113-20 Critical Minerals Initiatives in Missouri

Session: Mineralogical Characterization of Economic Resources: From Critical Minerals to Gemstones (Posters)

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                Missouri is one of the top 10 mineral producing states and has known occurrences of 30 of the 50 mineral commodities identified as critical to the U.S. economy and national security. USGS Earth MRI (EMRI) funding has supported mapping of the Fredericktown 7.5’ quadrangle, in an area which contains known cobalt-nickel mineralization and a geochemical reconnaissance on the Ordovician Maquoketa Shale that sampled the formation at outcrops and in cores for REE-enriched sedimentary phosphate. An additional project with the Department of Energy, four surrounding states, and one tribal nation (CORE-CM) ran from 2021 to 2024 and studied Pennsylvanian coal strata for potential REE concentrations.

                Missouri has received new EMRI projects every year for the last five years; these include geologic mapping, geochemical reconnaissance, and mine waste. The mapping projects are underway around the Fredericktown area in southeast Missouri and will address basement and bedrock exposures, with accompanying petrographic and geochemical analyses. The geochemical reconnaissance projects cover large areas with the goal of gaining new geochemistry insight into mineral districts in Missouri; these are currently underway and cover Pennsylvanian black shales, Tri-State Lead District, and Old Lead Belt in the Southeast Missouri MVT Lead-Zinc District. Additionally, Missouri has applied for and been awarded funding on three separate mine waste projects to collect samples at Pea Ridge tailings, Old Lead Belt chat piles with The Doe Run Company, and Iron Mountain tailings with New Frontier Materials. Work has been completed at Pea Ridge, which was also accompanied with a GIS database for a statewide inventory of all mine waste locations in Missouri. The other projects are currently underway.

Investments through existing and new federal programs and increases in state resources are accelerating our understanding of the location and quantities of these minerals in Missouri and surrounding regions. These projects also improve preservation and access to physical and digital collections and are helping our customers in areas such as energy, critical minerals characterization, and infrastructure development.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-7933

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