US Geological Survey Proposes 6 New Minerals to Critical Minerals List
The U.S. Geological Survey is proposing to update its critical minerals list to include another six minerals.
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The proposal comes as the White House directed the Department of Commerce in April to conduct a Section 232 investigation on whether tariffs should be imposed on critical minerals (see 2504150060). The results of that investigation are expected to be released in October.
The critical minerals that have been added from the 2022 list are copper, lead, potash, rhenium, silicon and silver. The minerals arsenic and tellurium has been taken off the list, according to a comparison of the Federal Register notice for the 2025 list and the most recent list from 2022.
Comments on the proposed updates are due by Sept. 25.
Copper is already facing Section 232 duties as of Aug. 1 (see 2507300061). However, that 50% tariff only applies to semi-finished copper products, such as copper pipes, wires, rods, sheets, and tubes, and products that use a lot of copper, such as pipe fittings, cables, connector and electrical components -- not to copper ores, concentrates, mattes, cathodes, anodes or copper scrap.