U.S. Critical Minerals Stocks

BHP Group Limited is an Australian resources company with copper operations in Chile and South Australia and substantial iron ore, steelmaking coal and potash businesses. It owns 57.5% of Escondida, all of Spence, Olympic Dam, Carrapateena and Prominent Hill, and 33.75% of Antamina in Peru.

Its copper development interests include 50% of the Vicuña joint venture with Lundin Mining and 45% of Resolution Copper in Arizona. In the year ended 30 June 2026, copper contributed more than half of Group Underlying EBITDA. The proposed Escondida concentrator expansion has received pre-commitment funding ahead of a final investment decision.

Rio Tinto is a diversified mining group with copper operations at Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, Escondida in Chile and Kennecott in the United States. It owns 66% of Oyu Tolgoi, 30% of Escondida and all of Kennecott, alongside large iron ore, aluminum and lithium businesses.

Rio Tinto also holds 55% of Resolution Copper in Arizona and 70% of the Winu copper-gold project in Western Australia. Resolution completed its federal land exchange in March 2026 but remains a development project. Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited have separate share registers within the group’s dual-listed structure.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. is a US-listed copper producer with mines in the United States, Peru, Chile and Indonesia. Its portfolio includes Morenci, Cerro Verde, El Abra and the Grasberg minerals district, with gold and molybdenum contributing alongside copper.

Freeport operates mines, processing plants and smelting facilities and is expanding leaching across its Americas operations. In Indonesia, underground mine performance and the ramp-up of downstream facilities affect copper and gold sales. Proposed changes to the long-term operating rights and ownership of PT Freeport Indonesia remain distinct from the company’s current interest.

Cameco produces uranium from McArthur River and Cigar Lake in Saskatchewan and holds a 40% interest in the Inkai in-situ recovery operation in Kazakhstan. Cigar Lake is 54.5% owned and McArthur River 69.8%, with the Key Lake mill at 83.3%, so reported mine output is higher than Cameco’s attributable share. In Ontario the company runs the Blind River refinery, the Port Hope conversion plant and a CANDU fuel-manufacturing business.

Cameco sells most of its uranium under long-term contracts with utilities, so realized prices and sales volumes in any period can differ from mine output and spot-price moves. It also owns 49% of Westinghouse, held with Brookfield, which supplies reactor technology, fuel and services. Shareholders therefore hold a mix of uranium mining, fuel processing and reactor-services exposure.

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. is a Japanese mining, smelting and materials company listed in Tokyo. Its copper exposure includes minority interests in Morenci, Cerro Verde, Quebrada Blanca, Candelaria and Northparkes, together with Japanese smelting and refining operations.

The company acquired a 30% interest in Rio Tinto’s Winu copper-gold development project in October 2025. Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Corporation are separate listed companies. Gold, nickel and advanced materials also contribute to the business.

Albemarle is a US specialty-chemicals company with lithium and bromine businesses. Its lithium operations combine brine extraction in Chile and the United States, interests in Australian hard-rock mines, and chemical-conversion facilities. The company holds 49% of Greenbushes through Talison and 50% of Wodgina. In February 2026 it announced that the remaining operating train at its Kemerton lithium-hydroxide plant would be idled. Its Salar de Atacama and La Negra facilities form its Chilean lithium platform. The bromine-based Specialties business provides a substantial source of non-lithium revenue.

Alcoa Corporation is an upstream aluminum company listed in New York and Australia, with Alumina and Aluminum segments. It operates bauxite mines, alumina refineries and primary smelters through wholly owned businesses and joint ventures. Its acquisition of Alumina Limited in 2024 consolidated ownership of the AWAC portfolio. Alcoa is also a partner in ELYSIS with Rio Tinto and Investissement Québec, developing inert-anode smelting technology.

In June 2026, Alcoa agreed to acquire specified South32 bauxite, alumina and aluminum interests in Australia, Brazil and South Africa for approximately US$4.1 billion upfront, plus a contingent value right of up to US$750 million. Alcoa said it expected completion in the first half of 2027, subject to South32 shareholder and regulatory approvals. Mozal is excluded. The proposed acquisition would expand Alcoa’s operating portfolio; the transaction remains conditional.

Hudbay Minerals Inc. is a Canadian copper and gold producer with operations in Peru and Canada. Its portfolio includes Constancia, Copper Mountain and the Snow Lake operations, with gold contributing materially alongside copper.

Hudbay owns all of Copper Mountain and 70% of the Copper World development joint venture in Arizona, where Mitsubishi holds the remaining 30%. Its US development portfolio also includes Cactus, acquired with Arizona Sonoran in March 2026. These projects are separate from current producing mines and require further development spending before contributing commercial copper output.

MP Materials operates the Mountain Pass rare-earth mine and processing facilities in California, producing concentrate and separated neodymium-praseodymium oxide. Its Independence plant in Fort Worth, Texas, has begun magnet production, while the larger 10X magnet facility remains under construction. MP is also developing heavy-rare-earth separation at Mountain Pass. The US Department of Defense is an investor and long-term offtake partner under arrangements that include price support, alongside commercial customer agreements including Apple. Mountain Pass is a major source of US mined rare earths, but the country also produces rare-earth-bearing monazite from mineral-sands operations.

Capstone Copper Corp. produces copper in Chile, Mexico and the United States. Its operating portfolio comprises Mantoverde, Mantos Blancos, Cozamin and Pinto Valley. Capstone holds 70% of Mantoverde and all of the other three operations.

Its principal development project is Santo Domingo in Chile, in which it holds 75%. Santo Domingo remains subject to a final investment decision. Capstone’s growth program combines optimization of operating mines with a separate development project; projected new capacity is not current production.

Uranium Energy Corp produces uranium using in-situ recovery in the United States through three hub-and-spoke platforms: South Texas, anchored by the Hobson processing plant, and two in Wyoming, anchored by the Irigaray plant and the Sweetwater plant acquired in 2024. Christensen Ranch in Wyoming resumed extraction in August 2024 and Burke Hollow in Texas began production in April 2026. Combined licensed capacity across the platforms was about 12.1 million pounds of U₃O₈ a year as of the fiscal 2025 annual report; licensed capacity measures permitted throughput, not current wellfield output.

UEC also buys and sells drummed uranium, selling 810,000 pounds in fiscal 2025, and held purchased inventory of about 1.36 million pounds at July 31, 2025. Its development assets include Roughrider in Saskatchewan and further US ISR projects at different permitting stages.

Century Aluminum is a NASDAQ-listed primary aluminum producer with smelters at Sebree in Kentucky, Mt. Holly in South Carolina and Grundartangi in Iceland. It also holds a 55% interest in the Jamalco alumina refinery in Jamaica. The Mt. Holly restart was completed in June 2026, and Grundartangi’s second line restarted in July 2026 after a transformer failure. Jamalco’s new TG4 power turbine entered service in August 2026.

Century and Emirates Global Aluminium are developing a proposed 750,000-tonne-a-year smelter in Oklahoma through a venture owned 40% by Century and 60% by EGA. The project has a US Department of Energy award of up to US$500 million, with funding subject to milestones. As of August 2026, a final power agreement, detailed engineering and financing remained outstanding before a final investment decision. The proposed plant is separate from Century’s operating smelting capacity.

USA Rare Earth owns businesses spanning rare-earth mining, metals, alloys and magnet manufacturing. It completed its combination with Serra Verde on 3 September 2026, adding the Pela Ema mine and processing operation in Goiás, Brazil. Pela Ema is an operating mine undergoing optimization and ramp-up. The group also owns Less Common Metals in the United Kingdom and is ramping its Stillwater magnet facility in Oklahoma. Its Wheat Ridge facility in Colorado runs demonstration processing campaigns. Round Top in Texas remains a development project; the August acquisition of Texas Mineral Resources consolidated USA Rare Earth’s economic interest. Additional planned capacity includes the Blacksburg metals-and-magnets facility in South Carolina.

Energy Fuels produces uranium from US mines and processes it at its White Mesa Mill in Utah, the only licensed and operating conventional uranium mill in the country. Ore comes from Pinyon Plain in Arizona and the La Sal and Pandora mines in Utah; the mill is licensed for 2,000 tons of ore a day and over 8 million pounds of U₃O₈ a year, and also recovers vanadium and processes third-party uranium-bearing material. Uranium is sold under long-term utility contracts, six of them as of the FY2025 annual report, plus spot sales.

White Mesa also produces separated rare earth products, and Energy Fuels completed its acquisition of Australian Strategic Materials in August 2026, adding the Korean Metals Plant and the Dubbo development project. In June 2026 it agreed to acquire the magnet maker VAC; that transaction had not completed as of September 2026. The company is listed on the NYSE American as UUUU and the Toronto Stock Exchange as EFR.

Constellium is a New York-listed aluminum fabricator supplying aerospace, packaging, automotive and industrial customers. Its rolling and extrusion operations turn aluminum into products such as sheet, plate and structural components. Recycling supplies part of its metal input.

The company has added finishing lines at Singen in Germany, with the first qualification coil produced in November 2025. Its business depends on customer demand, product qualification and processing margins. Metal-cost pass-through arrangements reduce direct exposure to aluminum prices, while pricing lags and scrap costs can still affect earnings.

Trekor Metals Limited, formerly Taseko Mines, is a North American copper producer. It operates Gibraltar in British Columbia and is ramping up Florence Copper in Arizona, where in-situ recovery and solvent extraction/electrowinning produce copper cathode.

The development portfolio includes Yellowhead and New Prosperity in British Columbia and the Aley niobium project. These assets are separate from current copper production. The company trades as TKO in Toronto and London and TGB on NYSE American.

Kaiser Aluminum is a NASDAQ-listed manufacturer of semi-fabricated aluminum products with facilities in North America. It purchases primary and recycled metal and produces rolled, extruded and drawn products for aerospace and defense, beverage and food packaging, automotive and general engineering customers.

Its products include aerospace plate and sheet, beverage canstock and industrial extrusions. Metal costs are incorporated into customer pricing arrangements, while earnings depend on shipment volumes, product mix and conversion margins. Qualification requirements vary by application, particularly for aerospace products, and customer production schedules affect plant utilization.

Ivanhoe Electric Inc. is a US mineral explorer and developer advancing Santa Cruz in Arizona and using its Typhoon geophysical technology to identify additional deposits. Santa Cruz has a pre-feasibility study for an underground copper mine with a leaching and cathode-production process.

The company also participates in exploration ventures outside the United States, including a copper exploration partnership with SQM in Chile announced in January 2026. Santa Cruz has not entered commercial production. Its development schedule depends on permits, financing and a construction decision; preliminary export-credit indications are not binding project-finance commitments.

Lithium Americas is developing the Thacker Pass sedimentary lithium project in Humboldt County, Nevada. The planned operation would mine lithium-bearing claystone and process it on site into battery-grade lithium carbonate. Construction is under way, but the project has not begun commercial production.

Thacker Pass is held through a joint-venture structure in which Lithium Americas retains the controlling interest and General Motors owns a minority stake. Project funding also includes a US Department of Energy loan facility, with drawdowns tied to agreed conditions and construction progress; our Thacker Pass construction and capex update covers the drawdown conditions and the 2026 spending plan. Lithium Americas is a concentrated, single-project development exposure until Thacker Pass enters production.

Talon Metals owns the producing Eagle nickel-copper mine and Humboldt mill in Michigan, acquired from Lundin Mining in January 2026. It also holds 51% of the Tamarack nickel-copper-cobalt project in Minnesota, with a contractual pathway to increase that interest. The US Department of Energy awarded up to US$114.8 million toward a proposed North Dakota processing facility. That development project is separate from the operating Michigan assets, and its funding and construction depend on the award terms and other project milestones.

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. owns the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in southwest Alaska. Pebble is undeveloped and has no commercial production.

A US Environmental Protection Agency determination issued in 2023 restricts the disposal of mine waste in the Pebble deposit area and prevents the proposed development from proceeding under that plan. Northern Dynasty is challenging the decision in court. The project’s large mineral resource does not constitute an authorized, financed or operating mine.

IsoEnergy owns uranium exploration and development assets in Canada, Australia and the United States. Larocque East in Saskatchewan hosts the Hurricane deposit, and the A$75 million acquisition of Toro Energy, completed in June 2026, added the Wiluna uranium project in Western Australia.

In August 2026, IsoEnergy contributed its Utah uranium portfolio, including Tony M, to DISA Uranium in exchange for an equity interest. Its exposure to those assets is therefore through that investment. Exploration resources, development projects and past-producing mines should be distinguished from current commercial uranium production.

NioCorp Developments is advancing the Elk Creek project in Nebraska, combining an underground mine with processing for niobium, scandium, titanium and rare-earth products. Its August 2026 feasibility study models a 40-year mine life and eight sale products, including NdPr, dysprosium and terbium oxides and two mixed rare-earth carbonates. Scandium is the largest modeled revenue category in that study, followed by niobium. Work on the mine portal is under way, but the full development still requires financing and detailed engineering. The study’s production and financial results are forecasts; Elk Creek is not an operating mine.

Standard Lithium is developing brine projects in the Smackover Formation through Smackover Lithium, its 55%-owned venture with Equinor. The portfolio includes South West Arkansas and Franklin in East Texas. Development plans combine direct lithium extraction with downstream processing into battery-quality lithium products. In August 2026 the venture announced a binding ten-year offtake agreement with LG Energy Solution for 8,000 tonnes a year. The agreement supports a proposed operation; it does not represent current commercial output.

Rare Element Resources is advancing the Bear Lodge rare-earth project in Wyoming and demonstrating processing technology at Upton. Bear Lodge contains rare-earth mineralization including neodymium and praseodymium, but is not a commercial mine. The demonstration plant is intended to test recovery and separation before commercial development. General Atomics is associated with the company through its controlling shareholder, Synchron. The stock trades on the US OTC market under REEMF; demonstration-scale processing and technical backing do not establish a completed commercial project.

Ur-Energy operates the Lost Creek uranium in-situ recovery facility in Wyoming and is ramping up its Shirley Basin satellite operation. Shirley Basin began initial uranium recovery in April 2026 and received final state authorization in June to transport uranium-bearing resin for processing.

Loaded resin from Shirley Basin is intended for further processing at Lost Creek, where uranium can be recovered, dried and drummed. Uranium captured on resin is therefore a different production stage from finished concentrate or customer deliveries. The company’s operating results depend on wellfield recovery, processing performance and its sales contracts.

Idaho Strategic Resources operates the Golden Chest gold mine in Idaho and explores rare-earth properties at Lemhi Pass, Mineral Hill and Diamond Creek. Work on the rare-earth portfolio includes mapping, sampling and further exploration. Selected Lemhi Pass samples contain substantial neodymium and other magnet rare earths, but those samples do not establish a mineable resource or project-wide grade. The rare-earth assets remain exploration projects; the company’s existing operating business is gold.

Boss Energy owns the Honeymoon in-situ recovery uranium operation in South Australia and a 30% interest in Alta Mesa in Texas. Honeymoon produced approximately 1.41 million pounds of U₃O₈ in the financial year ended June 2026. Alta Mesa is operated by enCore Energy, which owns the remaining 70%.

Boss released a new Honeymoon feasibility study in August 2026. Its study assumptions and planned operating improvements should be distinguished from achieved production and reported costs. The two operations also require separate gross and attributable production figures when assessing Boss’s output.

Tredegar is a NYSE-listed industrial manufacturer operating Bonnell Aluminum and High Performance Films. Bonnell produces custom aluminum extrusions for North American construction, automotive and industrial customers from facilities in the eastern United States. The films business serves separate electronics and packaging applications.

Bonnell buys aluminum input and earns processing margins on fabricated profiles. Metal-cost movements are substantially reflected in customer pricing, while construction activity, industrial demand and automotive production influence shipment volumes.

enCore Energy operates US uranium in-situ recovery assets, including Rosita in Texas and its 70%-owned Alta Mesa operation. Boss Energy owns the other 30% of Alta Mesa. The portfolio also includes development projects such as Dewey Burdock.

The company supplies uranium under sales contracts using both produced and purchased material. In the second quarter of 2026, customer deliveries exceeded uranium extracted from its operations, with purchased uranium supplying part of those deliveries. Sales volumes should therefore be assessed separately from mine output and attributable production.

Ioneer is developing the wholly owned Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada. The planned operation would mine a sedimentary deposit and produce both lithium chemicals and boron products. Rhyolite Ridge has progressed through technical studies and permitting, but it is not in commercial production. Boron is an integral part of the project’s proposed product mix, so its economics are not based on lithium alone.

Eagle Nuclear Energy is a Reno, Nevada-based uranium company whose sole mineral asset is the Aurora Uranium Project in Malheur County, Oregon, three miles from the Nevada border. It acquired the project on February 24, 2026 by exercising an option over Oregon Energy LLC, a subsidiary of ASX-listed Aurora Energy Metals, and listed on Nasdaq the following day via a business combination with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. II. A 2025 S-K 1300 technical report summary estimates 32.75 million pounds of U₃O₈ indicated and 4.98 million pounds inferred at Aurora — one of the larger indicated uranium resources in the United States — in a flat-lying, near-surface deposit the company argues suits low-cost open-pit mining.

The project is at exploration stage with no mineral reserves: the resource rests on historic drilling from 1974–2022, no metallurgical test work has been completed, and the company’s own disclosure puts the NRC milling license at roughly 45 to 54 months and the BLM mine plan of operations at 21 to 27 months. The 2025 technical report recommended a $3 million Phase 1 work program followed by a $7 million prefeasibility study, while Aurora Energy retains a 1% NSR and further milestone share payments. Eagle also holds an exclusive license to UNMRI’s conceptual sodium-cooled SMR designs.

GrafTech International is a New York Stock Exchange-listed manufacturer of synthetic-graphite electrodes used in electric-arc-furnace steelmaking. Its Seadrift operation in Texas supplies petroleum needle coke, a key electrode feedstock. The group manufactures electrodes in France, Spain and Mexico. On August 31, 2026, it announced plans to close the Monterrey plant, with production expected to conclude early in the second quarter of 2027 and customer supply moving to Calais and Pamplona. St. Marys in Pennsylvania provides machining and distribution services while its electrode production remains idle. GrafTech’s established business serves metallurgical customers; battery-related carbon applications are a separate area of development.

Graphite One is a TSX Venture-listed developer of the Graphite Creek natural-graphite project near Nome, Alaska, and a proposed battery-material manufacturing site in Conneaut, Ohio. The Alaska project would supply natural graphite concentrate, while the Ohio development includes plans for synthetic graphite and subsequent natural-graphite products. The company secured the Ohio site and advanced engineering during 2026. In July, its air permit application passed administrative review and moved into technical assessment. Both projects remain under development, with further permitting, financing and construction required before commercial production.

American Rare Earths is developing the Halleck Creek rare-earth project in Wyoming and also holds La Paz in Arizona. Halleck Creek has a large, low-grade mineral resource and has undergone scoping work, with further studies evaluating mining and processing. The initial Cowboy State development area is on Wyoming state land; the wider project includes areas with different land and approval requirements. Halleck Creek has no mineral reserve and is not in commercial production.

Westmoreland is Laramide’s principal development asset in Queensland, Australia, while Churchrock-Crownpoint and La Jara Mesa provide U.S. uranium exposure in New Mexico. The company released an updated preliminary economic assessment for Westmoreland in July 2026 and continues to work through permitting and development studies.

Peninsula Energy is an ASX-listed uranium company with 100% ownership of the Lance ISR project in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. Lance historically operated with alkaline ISR chemistry; Peninsula has converted the project to a low-pH process and is assessing the process through its production restart. Production operations restarted in December 2024, and dried yellowcake production resumed in April 2026 after rectification work on the precipitation circuit. In July 2026, Peninsula reported a slower ramp-up, with reduced flow rates and gas production affecting hydraulic performance. The company continued to describe the low-pH process as technically viable.

American Lithium is developing TLC in Nevada and Falchani in Peru. TLC is a sedimentary lithium project, while Falchani targets lithium-bearing volcanic rock. Both have resources and technical studies but no commercial production. The company also owns the Macusani uranium project in Peru. Its proposed projects follow separate permitting and development pathways, and the uranium asset adds non-lithium exposure.

Westwater Resources is a NYSE American-listed developer of the Kellyton graphite-processing plant and Coosa graphite deposit in Alabama. Kellyton is designed to make battery anode material, initially using purchased feedstock, with Coosa intended as a future domestic source. Coosa’s indicated mineral resource estimate, effective 30 November 2022, is approximately 26 million short tons at 2.89% graphitic carbon. A qualification line supplies material for customer trials while the main plant remains under development. In August 2026, the US Export-Import Bank approved a US$25 million loan, subject to final documentation and conditions. FCA US, part of Stellantis, terminated its offtake agreement on 3 November 2025, and SK On terminated its procurement agreement on 31 March 2026. Westwater is pursuing other customers and supplying qualification samples. Commercial plant completion still depends on financing and execution.

NOVONIX is an ASX- and Nasdaq-listed battery-materials company developing synthetic graphite production at Riverside in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It manufactures graphite from carbon feedstocks for use in lithium-ion battery anodes and also operates a battery-testing technology business. Riverside is producing qualification material for battery customers, with commercial mass production targeted for the second half of 2027. Proposed expansion and government financing arrangements remain subject to their respective conditions. The Nasdaq security is an American depositary share representing 40 ordinary shares following an August 2026 ratio change; the selected ASX line represents ordinary shares.

Premier’s Cebolleta project in New Mexico is moving through metallurgical testing intended to refine recovery assumptions and support a future update to its 2025 PEA. In Wyoming, the company is drilling at Kaycee and continuing work across the Cyclone ISR project. The portfolio remains pre-production.

Western Uranium & Vanadium owns conventional uranium and vanadium properties in the western United States, including the Sunday Mine Complex in Colorado. It has mined and stockpiled ore and previously delivered material to Energy Fuels’ White Mesa Mill. These activities are separate from operating its own uranium mill.

Western is pursuing a licence for the proposed Mustang Mineral Processing Plant. The facility is not yet an operating mill. Its June 2026 quarterly filing reported no ore deliveries during the first half of the year, so historic shipments and later assay settlements should not be presented as continuous current sales.