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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Iron OreRust-coloured rock that is roughly one-third to two-thirds iron, and the single largest tonnage…
|
Steel & Alloy Metals | 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.
|
Steel & Alloy Metals | 360.0million metric tons · world iron slag production was estimated to be between 330 million and 390 million tons, | — | — |
|
Zinc criticalThe metal that steel is dipped in so it does not rust — a sacrificial coating that corrodes…
|
Steel & Alloy Metals | 13,000thousand metric tons · Mine production | 240,000 | China32% of world production |
|
Lead criticalA soft, dense, blue-grey metal that blocks radiation and stores charge cheaply — and that is…
|
Steel & Alloy Metals | 4,500thousand metric tons · Mine production | 95,000 | China42% of world production |
|
Iron & Steel ScrapOld steel collected to be melted into new steel — the largest recycling stream on the planet by…
|
Steel & Alloy Metals | not published | — | — |
Photographs on this page · 6
- 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
- Sphalerite - Creede, Mineral County, Colorado, USA.jpg · Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Galena - Huallanca, Bologesi, Ancash, Peru.jpg · Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Scrap metal yard.jpg · Digitura · CC0
Every photograph is from Wikimedia Commons and is used under the licence shown.