Critical minerals

Critical minerals are mineral commodities judged economically important and vulnerable to supply disruption. Their designation depends on a jurisdiction’s needs, supply risks, and assessment methods.

Supply chain: A network of organizations and activities that moves materials from extraction to end use. Criticality depends on vulnerabilities across the entire path from mining to manufacturing.
Lithium-ion battery: A rechargeable battery that moves lithium ions between its electrodes during charging and discharge. Lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, and manganese serve in different battery designs.
Strategic mineral: A mineral designated important to national security, defense, or economic strategy. Strategic designations emphasize policy priorities that may differ from economic criticality.
Resource nationalism: Government policies that increase domestic control over natural resources and their revenues. Export limits and domestic-processing rules can alter the availability of critical minerals.
Criticality assessment: A method for evaluating a material’s economic importance and vulnerability to supply disruption. Different indicators and time horizons can produce different critical-mineral lists.
Supply risk: The likelihood that a material’s supply will be interrupted or become insufficient. Supply risk is one of the core factors in critical-mineral assessments.
Rare-earth magnet: A permanent magnet made with rare-earth elements, typically neodymium or samarium. Neodymium and dysprosium are used in powerful magnets for motors and generators.
Conflict mineral: A mineral whose extraction or trade is linked to financing armed conflict or human-rights abuses. Conflict status concerns production conditions, not necessarily supply vulnerability or economic importance.
Strategic stockpile: A reserve of materials held to reduce the effects of future supply emergencies. Stockpiling is one policy response to disruption risks for selected minerals.
Mineral resource: A concentration of naturally occurring material with reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. Known resources do not guarantee that minerals can be produced affordably or reliably.

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