SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

In 2020, Congress enacted the Energy Act of 2020 (the Energy Act, Pub. L. 116-260, as amended by Pub. L. 118-233), which established the definition of a critical mineral, required the USGS on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior to update the List of Critical Minerals “not less than” at least every 3 years, and identified requirements for public comment, interagency review, and the publication of the draft and final List in the Federal Register .

Executive Order 14154, “Unleashing American Energy” (January 20, 2025), directed the Secretary in section 9(c) to “instruct the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey to consider updating the Survey's List of Critical Minerals, including for the potential of including uranium.” Additionally, Executive Order 14261, “Reinvigorating America's Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241” (April 8, 2025). directed the Secretary in section 9(b) to “determine whether metallurgical coal used in the production of steel meets the criteria to be designated as a `critical mineral' under the Act and, if so, [. . .] take steps to place coal on the Department of the Interior Critical Minerals List.”

On August 26, 2025, the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Acting Director of the USGS, published in the Federal Register the draft 2025 List of Critical Minerals and the updated methodology in accordance with section 7002 of the Energy Act. 90 FR 41591. The draft 2025 List included 54 mineral commodities, with six mineral commodities (potash, silicon, copper, silver, rhenium and lead) recommended for addition to the List and two mineral commodities (arsenic and tellurium) recommended for removal compared to the final 2022 List. Further details on the underlying rationale and the specific approach, data sources, and assumptions used to calculate each component of the supply risk metrics are described in the references cited in this notice. The Federal Register notice provided for a 30-day public comment period, which closed on September 25, 2025. The comments are available for public viewing at www.regulations.gov under docket USGS-2025-0039; GX25GB00PAMR000.

The USGS developed the List of Critical Minerals using methodology based on the definition of “critical mineral” and the criteria specified in the Energy Act. Earlier versions of the methodology have been published by the USGS in 2020 ¹ and 2021.² In 2025, the USGS substantially enhanced the methodology to quantify the risks that potential supply chain disruptions may pose to the U.S. economy and national security, and to recommend mineral commodities for inclusion on the List.³

The updated 2025 methodology is based on two primary criteria: (1) an economic effects assessment that quantified the potential impacts of foreign trade disruption scenarios on the U.S. economy, and (2) an examination of whether the mineral commodity's supply chain relied on a sole domestic producer that represented a single point of failure. The supply chain disruption model assessed the potential effects of over 1,200 disruption scenarios of 84 mineral commodities on 402 individual industries and the U.S. economy overall.

The Department received 163 public comments on the draft 2025 List, supporting or opposing the inclusion of 62 minerals. Comments were received from individuals, technical experts, industry, companies, associations, Federal and State agencies, and members of Congress.

Section 7002(c)(4)(C) of the Energy Act requires the Secretary of the Interior to “consult with the Secretaries of Defense, Commerce, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Energy and the United States Trade Representative in designating minerals, elements, substances, and materials as critical.” The Secretary engaged in this interagency review process, concurrent with the public comment period, to ensure that perspectives and analyses from other agencies are captured in the final List. In this review process, the Department of War noted the importance of arsenic and tellurium for national security. The Department of Energy recommended the addition of metallurgical coal and uranium, citing the use of these minerals in steel production, energy, and defense. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommended the addition of ( printed page 50496) phosphate, citing its importance to food security.

Section 7002(c)(4)(B) of the Energy Act allows the Secretary to designate a critical mineral determined by another Federal agency to be strategic and critical to the defense or national security of the United States, notwithstanding the Energy Act's criteria for designating a critical mineral. Based on the recommendations and expertise from the Department of Energy, Department of War, and Department of Agriculture, the Secretary hereby includes arsenic, tellurium, metallurgical coal, uranium, and phosphate on the final 2025 List of Critical Minerals.

The USGS also received additional information on the boron supply chain during the public comment process. Although the USGS could not model the supply chain risk for ferroboron, three other steel alloys with similar (70 to 80 percent) Chinese market control—silicon, titanium, and chromium ferroalloys—had sufficient probability-weighted impacts on the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that the USGS methodology recommended including them on the List. After considering all comments received, the USGS believes that the updated methodology described in USGS Open-File Report 2025-1047 ( https://doi.org/​10.3133/​ofr20251047) is a valid basis for the review and revision of the List of Critical Minerals.

In response to the public and interagency input required by the Energy Act, the Secretary hereby includes arsenic, boron, metallurgical coal, phosphate, tellurium, and uranium on the final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. The final 2025 List of Critical Minerals, together with information about the occurrence of each mineral as a byproduct, is provided in the following table. Note that a number of the listed byproducts are increasingly recovered as co-products, which are additional mineral commodities that contribute significant value to mining or processing.

The List of Critical Minerals is not static and will be reviewed dynamically (as needed) and revised as necessary to reflect current data on supply, demand, and concentration of production, as well as current policy priorities, as required under the Energy Act of 2020.

The U.S. Government and other organizations may also use other definitions and rely on other criteria to identify a mineral as critical or otherwise important. In addition, there are many minerals not on the final 2025 List of Critical Minerals that are nevertheless important to the economic and national security of the United States. This final 2025 List of Critical Minerals is not intended to replace related terms and definitions of minerals that are deemed strategic or otherwise important.

Authority: Sec. 7002, Pub. L. 116-260, as amended by Pub. L. 118-233 (30 U.S.C. 1606).

Endnotes

¹  Nassar, N.T., Brainard, J., Gulley, A., Manley, R., Matos, G., Lederer, G., Bird, L.R., Pineault, D., Alonso, E., Gambogi, J., Fortier, S.M., 2020, Evaluating the mineral commodity supply risk of the U.S. manufacturing sector Sci. Adv., 6(8) (2020), p. eaay8647, https://doi.org/​10.1126/​sciadv.aay8647.

²  Nassar, N.T., and Fortier, S.M., 2021, Methodology and technical input for the 2021 review and revision of the U.S. Critical Minerals List: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2021-1045, 31 p., https://doi.org/​10.3133/​ofr20211045.

³  Nassar, N.T., Pineault, D., Allen, S.M., McCaffrey, D.M., Padilla, A.J., Brainard, J.L., Bayani, M., Shojaeddini, E., Ryter, J.W., Lincoln, S., and Alonso, E., 2025, Methodology and technical input for the 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals—Assessing the potential effects of mineral commodity supply chain disruptions on the U.S. economy: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2025-1047, 32 p., https://doi.org/​10.3133/​ofr20251047.