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
63 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Titanium criticalA metal as strong as steel at about half the weight, which does not corrode in seawater or in…
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Aerospace & Defence Materials | 370,000metric tons · Titanium sponge metal production | — | China70% of world production† | — |
|
Titanium Mineral Concentrates criticalBlack beach sand — ilmenite and rutile — that is the starting point both for titanium metal and…
|
Aerospace & Defence Materials | 9,400thousand metric tons · Mine production: ilmenite, rounded | 490,000 | — | 88% |
|
Tungsten criticalThe metal with the highest melting point of them all — you can heat it to 3,400 C before it…
|
Aerospace & Defence Materials | 85,000metric tons · Mine production | 4,700,000 | China79% of world production | 50% |
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Niobium criticalA metal that makes steel much stronger when added in tiny amounts — a few hundred grams per…
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Aerospace & Defence Materials | 112,000metric tons · Mine production | 21,000,000 | Brazil93% of world production† | 100% |
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Tantalum criticalA dense metal whose oxide layer stores charge extremely reliably, which is why it is in the…
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Aerospace & Defence Materials | 2,500metric tons · Mine production | — | Congo (Kinshasa)52% of world production | 100% |
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Rhenium criticalOne of the rarest metals in the crust, recovered from molybdenum roasting, and the ingredient…
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Aerospace & Defence Materials | 81,000kilograms · Mine production | — | Chile37% of world production | 75% |
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Antimony criticalA brittle, silvery metalloid used mostly to stop things burning, and in the primers and tracer…
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Aerospace & Defence Materials | 110,000metric tons · Mine production | 2,000,000 | China36% of world production | — |
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Bismuth criticalA heavy metal that is, unusually, not very toxic — which is why it replaces lead in solders…
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Aerospace & Defence Materials | 16,000metric tons · Refinery production | — | China88% of world production | 92% |
|
|
Aerospace & Defence Materials | not published | — | — | 100% |
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Rubidium criticalCaesium's cheaper neighbour, recovered from the same rare deposits, and the basis of the atomic…
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Aerospace & Defence Materials | not published | — | — | 100% |
|
Phosphate Rock criticalRock full of the element phosphorus — the P in fertiliser, and now the P in the LFP batteries…
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Agricultural Minerals | 250,000thousand metric tons · Mine production | 73,000,000 | China44% of world production | — |
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Potash criticalPotassium salts mined from ancient dried-up seas — the K in NPK fertiliser, which plants need…
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Agricultural Minerals | 49,000thousand metric tons · Mine production | 10,000,000 | Canada31% of world production | 92% |
|
Lithium criticalA soft, silvery metal so light it floats on water, and the element that lets a rechargeable…
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Battery Materials | 290,000metric tons · Mine production | 37,000,000 | Australia32% of world production | 50% |
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Cobalt criticalA hard, bluish metal that keeps a battery's cathode stable so it does not overheat, and that…
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Battery Materials | 310,000metric tons · Mine production | 12,000,000 | Congo (Kinshasa)74% of world production | 79% |
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Nickel criticalA silvery metal that resists rust, which is why it goes into stainless steel — and, more…
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Battery Materials | 3,900,000metric tons · Mine production | 140,000,000 | Indonesia67% of world production | 41% |
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Graphite criticalPure carbon in soft, slippery sheets — the same stuff as pencil lead — and the material that…
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Battery Materials | 1,800,000metric tons · Mine production | 310,000,000 | China78% of world production | 100% |
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Manganese criticalA brittle grey metal that steel cannot be made without, and that is now being used to stretch…
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Battery Materials | 20,000thousand metric tons · Mine production | 1,700,000 | South Africa37% of world production | 100% |
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Copper criticalThe reddish metal that carries electricity better than anything except silver, and which humans…
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Copper & Electrical Materials | 23,000thousand metric tons · Mine production | 980,000 | Chile23% of world production | — |
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Aluminium criticalA light silvery metal made by passing an enormous electric current through dissolved bauxite —…
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Copper & Electrical Materials | 74,000thousand metric tons · Smelter production | — | China61% of world production† | 60% |
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Bauxite criticalA reddish soil-like rock, formed where tropical rain has rotted rock for millions of years, and…
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Copper & Electrical Materials | 440,000thousand metric dry tons · Bauxite, mine production | 29,000,000 | — | 75% |
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Alumina criticalA fine white powder of aluminium oxide, the halfway product between bauxite rock and aluminium…
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Copper & Electrical Materials | 150,000thousand metric dry tons · Alumina, refinery production | — | China62% of world production† | 71% |
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Fluorspar criticalCalcium fluoride, the mineral that every fluorine atom in industry ultimately comes from —…
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Industrial Minerals | 10,000thousand metric tons · Mine production | 330,000 | China60% of world production | 100% |
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Barite criticalA very heavy, soft mineral used mostly to weigh down drilling mud so an oil well does not blow…
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Industrial Minerals | 8,700thousand metric tons · Mine production | — | India34% of world production | 75% |
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Boron criticalAn element that makes glass resist thermal shock, fibreglass strong, and — with iron and…
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Industrial Minerals | not published | — | Turkeyshare withheld | — |
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Zirconium criticalA metal that barely absorbs neutrons, which is why nuclear fuel rods are wrapped in it, and…
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Nuclear Materials | 1,200thousand metric tons · Zirconium mineral concentrates, mine production (thousand metric tons, gross weight) | 70,000 | Australia33% of world production† | — |
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Hafnium criticalZirconium's chemical shadow — always found with it, almost impossible to separate from it, and…
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Nuclear Materials | not published | — | — | — |
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Beryllium criticalA very light, very stiff metal that is transparent to X-rays and dangerous to breathe as dust.
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Nuclear Materials | 430.0metric tons · Mine production | — | United States53% of world production | — |
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Platinum-Group Metals criticalSix metals — platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium and osmium — that occur together…
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Precious Metals | not published | 76,000,000 | — | — |
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Silver criticalThe best electrical conductor there is, and the metal that has been used as money for longer…
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Precious Metals | 26,000metric tons · Mine production | 610,000 | Mexico24% of world production | 77% |
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Platinum criticalA dense, unreactive metal that speeds up chemical reactions without being consumed by them.
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Precious Metals | 170,000kilograms · Mine production: Platinum, rounded | — | South Africa71% of world production | 89% |
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Palladium criticalPlatinum's cheaper cousin for most of the twentieth century, then briefly more expensive than…
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Precious Metals | 190,000kilograms · Mine production: Palladium, rounded | — | Russia44% of world production | 57% |
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Rhodium criticalThe rarest of the metals traded in any volume, produced in tens of tonnes a year, and the only…
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Precious Metals | not published | — | — | — |
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Iridium criticalThe most corrosion-resistant metal known, and the second densest — a litre of it weighs about…
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Precious Metals | not published | — | — | — |
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Ruthenium criticalA hard platinum-group metal used in tiny quantities inside hard drives and increasingly in chip…
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Precious Metals | not published | — | — | — |
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Rare Earths (all) criticalA family of seventeen metals that are not actually rare in the ground, but are hard to separate…
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Rare Earth Elements | 390,000metric tons · Mine production | 85,000,000 | China69% of world production† | — |
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Neodymium criticalThe rare earth at the heart of the strongest magnet ever made — the kind in headphones, hard…
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Praseodymium criticalNeodymium's near-twin, so alike that magnet makers usually do not bother separating the two and…
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Dysprosium criticalA heavy rare earth added in small amounts to magnets so they keep working when they get hot.
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Terbium criticalThe scarcest of the four magnet rare earths, used in tiny quantities to make a magnet survive…
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Lanthanum criticalThe first of the rare earths, used by the tonne in the catalysts that crack crude oil into…
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Cerium criticalThe most abundant rare earth — more common in the crust than copper — mostly used as a…
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Samarium criticalThe rare earth in the magnet that works where neodymium cannot: very hot, or very cold, or in a…
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Europium criticalThe rare earth that glows red under ultraviolet light, and which for decades put the red in…
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Gadolinium criticalA rare earth that absorbs neutrons better than almost anything, and that makes MRI scans easier…
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Yttrium criticalCounted as a rare earth even though it sits elsewhere on the periodic table, because it behaves…
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Rare Earth Elements | 12,500metric tons · mine production of Y2O3 equivalent contained in rare-earth mineral concentrates | — | Chinashare not published | 100% |
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Scandium criticalA light metal that makes aluminium dramatically stronger and weldable — and which is produced…
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Rare Earth Elements | 80.00metric tons · global production | — | Chinashare not published | 100% |
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Holmium criticalThe rare earth with the strongest magnetic moment of any element, used in the pole pieces of…
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Erbium criticalThe rare earth that amplifies light inside a fibre-optic cable without ever turning it back…
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Thulium criticalThe least abundant stable rare earth, used in portable X-ray sources and in surgical lasers.
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Ytterbium criticalA rare earth used in the fibre lasers that cut steel in factories, and in some of the most…
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Lutetium criticalThe last and densest rare earth, used in the crystals that detect gamma rays inside a PET…
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Rare Earth Elements | not published | — | — | — |
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Silicon criticalThe second-most-common element in the Earth's crust — ordinary sand — purified until only one…
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Semiconductor Materials | 5,000thousand metric tons · Ferrosilicon | — | China87% of world production | — |
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Gallium criticalA silvery metal that melts in your hand, and the basis of the compound semiconductors in fast…
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Semiconductor Materials | 900,000kilograms · Primary production | — | China100% of world production | 100% |
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Germanium criticalThe element the very first transistors were made from, now used mainly for infrared lenses and…
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Semiconductor Materials | not published | — | Chinashare not published | 50% |
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Indium criticalA soft metal whose oxide is both transparent and electrically conductive — the invisible wiring…
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Semiconductor Materials | 1,100metric tons · Refinery production | — | China69% of world production | 100% |
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Tellurium criticalA brittle, silvery element recovered from the slime at the bottom of a copper refinery tank…
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Semiconductor Materials | 1,000metric tons · Refinery production | — | China80% of world production | 25% |
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Arsenic criticalFamous as a poison, but in ultra-pure form it is half of gallium arsenide, the compound behind…
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Semiconductor Materials | 61,000metric tons · Production (arsenic trioxide, gross weight) | — | Peru49% of world production | 100% |
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Chromium criticalThe element that makes stainless steel stainless — at about eleven percent chromium, steel…
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Steel & Alloy Metals | 51,000thousand metric tons · Mine production | 540,000 | South Africa45% of world production | 79% |
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Vanadium criticalA metal that makes rebar dramatically stronger in tiny doses, and that can also store…
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Steel & Alloy Metals | 110,000metric tons · Mine production | 21,000 | China75% of world production | 41% |
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Zinc criticalThe metal that steel is dipped in so it does not rust — a sacrificial coating that corrodes…
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Steel & Alloy Metals | 13,000thousand metric tons · Mine production | 240,000 | China32% of world production | — |
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Tin criticalA soft metal with a low melting point, which is why nearly every electrical joint in every…
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Steel & Alloy Metals | 290,000metric tons · Mine production | 6,000,000 | China24% of world production | — |
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Lead criticalA soft, dense, blue-grey metal that blocks radiation and stores charge cheaply — and that is…
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Steel & Alloy Metals | 4,500thousand metric tons · Mine production | 95,000 | China42% of world production | — |
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Magnesium Metal criticalThe lightest structural metal, about a third lighter than aluminium, and the ingredient that…
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Steel & Alloy Metals | 1,100thousand metric tons · Smelter production | — | China86% of world production† | 75% |
† 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 · 64
- Azurite-malachite-specimen.jpg Mineral specimen featuring azurite, mala… · Δανάη Κωτσιομύτη · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Titanium sponge cylinder, 120 grams.jpg · Hi-Res Images of Chemical Elements · CC BY 3.0
- Ilmenite sand.jpg · Mx. Granger · CC0
- Wolframiteportugal2.jpg · Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2024 Artsy Niobium Cavity - Flickr - Jefferson Lab.jpg · Jefferson Lab from Newport News, USA · Public domain
- Polymer Tantalum Capacitor Cross Section.jpg · TubeTimeUS · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Rhenium metal.jpg · Keresluna · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Stibnite, Antimony sulfide.jpg · Bobjgalindo · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Bismuth crystal Créer le cristal n01.jpg · Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart · CC BY 4.0
- Pollucite Paprok MNHN Minéralogie.jpg · Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart · CC BY 4.0
- Rb5.JPG · Dnn87 · CC BY 3.0
- Apatite Sapo Mine Minéraux SU.jpg · Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart · CC BY 4.0
- Sylvite-halite-carnallite-polyhalite (Salado Formation, Upper Permian; … · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- 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
- Chalcopyrite botroïdale.jpg · Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Aluminum ingots at Norwegian Aluminium Company.jpg · Anders Beer Wilse · CC BY 4.0
- Pisolitic bauxite (Alcoa Bauxite Mine, Arkansas, USA) 5.jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Pinjarra Alumina Refinery, September 2020 01.jpg · Calistemon · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Fluorite crystals.jpg · Marek Novotňák · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Barite - Cerro Warihuyn, Miraflores, Huamalies, Huanuco, Peru.jpg · Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Borax crystals.jpg · Aram Dulyan ( User:Aramgutang ) · Public domain
- Deformed crystal of zircon.jpg · Liza Kovaleva · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Hafnium (Element - 72) 2.jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Crystal surface of colorless Beryl, multicolor filter, size 5,8 x 3,9 mm.jpg · Sepelinmurskaaja · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Elektrociepłownia PGE Toruń1.jpg · Mateuszgdynia · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Native silver 1.jpg · Parent Géry · CC BY-SA 3.0
- 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
- Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine, Mountain Pass, California (15470415247).jpg · Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Neodymium oxide 170g.jpg · W. Oelen · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Praseodymium (Element - 59) 2.jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Dysprosium (Element - 66) 2.jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Terbium prvek.jpg · Milda 444 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lanthanum (Element - 57) 3.jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Cerium (Element - 58) 2.jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Samarium shards.jpg · brainandforce · CC0
- Europium prvek.jpg · Milda 444 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Gadolinium 2.jpg · Milda 444 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Piece of Yttrium.jpg · Jan Anskeit · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Scandium (Element - 21).jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Holmium shards.jpg · brainandforce · CC0
- Erbium (Element - 68).jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- Thulium prvek.jpg · Milda 444 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Ytterbium (Element - 70) 2.jpg · James St. John · CC BY 2.0
- PET-schema.png · Jens Maus ( https://jens-maus.de/ ) · Public domain
- Wafer 20110212.jpg · Sangitiana Fararano · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Plastic bottle containing gallium metal.JPG · Pixelmaniac pictures ( Leave a reply ) · CC0
- Miniman M 703 germanium crystal radio made in Japan late 1950s.jpg · R. Henrik Nilsson · CC BY 4.0
- Indium wetting glass.jpg · Schtone · Public domain
- Tellurium crystals.jpg · Hi-Res Images of Chemical Elements · CC BY 3.0
- Native arsenic2.jpg · Miguel Calvo · CC BY 4.0
- Metal poles (surface is chromium-plated) - HDR.jpg · Laitche · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 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
Every photograph is from Wikimedia Commons and is used under the licence shown.