307-2 Geoscience Challenges and Opportunities in Securing America’s Critical Mineral Supply Chains

Abstract:

Critical minerals, those essential mineral commodities for which the United States has supply chains vulnerable to disruption, dominate current debates about resource strategy and drive substantial Federal government investments across the economy. These investments are intended to make mineral supply chains more resilient through increased production and more efficient use of critical minerals and their downstream products by the U.S. and its reliable trading partners.

The focus on critical mineral resources has developed during a period of American energy independence – an independence based primarily on fossil fuels.  Could a renewed national commitment to an energy transition away from fossil fuels threaten energy independence and increase mineral supply chain vulnerabilities? And if so, how can the geosciences help the U.S. avoid that scenario?

The U.S. has abundant solar, wind, and geothermal resources, but converting those resources into usable energy requires a critical mineral intensity greater than that required for fossil fuels, despite the fact that production and use of fossil fuels has its own critical mineral dependencies. Securing the cobalt, copper, graphite, lithium, nickel, platinum group elements, rare earth elements, and other critical minerals required for energy transition applications presents significant challenges but also presents opportunities for geoscientists and others to make decisive contributions that will identify new resources, enable greater production from known resources, minimize environmental impacts, support improved governance, and inform responsible land management.

Examples from recent USGS studies highlight these challenges and opportunities, which span the geosciences and related disciplines. The USGS, along with its Federal, State, Tribal, academic, and private partners, leads America’s mapping and resource science. USGS global mineral supply chain analyses underpin the List of Critical Minerals and inform economic, technological, national security, and global trade strategies. Onshore, the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative is transforming the surface and subsurface mapping of America’s geology and resources through advanced geological, geochemical, and geophysical survey and analysis techniques. Offshore, the USGS is collaborating with Federal partners to provide scientific information and critical mineral resource assessments that are foundational for seabed resource management decisions. In both onshore and offshore environments, the USGS is developing AI tools to streamline workflows for mineral resource assessments and is investing in academic programs to rebuild America’s minerals workforce.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 5, 2026

doi: 10.1130/abs/2026AM-18788

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