Final List of Critical Minerals 2018

The first US critical-minerals list, finalised under Executive Order 13817 after 453 public comments on the February 2018 draft. It designates 35 mineral commodities: aluminum (bauxite), antimony, arsenic, barite, beryllium, bismuth, cesium, chromium, cobalt, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite (natural), hafnium, helium, indium, lithium, magnesium, manganese, niobium, platinum group metals, potash, the rare earth elements group, rhenium, rubidium, scandium, strontium, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, tungsten, uranium, vanadium and zirconium. Rare earths appear as a single grouped entry rather than as individual elements. The notice states the list "while ``final,'' is not a permanent list, but will be dynamic and updated periodically", and that it would serve as the Department of Commerce's initial focus for its report under section 4 of the Executive Order.

The baseline record of the US designation instrument, and the reference point every later US measure is measured against — the 2022 and 2025 lists both describe themselves as revisions of it, and EO 13953 defines "critical minerals" by pointing at the minerals identified under EO 13817. Coding it makes the 2018-2025 designation chain legible as a single lineage rather than three unconnected notices. Designation carries no export restriction: its effect runs through permitting, funding eligibility and reporting obligations.