Minerals are used in nearly every aspect of modern life, from the computers we use to the roads we drive on. Maintaining our infrastructure, manufacturing consumer and defense technologies and adopting low-carbon energy sources all require dependable supplies of minerals. But where does the U.S. mineral supply come from? Where could future supplies come from? And how can the environmental impacts of mineral development be managed or reduced?  

The USGS helps answer these questions by studying the full life cycle and supply chains of mineral resources by:

• estimating mineral resource availability
• researching where and how mineral resources occur, including beneath the ocean, and other planets
• providing information on how mineral commodities are produced and traded globally
• investigating the environmental impacts of mineral development including the potential for recovering valuable materials from wastes

Policy makers, land managers, industry and the public all rely on USGS science to make decisions about where to get the mineral resources we need and how to use the resources we have.