As the importance and dependence of specific mineral commodities increase, so does concern about their supply. The United States is currently 100 percent reliant on foreign sources for 20 mineral commodities and imports the majority of its supply of more than 50 mineral commodities. Mineral commodities that have important uses and face potential supply disruption are critical to American economic and national security. However, a mineral commodity's importance and the nature of its supply chain can change with time; a mineral commodity that may not have been considered critical 25 years ago may be critical today, and one considered critical today may not be so in the future. The U.S. Geological Survey has produced this volume to describe a select group of mineral commodities currently critical to our economy and security. For each mineral commodity covered, the authors provide a comprehensive look at (1) the commodity's use; (2) the geology and global distribution of the mineral deposit types that account for the present and possible future supply of the commodity; (3) the current status of production, reserves, and resources in the United States and globally; and (4) environmental considerations related to the commodity's production from different types of mineral deposits. The volume describes U.S. critical mineral resources in a global context, for no country can be self-sufficient for all its mineral commodity needs, and the United States will always rely on global mineral commodity supply chains. This volume provides the scientific understanding of critical mineral resources required for informed decisionmaking by those responsible for ensuring that the United States has a secure and sustainable supply of mineral commodities.

Minerals are part of virtually every product we use. Common examples include copper used in electrical wiring and titanium used to make airplane frames and paint pigments. The Information Age has ushered in a number of new mineral uses in a number of products including cell phones (e.g., tantalum) and liquid crystal displays (e.g., indium). For some minerals, such as the platinum group metals used to make cataytic converters in cars, there is no substitute. If the supply of any given mineral were to become restricted, consumers and sectors of the U.S. economy could be significantly affected. Risks to minerals supplies can include a sudden increase in demand or the possibility that natural ores can be exhausted or become too difficult to extract. Minerals are more vulnerable to supply restrictions if they come from a limited number of mines, mining companies, or nations. Baseline information on minerals is currently collected at the federal level, but no established methodology has existed to identify potentially critical minerals. This book develops such a methodology and suggests an enhanced federal initiative to collect and analyze the additional data needed to support this type of tool.

Mineral resource estimation has changed considerably in the past 25 years: geostatistical techniques have become commonplace and continue to evolve; computational horsepower has revolutionized all facets of numerical modeling; mining and processing operations are often larger; and uncertainty quantification is becoming standard practice. Recent books focus on historical methods or details of geostatistical theory. So there is a growing need to collect and synthesize the practice of modern mineral resource estimation into a book for undergraduate students, beginning graduate students, and young geologists and engineers. It is especially fruitful that this book is written by authors with years of relevant experience performing mineral resource estimation and with years of relevant teaching experience. This comprehensive textbook and reference fills this need.

The Mineral Resources of the Sea

Humanity’s ever-increasing hunger for mineral raw materials, caused by a growing global population and ever increasing standards of living, has resulted in economic geology becoming a subject of urgent importance. This book provides a broad panorama of mineral deposits, covering their origin and geological characteristics, the principles of the search for ores and minerals, and the investigation of newly found deposits. Practical and environmental issues that arise during the life cycle of a mine and after its closure are addressed, with an emphasis on sustainable and "green" mining. The central scientific theme of the book is to place the extraordinary variability of mineral deposits in the frame of fundamental geological processes. The book is written for earth science students and practicing geologists worldwide. Professionals in administration, resource development, mining, mine reclamation, metallurgy, and mineral economics will also find the text valuable. Economic Geology is a fully revised translation of the the fifth edition of the German language text Mineralische und Energie-Rohstoffe. Additional resources for this book can be found at: www.wiley.com/go/pohl/geology. The author's website can be found at: http://www.walter-pohl.com.