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What Happened: What The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has released the final 2025 List of Critical Minerals, expanding it to 60 commodities by adding 10 new minerals. Published in the Federal Register on November 7, 2025, this update retains all 50 from the 2022 list while incorporating additions. View the full list and methodology here.
Details: The new entries—boron, copper, lead, metallurgical coal, phosphate, potash, rhenium, silicon, silver, and uranium—address vulnerabilities in supply chains for industries like electronics, renewable energy, steelmaking, agriculture, nuclear power, and national defense. Notably, the draft list published on August 26, 2025, had recommended removing arsenic and tellurium, but both were retained in the final list based on interagency recommendations. The expansion reflects a strategic effort to bolster domestic production and reduce reliance on foreign sources, particularly China, for minerals essential to the U.S. economy and national security.
Significance: Designation unlocks expedited federal permitting under FAST-41, Defense Production Act funding, tax incentives, and streamlined reviews, potentially accelerating projects, as discussed in our blog article here. Critical minerals are also be subject to Department of Interior's expedited permitting procedures as outlined in our blog article here. For California stakeholders, this may have implications regarding state efforts to define critical minerals under SMARA, as discussed here.
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