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Critical Minerals in Ores (CMiO) Database

Fact Sheet 2025-3002
Mineral Resources Program
Prepared in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Canada and Geoscience Australia
By: , , , , , , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20253002

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Abstract

Critical minerals are commodities essential to modern industrial and strategic technologies and are highly vulnerable to supply chain disruption. The Critical Minerals Mapping Initiative (CMMI) is a collaboration among the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Geological Survey of Canada, and Geoscience Australia that aims to deepen global understanding of where critical minerals are located. A key output of this initiative is the Critical Minerals in Ores (CMiO) database that is advancing our collective understanding of critical minerals distributions. For instance, publicly available data on the concentrations of many critical minerals are sparse because these commodities can only be produced in small, yet essential, quantities compared to the primary commodities like copper and zinc. The CMiO database helps bridge this gap by offering high-quality, multielement geochemical data from a wide variety of critical mineral-bearing deposits around the world. Importantly, it uses a novel consensus deposit environment, group, and type classification scheme developed by the agencies that allows comparisons among ore deposits from different regions. The CMiO database contains geochemical data for more than 20,000 samples from more than 100 deposit types comprising 10 deposit environments.

Suggested Citation

Case, G.N.D., Graham, G.E., Lawley, C.J.M., Bastrakov, E., Huston, D.L., Hofstra, A.H., Lisitsin, V., Hawkins, S.G., and Wang, B., 2025, Critical Minerals in Ores (CMiO) database: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2025–3002, 2 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20253002.

ISSN: 2327-6932 (online)

ISSN: 2327-6916 (print)

Table of Contents

  • A Global Geochemical Database to Assess Primary and Byproduct Critical Mineral Potential
  • Quantifying Critical Mineral Abundance in Different Deposit Types
  • Contributing Data to the CMiO Database
  • References Cited
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Critical Minerals in Ores (CMiO) database
Series title Fact Sheet
Series number 2025-3002
DOI 10.3133/fs20253002
Publication Date March 26, 2025
Year Published 2025
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston VA
Contributing office(s) Alaska Science Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center
Description Report: 2 p.; Dataset
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional publication details