Critical Minerals
Critical minerals are raw materials that governments designate as both economically important and vulnerable to supply disruption — for example rare earth elements, lithium, and gallium.
A "critical mineral" is a raw material that an authority such as the U.S. Geological Survey or the European Union designates as essential to the economy and, at the same time, exposed to a high risk of supply disruption — often because production or processing is concentrated in a few countries. The designation combines two axes: economic importance and supply risk.
Why it is useful
Whole industries depend on a short list of these materials. When supply of a critical mineral is concentrated, the industries that consume it inherit that concentration risk. Mapping which materials an industry relies on is a structural way to see where a supply shock would land.
How NEUTAUR uses it
NEUTAUR maps industries to the critical materials they depend on using published government methodology and materials data, and places that alongside a company’s own disclosures. It reports the linkage and public supply-concentration facts — not a prediction of prices or shortages.
Limits
- Designations differ by government and are revised over time.
- A dependency shows exposure, not a guarantee that a disruption will occur.
- Public data covers production and processing shares, not every company’s private inventory.
Data source
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries · U.S. critical minerals list