium criticalA metal that makes rebar dramatically stronger in tiny doses, and that can also store…
|
110,000metric tons · Mine production | 21,000 | China75% of world production | 41% |
|
Zinc criticalThe metal that steel is dipped in so it does not rust — a sacrificial coating that corrodes…
|
13,000thousand metric tons · Mine production | 240,000 | China32% of world production | — |
|
Tin criticalA soft metal with a low melting point, which is why nearly every electrical joint in every…
|
290,000metric tons · Mine production | 6,000,000 | China24% of world production | — |
|
Lead criticalA soft, dense, blue-grey metal that blocks radiation and stores charge cheaply — and that is…
|
4,500thousand metric tons · Mine production | 95,000 | China42% of world production | — |
|
Magnesium Metal criticalThe lightest structural metal, about a third lighter than aluminium, and the ingredient that…
|
1,100thousand metric tons · Smelter production | — | China86% of world production† | 75% |
|
CadmiumA toxic soft metal recovered from zinc refining, now used mainly in thin-film solar panels…
|
23,000metric tons · Refinery production | — | China41% of world production† | 25% |
|
SeleniumAn element recovered from copper refinery slimes, used in glass, in animal feed and in…
|
3,800metric tons · Refinery production | — | China53% of world production† | 50% |
|
MercuryThe only metal that is liquid at room temperature, and one of the most tightly regulated…
|
210.0metric tons · Mine production | — | China95% of world production† | — |
|
Iron & Steel ScrapOld steel collected to be melted into new steel — the largest recycling stream on the planet by…
|
not published | — | — | — |
† 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 · 14
- Iron and slag tapping from a blast furnace tap hole — Випуск продуктів … · Blast furnace chip worker · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Hematite (iron ore) (weathered zone in the Biwabik Iron-Formation, Whit… · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Blast furnace at Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corporation mill in Etna, Penn… · Alfred T. Palmer · Public domain
- Metal poles (surface is chromium-plated) - HDR.jpg · Laitche · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Molybdenite quebec2.jpg · Didier Descouens · CC BY 3.0
- World- Vanadium Production,*1946 - DPLA - 3e24602f809408ce766ef8a40e074… · Central Intelligence Agency · Public domain
- Sphalerite - Creede, Mineral County, Colorado, USA.jpg · Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Cassiterite (GeoDIL number - 37).jpg · Shannon Heinle · CC0
- Galena - Huallanca, Bologesi, Ancash, Peru.jpg · Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Dowmetal Magnesium- The Metal of Motion - DPLA - 6cfddacda671bc92edb70f… · Dow Chemical Company · Public domain
- Cadmium (Element - 48) 3.jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Selenium (Element - 34).jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Mercury, cinnabar and calomel (GeoDIL number - 919).jpg · Darla Sondrol · CC0
- Scrap metal yard.jpg · Digitura · CC0
Every photograph is from Wikimedia Commons and is used under the licence shown.