Critical Minerals:

The 2022 USGS list of critical minerals and primary uses includes the following:

• Aluminum, used in almost all sectors of the economy

• Antimony, lead-acid batteries and flame retardants

• Arsenic, semi-conductors

• Barite, hydrocarbon production.

• Beryllium, alloying agent in aerospace and defense industries

• Bismuth, medical and atomic research

• Cerium, catalytic converters, ceramics, glass, metallurgy, and polishing compounds

• Cesium, research and development

• Chromium, stainless steel and other alloys

• Cobalt, rechargeable batteries and super-alloys

• Dysprosium, permanent magnets, data storage devices, and lasers

• Erbium, fiber optics, optical amplifiers, lasers, and glass colorants

• Europium, phosphors and nuclear control rods

• Fluorspar, aluminum, cement, steel, gasoline, and fluorine chemicals

• Gadolinium, medical imaging, permanent magnets, and steelmaking

• Gallium, integrated circuits and optical devices like LEDs

• Germanium, fiber optics and night vision applications

• Graphite , lubricants, batteries, and fuel cells

• Hafnium, nuclear control rods, alloys, and high-temperature ceramics

• Holmium, permanent magnets, nuclear control rods, and lasers

• Indium, liquid crystal display screens

• Iridium, coating of anodes for electrochemical processes and as a chemical catalyst

• Lanthanum, catalysts, ceramics, glass, polishing compounds, metallurgy, and batteries

• Lithium, rechargeable batteries

• Lutetium, scintillators for medical imaging, electronics, and some cancer therapies

• Magnesium, alloy and for reducing metals

• Manganese, steelmaking and batteries

• Neodymium, permanent magnets, rubber catalysts, and in medical and industrial lasers

• Nickel, stainless steel, super-alloys, and rechargeable batteries

• Niobium, steel and super-alloys

• Palladium, catalytic converters and as a catalyst agent

• Platinum, catalytic converters

• Praseodymium, permanent magnets, batteries, aerospace alloys, ceramics, and colorants

• Rhodium, catalytic converters, electrical components, and as a catalyst

• Rubidium, research and development in electronics

• Ruthenium, catalysts, as well as electrical contacts and chip resistors in computers

• Samarium, permanent magnets, as an absorber in nuclear reactors, and in cancer treatments

• Scandium, alloys, ceramics, and fuel cells

• Tantalum, electronic components, mostly capacitors and in super-alloys

• Tellurium, solar cells, thermoelectric devices, and as alloying additive

• Terbium, permanent magnets, fiber optics, lasers, and solid-state devices

• Thulium, various metal alloys and in lasers

• Tin, protective coatings and alloys for steel

• Titanium, white pigment or metal alloys

• Tungsten, wear-resistant metals

• Vanadium, alloying agent for iron and steel

• Ytterbium, catalysts, scintillometers, lasers, and metallurgy

• Yttrium, ceramic, catalysts, lasers, metallurgy, and phosphors

• Zinc, metallurgy to produce galvanized steel

• Zirconium, high-temperature ceramics and corrosion-resistant alloys.