Critical mineral deposits of the United States (ver. 2.0, April 2024)
Dates
Publication Date
2023-07-18
Release Date
2023
Last Revision
2024-04-29
Citation
Hammarstrom, J.M., Woodruff, L.G., and Dicken, C.L., 2023, Critical mineral deposits of the United States (ver. 2.0, April 2024): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9K1HBNT.
Summary
A goal of the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) program, which partners the USGS with State Geological Surveys, Federal agencies, and the private sector, is to collect new geological, geophysical, geochemical, and topographic (lidar) data in key areas of the U.S., with the purpose of stimulating domestic mineral exploration and production of critical minerals. As a first step, the Earth MRI program identified regional geographic areas within the United States that may have potential to host deposits containing critical minerals. These are the focus areas described in Dicken and others (2022) (https://doi.org/10.5066/P9DIZ9N8). As a further step to meet Earth MRI priorities, mineral deposit information was gleaned [...]
Summary
A goal of the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) program, which partners the USGS with State Geological Surveys, Federal agencies, and the private sector, is to collect new geological, geophysical, geochemical, and topographic (lidar) data in key areas of the U.S., with the purpose of stimulating domestic mineral exploration and production of critical minerals. As a first step, the Earth MRI program identified regional geographic areas within the United States that may have potential to host deposits containing critical minerals. These are the focus areas described in Dicken and others (2022) (https://doi.org/10.5066/P9DIZ9N8). As a further step to meet Earth MRI priorities, mineral deposit information was gleaned from the USGS Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS), the Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF) and USMIN databases, as well as from industry reports and the literature, resulting in a database of 681 individual mineral deposits documented to contain critical minerals. In the database, deposits are classified within their respective focus areas by mineral systems, deposit types, and identified critical minerals. Production and/or resource/reserve numbers confirming the presence of critical minerals are included to further characterize the size, status, and potential of each entry. Deposits are also given a ranked value (1 to 6) determined from their critical mineral status as past, current or future producers, and the presence or absence of known reserves or resources. Out of 684 deposits, 244 of the entries are not classified as past or current producers, but have recognized, documented resources. This subset is of particular interest as it represents possible untapped critical mineral potential. References are provided to support production and resource figures. This mineral deposit database is designed to be used in conjunction with the focus area GIS and supplemental table (Dicken and others, 2022) for further spatial recognition of the distribution of critical mineral across the United States.
Critical_mineral_deposits_table_v2.zip “Zipped Excel table of critical mineral deposits v2.0”
293.94 KB
application/zip
Critical_mineral_deposits_table_v2_csv.csv “CSV file of critical mineral deposits v2.0”
264.8 KB
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Critical_mineral_deposits_table_v2_references.csv “CSV file of references”
95.64 KB
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critical_mineral_deposits_v2.gdb.zip “critical mineral deposits v2.0 geodatabase zip file”
112.71 KB
application/zip
critical_mineral_deposits_v2.zip “critical mineral deposits v2.0 shapefile zip file”
133.97 KB
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critical_mineral_deposits_revisions_history.txt “critical mineral deposit v2.0 revision history”
2.71 KB
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Critical_mineral_deposits_table_v2_csv.zip “Zipped CSV file of critical mineral deposits v2.0”
103.08 KB
application/zip
Related External Resources
Type: Related Primary Publication
GIS, supplemental data table, and references for focus areas of potential domestic resources of critical minerals and related commodities in the United States and Puerto Rico
The 684 known past/current/future mineral deposits, which contain documented critical minerals, are within many of the previously identified regional focus area. Because focus areas can be broad and the footprint of Earth MRI activities can be limited, it is helpful to identify areas within focus areas with known critical minerals. The mineral deposits in this database are evidence of past or future critical mineral potential and will help prioritize future acquisition of Earth MRI-funded geologic mapping, geochemical data, and airborne geophysics. Deposit locations were taken from the USGS MRDS, ARDF, and USMIN databases, as well as other sources, regardless of political boundaries. Therefore, some deposits may fall within Federal, as well as State, tribal, and private lands, which may or may not at this time be open to exploration and mining activities, although such activities may have occurred in the past. These data are shared to meet open data requirements and are suitable for use in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) or other database and geospatial software used to derive maps and perform geospatial analyses.
Revision 2.0 by Connie Dicken on April 29, 2024. To review the changes that were made, see “critical_mineral_deposits_revisions_history.txt” in the attached files section.
