Minerals are naturally occurring, inorganic solids with an orderly internal structure and a controlled chemical composition. They are the building blocks of many familiar materials, but neither a list of mineral commodities nor a government list of critical minerals is a complete catalog of mineral species. This guide explains the distinction, introduces practical identification clues, and shows how minerals and mineral-derived materials are used.
What is a mineral?
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in its Minerals and Uses Activity, defines a mineral as “a naturally occurring, inorganic, solid with an orderly internal structure (atomic structure) and a controlled chemical composition (composition is controlled by the atomic structure).” Each part matters: a useful material is not automatically a mineral species just because it comes from the ground or contains minerals.
Minerals can occur alone or as constituents of broader materials. The definition describes what qualifies as a mineral; it does not say how valuable, common, or useful that mineral must be.
What are all the minerals?
“All minerals” is too broad to answer with a short list. The figures in the current USGS sources discussed here count different things, and neither is a complete worldwide tally of mineral species. No complete, current global species total is established by those sources.
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| Term or figure | What it means | What it does not mean |
|---|---|---|
| Mineral species | A naturally occurring inorganic solid with an orderly internal structure and controlled chemical composition, as defined by the USGS. | A count of species is not provided by the USGS figures cited here. |
| Nearly 100 non-fuel mineral commodities | The number of non-fuel mineral commodities whose production, use, and flow the USGS says it tracks on its 2026 Mineral Commodities page. | This is a commodity count, not a count of mineral species. |
| 60 critical minerals | The number of entries on the USGS 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals. | This is a U.S. policy list, not a count of all minerals or a global classification. |
For detailed production and use information, consult the USGS’s current mineral commodity publications. Those reports organize information around materials bought and sold, rather than serving as an exhaustive taxonomy of mineral species.
How can you identify a mineral?
Identification is stronger when several observable properties point to the same answer. Color alone is not enough: different minerals can look alike, and a mineral’s appearance can vary. The USGS lists these useful physical properties:
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- Crystal form: the shape or characteristic arrangement in which a mineral’s crystals grow.
- How it breaks: the way the specimen separates or fractures.
- Hardness: how resistant it is to scratching.
- Specific gravity: how heavy it feels for its size, reflecting its density.
- Color: the visible color of the sample.
- Luster: how the surface reflects light.
- Streak: the color of the mineral’s powder.
- Magnetism: whether it responds to a magnet.
- Odor: whether the specimen has a noticeable smell.
A practical first-pass approach
- Look at the whole specimen. Note its visible crystal form, color, and luster before relying on any single clue.
- Examine how it breaks. Record whether its surfaces show a repeated pattern or an irregular fracture.
- Compare additional properties. Use hardness, streak, specific gravity, magnetism, and odor where appropriate. A streak test, for example, assesses the powder color rather than the specimen’s surface color.
- Check whether the clues agree. Treat an identification as a conclusion supported by several properties, not a certainty based on one observation.
A field guide can help you compare observations and learn the properties, but it is a learning aid—not a guarantee that every specimen can be identified from appearance alone.
What are minerals used for?
Minerals and materials derived from them are part of products and infrastructure ranging from construction to electronics. The USGS notes that “Every aspect of our lives depends on the materials that come from minerals.” These examples show some of the ways mineral materials are used; they are not exclusive uses.
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- Set also includes a magnifier, streak plate, magnet, iron nail, index (sort) cards, sorting needle, and a lab manual
- Samples are 1" to 2" in size and are individual marked with numbers for easy identification
- Sorting (index) cards use a process of elimination to assist in identification
- Samples are packaged in a plastic tray
| Mineral or material | USGS example uses |
|---|---|
| Quartz sand | Glass and fiber optics |
| Talc | Deodorant and paper |
| Graphite | Pencil cores, electric-vehicle batteries, and car brakes |
| Gypsum | Drywall |
| Copper | Electrical wire |
| Phosphate rock | Fertilizer |
What is the difference between a mineral, a mineral commodity, a resource, and a critical mineral?
These terms answer different questions: what a substance is, how a material is traded, whether a concentration may be economically extractable, and whether a mineral has a particular U.S. supply-security designation.
- Mineral: a naturally occurring, inorganic solid with an orderly internal structure and controlled chemical composition.
- Mineral commodity: a mineral or material derived from minerals that is bought and sold. The USGS tracks nearly 100 non-fuel mineral commodities on its 2026 Mineral Commodities page.
- Mineral resource: a concentration of naturally occurring material for which economic extraction is currently or potentially feasible.
- Critical mineral: a U.S. policy category for minerals considered important to economic or national security, vulnerable to supply-chain disruption, and essential to manufacturing. The USGS 2025 U.S. list contains 60 entries.
“Critical” does not simply mean rare, and a mineral’s absence from the U.S. list does not mean it is unimportant. Other countries may use different critical-mineral lists; the 60-entry figure applies specifically to the 2025 U.S. list.
Quick Recap
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