Editorial standard / Reviewed 14 July 2026

What the register covers.

The directory contains 65 curated mineral and material profiles. It maps those profiles against five official frameworks; it is not presented as the complete union of every named item in those frameworks.

Current scope exclusions

Seven distinct entries present in at least one mapped framework are not yet standalone profiles: metallurgical or coking coal, feldspar, elemental phosphorus, high-purity alumina, high-purity iron ore, barium and thallium. This keeps the current editorial scope centred on the researched 65-profile dataset while making the boundary explicit.

How grouped entries are mapped

Official frameworks sometimes designate a group—such as rare earth elements or platinum-group metals—while the directory profiles individual elements. A positive designation means the individual profile is covered by the mapped group as interpreted from the official list and its supporting scope. Promethium and osmium are not mapped to the EU entry because the underlying scope excludes them. Australia’s field combines its separate Critical Minerals and Strategic Materials lists; it should be read as “present on either Australian list.”

Evidence and dates

Profiles draw principally on the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Royal Society of Chemistry element records, the IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 and official government lists. Production and reserve figures carry an “as of” year where the source provides one. Group-level figures are identified in the profile’s editorial notes rather than presented as element-specific measurements.

Framework references

Known limitations

Country labels in the current research may describe mining, refining, group-level supply or a project pipeline depending on the commodity. Each profile’s surrounding note is controlling. Citation links support the profile as a whole rather than every sentence individually. The database is an editorial research resource, not investment, engineering or legal advice.

Corrections are welcome at team@criticalminerals.directory. Include the profile, disputed field and a primary source.

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