The addition of uranium to the United States’ critical minerals list could have wide-ranging economic and national security implications.
On Nov. 6 the Department of the Interior, through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), published the final 2025 list of critical minerals that the government says are vital to negate potential risks from disrupted supply chains. It’s the third published list President Donald Trump issued an executive order in 2017, during his first term, directing federal agencies to strengthen mineral security.
A total of 10 new minerals were added to the list, bringing the total number to 60: boron, copper, lead, metallurgical coal, phosphate, potash, rhenium, silicon, silver, and uranium. The total list also includes 15 rare earth elements.
A full list of all minerals can be viewed below.
“This is the most comprehensive, science-based assessment yet of the minerals our nation relies on,” USGS Director Ned Mamula said in a statement. “Critical minerals underpin industries worth trillions of dollars, and import dependence puts key sectors at risk. This work helps secure the materials needed for U.S. economic growth and technological leadership.”
Military.com reached out to USGS for additional comment.
The list must be reviewed every three years according to the Energy Act of 2020 signed by Trump, with USGS saying “the list is not static” and will be updated at least every two years “to reflect evolving circumstances.”
Trump has called for a quadrupling of nuclear power by 2050.
Uranium Advantages
Christo Liebenberg, co-founder and president of US-based uranium enrichment company LIS Technologies, told Military.com that there is “huge market demand” for uranium to boost a domestic electricity grid facing challenges from growing AI data centers in different pockets of the country.
The fact that the critical list now includes 60 minerals—more than half of the 118 elements on the periodic table—also stood out, he added.
“Being on that list, it's clear that it triggers a whole set of advantages,” Liebenberg said. “That makes mining uranium in the U.S. a lot easier, faster and more attractive to investors.
“It's like flipping a switch that says, ‘OK, everybody, uranium is now important. Let's make mining in the US easier, cheaper, faster and more predictable.’ Of course, this is exactly what would stimulate production. But the thing is, it doesn't stop just with mining. Being on that list actually has a ripple effect through the entire nuclear fuel supply chain.”
The fact that the critical list now includes 60 minerals—more than half of the 118 elements on the periodic table—also stood out, he added.
US Boosts Global Acquisition
Rare elements’ inclusion on the list reflects upon the potential cost to the U.S. economy should supply chains become unraveled, notes USGS. They power ubiquitous technologies including smartphones, hard drives, and advanced defense systems.
While the U.S. in 2024 imported 80% of the rare earth elements it used, different steps are now being taken to bolster acquisition. The U.S. is now investing in its own production and securing access through partners in Australia, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand.
USGS said it is mapping new domestic deposits and advancing scientific understanding of how geology influences their quality, size, and viability for extraction.
Reducing Russian Dependance
Bringing uranium back to the home front would be a decades-old course correction of sorts.
Liebenberg said the U.S. was the biggest exporter of nuclear fuel in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, making its own rich uranium and building nuclear plants.
But following the Cold War and the end of the Soviet Union, Russia—a huge enricher of uranium for their nuclear weapons warheads—became a producer on the world market. That included selling uranium to the United States, which has imported uranium from Russia dating back to the 1990s.
“We've become dependent on Russian nuclear fuel,” Liebenberg said. “This has decimated our industry in the U.S. to the point that we have no more uranium mines, we have no mission capability except for one plant in New Mexico. We have just one conversion facility [Honeywell Specialty Chemicals] in Metropolis, Illinois.”
A sea change of sorts has come in part due to the Russia-Ukraine war and the U.S. wanting to wean off Russian assets like imported uranium. Some of the world’s biggest players and companies are focusing on the future.
“The demand has skyrocketed not just because of the need for more power and more energy, but also the power consumption of AI data centers is just humongous and just keeps increasing and increasing,” Liebenberg said. “The U.S. soon is going to start having blackouts.
"Data centers are consuming so much power that we just cannot keep up. … These big tech companies, the big five tech companies, they want clean power and they need 24/7 power. Wind and solar is not going to cut it."
