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Critical minerals are essential components of technological and industrial products. While all rare earth minerals are critical minerals, not all critical minerals are rare earth minerals. In this article, we will explore the distinction between the two, while also highlighting the importance of critical mineral mining in securing supply chain resilience.
What are critical minerals?
Critical minerals are minerals that are deemed essential components in modern technologies and vital parts to electric or industrial products. The availability and accessibility of critical minerals, such as aluminum and copper, are necessary for both industries, companies, and nations.
However, the exact definition of what is deemed a critical mineral is flexible. This depends on the context in which we discuss critical minerals and the stakeholders who are defining them. But perhaps most importantly, the classification of critical minerals depends on the current techno-socio-economic paradigm. Stated differently, the classification is dependent on the acute demand and supply of products that rely on minerals for its production.
Critical mineral examples and use areas
Aluminium
Aluminium is used in clean energy production, including electric vehicles (batteries) and infrastructure such as solar panels and transmission lines.
Cobalt
Cobalt is an essential component of lithium-ion batteries that are used in electric vehicles and energy storage systems (ESS). It is also used in various petroleum and chemical industrial applications.
Copper
Copper is used in electric motors, transformers, and power generation equipment. Its main use, however, is in the electrical wiring and infrastructure for renewable energy systems. Examples of the latter are wind turbines and solar panels.
Read also: What is copper mining?
Lithium
The main use of lithium is in lithium-ion batteries, but it is also used in pharmaceuticals.
Nickel
Similar to lithium and cobalt, nickel is also a component in lithium-ion batteries. Nickel is specifically used in the cathodes of the batteries. In other industries, nickel is used in hydrogen fuel cell technology and stainless steel production.
Quick note
The list of critical minerals does not include fuel minerals or common varieties of sand, gravel, and stone. Water (including ice or snow) is also excluded from the definition of critical minerals.
What are rare earth minerals?
Rare earth minerals are a specific subset of critical minerals. Examples of rare earth elements (REEs) are terbium, lanthanum, and cerium. Similar to critical minerals, REEs are essential for technology and vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. REEs such as terbium are used in magnets for wind turbines and electric motors.
Mining for critical minerals
Critical mineral mining refers to the process of extracting essential minerals like copper and REEs from ore deposits using various mining techniques. Mineral exploration and subsequent mining is the fundamental process that ensures the extraction and processing of critical minerals. The goal of mineral exploration is to find ore, which is a commercially viable concentration of minerals. Ore contains valuable minerals from which metal or other commodities can be profitably extracted through mining and geological or industrial processing.
The demand for critical minerals has increased over the years, meaning that the mining industry has had to keep up by developing technologies that can handle this change. This applies to drilling, processing, and extraction.
Continue reading: An overview of ore mining and processing
U.S. perspective on critical minerals
The United States has deemed it vital to prioritize critical minerals in order to avoid disruptions to the supply chain. Therefore, the Energy Act of 2020 was passed. In this bill, critical minerals are defined as those that are essential to the economic and national security of the country (USGS, 2025).
This also means that the list of critical minerals mentioned in the Energy Act is not static and changes over time as supply and demand ebb and flow. Technological developments and import reliance also impact the list of minerals included.
From low to high importance
The U.S. currently considers lithium and nickel the most vital critical minerals from 2025 to 2035, closely followed by cobalt, graphite, dysprosium, gallium, among others. Explore the full list of minerals deemed most critical, as well as a categorization of critical minerals based on their importance to energy and supply risk here.
A complete list of critical minerals
- Aluminium
- Antimony
- Arsenic
- Barite
- Beryllium
- Bismuth
- Cerium
- Cesium
- Chromium
- Cobalt
- Dysprosium
- Erbium
- Europium
- Fluorspar
- Gadolinium
- Gallium
- Germanium
- Graphite
- Hafnium
- Holmium
- Indium
- Iridium
- Lanthanum
- Lithium
- Lutetium
- Magnesium
- Manganese
- Neodymium
- Nickel
- Niobium
- Palladium
- Platinum
- Praseodymium
- Rhodium
- Rubidium
- Ruthenium
- Samarium
- Scandium
- Tantalum
- Tellurium
- Terbium
- Thulium
- Tin
- Titanium
- Tungsten
- Vanadium
- Ytterbium
- Yttrium
- Zinc
- Zirconium
What are critical minerals used for?
Critical minerals are vital in manufacturing and for the needs of companies, industries, and nations. They are used in technologies that are important not only for the economy but also for national security. Consider the following examples of how the sourcing of critical minerals impacts the economy and national security.
Clean energy
- Wind energy: Rare earth minerals such as terbium are used in production of magnets that are necessary for wind turbines.
- Solar energy: Solar panels require both copper and aluminum.
National security
- Electric grid: Electricity networks need large amounts of copper and aluminium to function, which functionality is essential for all daily activities in modern society.
- Defense: A wide range of industrial products like aerial systems and fighter jets require critical minerals in its functionality (Vergun, 2025).
Critical minerals in the modern ‘twin transition’
Sometimes the use areas of critical minerals clash, which might in itself derail the supply of these valuable minerals. ‘Twin transition’ describes the ongoing – and overlapping – green and digital transitions, where new technologies are shaping the change. These newer technologies (e.g., wind farms) rely on more minerals than traditional technologies (e.g., natural gas plants) do. Additionally, the construction of wind farms and electric vehicles requires different types of minerals, while natural gas power plants and conventional cars only need two (UNU, 2024).
Furthermore, even when we do not consider the critical mineral capacity, there are conflicts lurking in the twin transition as well. Ideally, the digital and green transitions should reinforce each other, but digitalization and green initiatives often clash. For example, electric vehicle production consumes a huge amount of electricity that uses many resources, and digital technologies such as AI models and data centres generate much waste.
The benefits of green technology and a comprehensive plan to mitigate the potential negative effects of the twin transition are crucial to formalize. An important step toward this goal would be to strengthen the supply chains, which first step is to address the supply chain risks.
How to manage critical minerals and supply chain risks
Critical minerals have an innate vulnerability because they often face supply chain risks. These risks are often associated with interruptions or disruptions, making it harder to acquire key components for industries. Disruptions can emerge from all stages of the supply chain.
One way to mitigate the potential impact on industries is to manage the supply chains that are exposed to risks. For example, over 40% of the global smelting and refining capacity for copper, lithium, REEs, and cobalt is concentrated in China (UNU, 2024). A strategic management of these copper supply chains could include improving trade relationships or identifying alternative international partnerships. A third solution could be to secure one’s own domestic supply chain.
Securing supply chains and critical minerals through domestic mining and processing can be a good tactic to mitigate supply chains risks. Why? Because sourcing minerals through mining is a fundamental step to building capability and resilience in supply chains, which is urgently needed in order to meet national security risks as well as economic ambitions.
The stable, reliable supply of critical minerals is important for the transition to clean energy technologies, as well as national security. Therefore, developing and securing a robust domestic supply chain is an indispensable move to ensure both the success of green technology transition and a nation’s long-term security.
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Sources:
- UNU (2024). What Are Critical Minerals, and Why Are They So Important? UNU Merit.
- USGS (2025). What is a critical mineral? U.S. Geological Survey.
- Vergun, D. (2025). Securing Critical Minerals Vital to National Security, Official Says. U.S. Department of War.
