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Category: Industrial Metals

What Are The Critical Raw Materials (CRMs)?

Posted on June 24, 2025June 24, 2025 by Brian Colwell

Critical Raw Materials (CRMs), also known as Critical Resource Materials, are raw materials that are economically and strategically important, but that also have a high risk of supply disruption. CRMs are essential…

What Are The Platinum Group Metals (PGMs)? Critical Raw Materials

Posted on June 23, 2025June 24, 2025 by Brian Colwell

International bodies including the U.S. National Research Council, European Commission, and British Geological Survey have consistently identified PGMs as among the most critical raw materials essential for economic and national security. The…

Interesting Facts About Iridium: A Critical Raw Material

Posted on June 23, 2025June 24, 2025 by Brian Colwell

Iridium is one of the six platinum-group elements discovered in 1803, possessing exceptional physical and chemical properties including extreme resistance to wear, tarnishing, and chemical attack, and the ability to withstand high…

Interesting Facts About Osmium: A Critical Raw Material

Posted on June 23, 2025June 24, 2025 by Brian Colwell

Osmium’s classification as a critical raw material by the United States in 2022 and inclusion in the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act IEAUSGS reflects growing recognition of its strategic importance.  The…

Interesting Facts About Palladium: A Critical Raw Material

Posted on June 23, 2025June 24, 2025 by Brian Colwell

The economic implications of palladium’s criticality are profound. When supply disruptions occur, entire automotive production lines can halt – as seen during 2020 when semiconductor shortages combined with PGM supply issues to…

Interesting Facts About Rhodium: A Critical Raw Material

Posted on June 23, 2025June 24, 2025 by Brian Colwell

Rhodium stands out as one of the most critical raw materials globally due to an exceptional combination of factors: extreme supply concentration, irreplaceable industrial applications, unprecedented price volatility, and severe supply chain…

Interesting Facts About Ruthenium: A Critical Raw Material

Posted on June 23, 2025June 24, 2025 by Brian Colwell

Ruthenium represents a perfect storm of criticality: extreme geographic concentration in politically and economically volatile regions, complete dependence on byproduct recovery, irreplaceable industrial applications, no viable substitutes, limited recycling potential, and a…

Interesting Facts About Strontium: A Critical Raw Material

Posted on June 23, 2025June 24, 2025 by Brian Colwell

Strontium commonly occurs in nature, averaging 0.034% of all igneous rock; only two minerals, celestite (strontium sulfate) and strontianite (strontium carbonate), however, contain strontium in sufficient quantities to make its recovery practical….

Interesting Facts About Tantalum: A Critical Raw Material

Posted on June 23, 2025June 24, 2025 by Brian Colwell

Tantalum (Ta) is ductile, easily fabricated, highly resistant to corrosion by acids, and a good conductor of heat and electricity and has a high melting point.   The major use for tantalum,…

Interesting Facts About Zinc: A Critical Raw Material

Posted on June 23, 2025June 24, 2025 by Brian Colwell

Zinc is the 23rd most abundant element in the earth’s crust. Sphalerite, zinc sulfide, is and has been the principal ore mineral in the world. Zinc is necessary to modern living, and,…

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