The criticality of industrial minerals

In this issue of Mining Engineering, readers will find summaries of 40 industrial minerals as well as an overview of the often-underappreciated sector by Mike O’Driscoll. I would like to thank SME’s Industrial Minerals & Aggregates Division for coordinating the editors and authors who make this section possible and especially Jim Norman of Tetra Tech, who has steered this project for decades, as well as Jack Sackrider of Westward Environmental. The industrial minerals review annually gives readers a closer look at many of the minerals that are, in O’Driscoll’s words, “often the unsung workhorse mineral commodities and specialist raw materials which frankly keep the world’s manufacturing industries ticking over and everyday products we use in sound availability.” Some of these minerals are not as well known to most people as the higher-profile battery minerals such as lithium, cobalt or rare earths, but many of them are just as vital to the U.S. economy as well as the global energy transition that remains the driving force of the global mining industry. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Theo Yameogo, EY America’s Metals and Mining Leader about the rapidly changing landscape of the North American minerals sector. Yameogo is a professional mining engineer and advisor to C-suite leaders of metals and mining companies across the Americas. He is also a contributor to EY’s annual report on “Top 10 Risks and Opportunities for Mining and Metals Companies.” In its outlook for 2025, EY noted that the energy transition would continue to disrupt the mining and minerals sector. It said the industry is challenged with meeting surging demand while achieving sustainable mining practices that meet high stakeholder expectations all while managing capital discipline. Rare earths, lithium, gold and cobalt are often mentioned by investors, media and politicians when the issue of minerals is brought up. But in 2024, the industrial mineral sector once again accounted for the majority share of total mine production in the United States by value at $72.1 billion, or 54 precent. Minerals that are deemed critical, as most readers are aware, receive that designation when a government determines that the mineral is essential to economic or national security and that the supply chain for that mineral is vulnerable to disruption. The debate around which minerals make the various lists of “critical minerals” and which ones do not is a topic for another column. “The definition of critical minerals is always changing,” said Yameogo, who noted the list of minerals considered critical by Canada is longer than the list created by the U.S. Geological Survey. But Yameogo said, “Industrially, they are all critical. It is society and the energy transition that are making governments rank each mineral. For example, we have an abundance of iron ore, but if we stopped producing iron ore the industrial world would come to a stop. And potash, which is considered a critical mineral in Canada is not included as a critical mineral in the United States, but if potash production stopped we would all be back to caveman-age agriculture.” For its 2025 report, EY surveyed senior mining and metals leaders globally from organizations with at least $1 billion in revenue, collecting 353 unique responses from industry leaders, 17 percent of whom are at board or C-suite level, to determine what they view as challenges and trends in the industry. EY has published the report for more than 15 years, and each year there are some changes to the top 10 list, but what was striking about the outlook for 2025 was that there were four changes including at the top, which was occupied by capital, or more precisely the challenge of finding capital for the projects that are needed to meet the demands of the global energy transition. Managing capital was at the top of mind for the executives, followed by environmental stewardship, geopolitics, resource/reserve depletion, licence to operate, rising costs, climate change, new projects, changing business models and innovation. As global events continue to affect the mineral sector and continue to unfold rapidly (the war in Ukraine, increased tensions in the Middle East, climate change and the growing influence of artificial intelligence), the mining industry has opportunities and challenges ahead, and as Yameogo insisted, the mining industry and all of the minerals and metals it produces remain critical to the future of society.“If you think about society as a whole, our job is to produce the metals and minerals that we all depend on,” he said. “And if we don’t produce these metals and minerals, everything stops.”

The criticality of industrial minerals

Authored by: William Gleason

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