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 for renewable energy technologies, electronics, defense applications, and emerging technologies like electric vehicles and semiconductors.
The specific list of CRMs varies by country and region based on economic needs and supply vulnerabilities. The US and EU Critical Materials lists include many similarities, with some variations based on domestic supply chains and strategic priorities. Key differences between the US and the EU Critical Materials lists include:
- EU-specific materials: Boron, Coking coal, Phosphate rock, Phosphorus, Silicon metal, Strontium
- US-specific materials: Aluminum (bauxite), Cesium, Chromium, Potash, Rhenium, Rubidium, Tellurium, Tin, Zinc
What Are The Critical Raw Materials (CRMs)?
Combining the EU and US Critical Raw Materials lists yields the following CRM list:
- Aluminum (bauxite)
- Antimony
- Arsenic
- Barite
- Beryllium
- Bismuth
- Boron
- Cesium
- Chromium
- Cobalt
- Coking Coal
- Fluorspar
- Gallium
- Germanium
- Graphite (natural)
- Hafnium
- Helium
- Indium
- Lithium
- Magnesium
- Manganese
- Niobium
- Phosphate Rock
- Platinum Group Metals (PGMs)
- Potash
- Rare Earth Elements
- Rhenium
- Rubidium
- Silicon
- Strontium
- Tantalum
- Tellurium
- Tin
- Titanium
- Tungsten
- Vanadium
- Zinc
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