The United States has identified critical minerals for which it is ready to be friends with other countries

The Interior Ministry and the US Geological Survey have prepared a draft list of critically important minerals for the United States. Washington is going to stimulate domestic production and build relations with countries that have reserves of important minerals.

The Department of the Interior and the US Geological Survey have published a draft list of critical minerals for 2025 and a report outlining a new model for assessing how potential supply chain disruptions could affect the US economy.

"The draft list includes 54 types of mineral raw materials, of which 50 were included in the list based on the results of the assessment of economic effects. For example, zirconium was included due to the possibility of a disruption in the domestic supply chain and three minerals were retained based on a qualitative assessment," the US Department of the Interior reports.

The top ten most important minerals are samarium, rhodium, lutetium, terbium, dysprosium, gallium, germanium, gadolinium, tungsten and niobium.

"The impact of billions of dollars of disruptions may seem insignificant compared to the US economy, estimated at $29 trillion. But in reality they will be much more serious. From the perspective of America's balance sheet, the loss of even one critical mineral can affect entire industries, from semiconductors to defense systems, undermining manufacturing, technological leadership and employment. The new methodology allows the executive bodies to assess risks in several scenarios for all analyzed minerals," the statement said.

The US Department of Internal Affairs and the US Geological Survey have developed a model of supply chain failures and studied more than 1,200 negative scenarios in the trade of 84 commodities for 402 individual industries and the US economy as a whole.

"The simulated economic consequences were then weighed against the likelihood of a disruption scenario. For example, one of the scenarios is a complete restriction of the supply of rhodium from South Africa. The impact of this scenario on US GDP was estimated at a loss of $ 64 billion, but the probability of its implementation was only 3.9%," the Interior Ministry said.

The head of the Geological Survey, Sarah Riker, said that in 2024, industries specializing in mining contributed more than $ 4 trillion to the US economy, and the new methodology makes it possible to accurately determine the consequences and understand where strategic domestic investments or international trade relations can help reduce risks for individual supply chains.

The list of critical minerals for the United States may vary. For example, the inclusion of metallurgical coal and uranium in the list is being studied.