Dr. Conca reports that just like essential nutrients are necessary for a healthy body, critical minerals are necessary for a healthy economy. And a healthy national security. And a healthy educational system. Basically all aspects of an overall healthy society in these modern times. The United States Geological Survey Report on a Critical Mineral List discusses 35 mineral commodities that we are dependent on. So whether it’s indium for LCD screens and aircraft wind shielding, cobalt for iPhones, uranium for nuclear reactors, rare earth elements for wind turbine magnets, or lithium for rechargeable batteries, if we do not have an ample supply of each, we risk specific losses in economic vigor or national security vulnerability. Bad things happen.
Thus, the need for Executive Order 13817. Ordered in 2017, the list contains those elements that are “essential to the economic and national security of the United States, that has a supply chain vulnerable to disruption, and that serves an essential function in the manufacturing of a product, the absence of which would have significant consequences for the economy or national security.”
Compiled and written by Steven Fortier, Nedal Nassar, Graham Lederer, Jamie Brainard, Joseph Gambogi and Erin McCullough, the report also discusses strategies to reduce the nation’s reliance on these elements, the status of recycling technologies, alternatives to these minerals, options for accessing critical minerals through trade with allies and partners, a plan for improvements to mapping the United States and its mineral resources, and other issues.
This list of critical minerals is not permanent, but is dynamic, and will be updated periodically as society advances. The full list includes the following minerals (click a mineral’s name to find relevant stats including global and U.S. abundance, uses, production, tariffs and import information):
Aluminum (bauxite), used in almost all sectors of the economy
Antimony, used in batteries and flame retardants
Arsenic, used in lumber preservatives, pesticides, and semi-conductors
Barite, used in cement and petroleum industries
Beryllium, used as an alloying agent in aerospace and defense industries
Bismuth, used in medical and atomic research
Cesium, used in research and development
Chromium, used primarily in stainless steel and other alloys
Cobalt, used in rechargeable batteries and superalloys
Fluorspar, used in the manufacture of aluminum, gasoline, and uranium fuel
Gallium, used for integrated circuits and optical devices like LEDs
Germanium, used for fiber optics and night vision applications
Graphite (natural), used for lubricants, batteries, and fuel cells
Hafnium, used for nuclear control rods, alloys, and high-temperature ceramics
Helium, used for MRIs, lifting agent, and research
Indium, mostly used in LCD screens
Lithium, used primarily for batteries
Magnesium, used in furnace linings for manufacturing steel and ceramics
Manganese, used in steelmaking
Niobium, used mostly in steel alloys
Platinum group metals, used for catalytic agents
Potash, primarily used as a fertilizer
Rare earth elements group, primarily used in batteries and electronics
Rhenium, used for lead-free gasoline and superalloys
Rubidium, used for research and development in electronics
Scandium, used for alloys and fuel cells
Strontium, used for pyrotechnics and ceramic magnets
Tantalum, used in electronic components, mostly capacitors
Tellurium, used in steelmaking and solar cells
Tin, used as protective coatings and alloys for steel
Titanium, overwhelmingly used as a white pigment or metal alloys
Tungsten, primarily used to make wear-resistant metals
Uranium, mostly used for nuclear fuel; depleted U used in military munitions
Vanadium, primarily used for titanium alloys
Zirconium, used in the high-temperature ceramics industries
Many of these elements are not directly mined but are recovered during the smelting or refining of the host rock or material for other commodities. These byproducts are typically similar chemically to their host material so are present in the same ores, but at smaller amounts. So refining copper ores allows us to recover significant amounts of tellurium.
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Original working URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2019/11/19/35-minerals-that-are-critical-to-our-society/#188d04f718bf
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