May 21, 2018
On May 18, 2018, the U.S. Department of Interior published the final list of 35 critical minerals after reviewing 453 public comments. Many of these critical minerals are found in New Mexico.
One of these critical minerals, potash, is currently being produced in New Mexico. Other critical minerals have been produced from New Mexico in the past and companies are exploring for these deposits in the state, such as:
More information on critical minerals in New Mexico will be posted in the near future. For more information on critical minerals in the U.S. see https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1802
The process on determining what minerals to include on the critical minerals list can be found at https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1021/ofr20181021.pdf