*Photo: US President, Donald Trump *
The US government has added 10 minerals to its annual list of ‘critical minerals’ it deems essential for the U.S. economy and national security.
On the new list are copper, vital to electric vehicles, power grids, and data centers; metallurgical coal, used to make coke fuel for steel production.
The new list also includes uranium, which is enriched to fuel nuclear reactors; boron, lead, phosphate, potash, rhenium, silicon, and silver
The US Interior Department’s critical minerals list guides federal investments and permitting decisions and helps shape the government’s broader minerals strategy.
The Trump administration has this year expanded the list amid efforts to boost domestic mining and cut reliance on imports, particularly from economic rival China.
The list serves as a blueprint for Washington’s push to secure supplies of materials needed for defense, manufacturing, and clean energy technologies. It determines which projects qualify for federal incentives, informs national stockpiling and research priorities, and signals to private investors where the government sees long-term strategic value.
Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, said the expanded list “provides a clear, data-driven road map to reduce our dependence on foreign adversaries, expand domestic production and unleash American innovation.”
Potash and phosphate are used as fertilizers to grow crops around the world.
“These are two minerals where stable supplies are absolutely necessary to fill our plates and feed our communities,” said Corey Rosenbusch, CEO of The Fertilizer Institute.
Potash was on an original 2018 list, but neither phosphate nor potash was included when it was updated in 2022, the institute said.
Copper is used widely across the global economy in power generation, electronics and construction.
Putting met coal on the list aligns with President Donald Trump’s support of fossil fuels. Some U.S. met coal mines have shut in recent months amid ample supply and a reduction in exports to China, which put an additional 15% tariff on imports of U.S. coal this year.
Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the US National Mining Association, said it will continue to seek the expansion of the list to “ensure that the U.S. has the abundant domestic resources it needs, when it needs them.”
The U.S. Geological Survey list is updated every three years to help identify minerals deemed as essential for the economy, and helps to inform investments in mining, mine waste, stockpiles, streamlined permitting, and other related areas; in total, the list now contains 60 critical minerals.
Being on the list allows investment in these new minerals to become eligible for federal funding and streamlining permitting.
