Metals - Strategic Elements - Reference

Metal

Aluminum (Al/13)

Aluminum or aluminium is a silver-white metal, very light in weight (less than three times as dense as water), yet relatively strong. Because aluminum is ductile, it can be drawn into wires or pressed into sheets or foil. It is the most abundant metallic element, and the third most abundant of all elements in the Earth's crust, making up 8% of the crust by weight. Only silicon and oxygen are more plentiful. Bauxite ore is the main source of aluminum; bauxite is processed into alumina before being processed into metallic applications.

Metal

Antimony (Sb/51)

Antimony is a silvery-gray, brittle semi-metal. It rarely occurs in nature as a native element, but is found in a number of different minerals, the most important of which is stibnite. Antimony is often called a semi-metal because in pure form it is not shiny and malleable like true metals.

Metal

Beryllium (Be/4)

Beryllium is the 44th most abundant element in the earth's crust. Beryllium is a silvery-white, hard and brittle, extremely light metal, which is highly toxic. The mechanical and thermal properties relating to its low density are superior to those of all other materials, making it very useful for structural and electronic applications. Beryllium metal can be vacuum cast as an ingot or hot pressed as a powder.

Metal

Bismuth (Bi/83)

Bismuth is a silvery-white metallic element with a pinkish tint. Bismuth was long thought to be a variety of lead or tin, which it resembles, until the chemist Claude Geoffroy showed in 1753 that it is a separate element.

Metal

Cadmium (Cd/48)

Cadmium is a very soft, silvery-white metallic element; it is so soft that it can be cut with a knife. Cadmium has many chemical similarities to zinc, but is less reactive with acids than is zinc. Metallic cadmium is rarely used industrially in pure form.

Metal

Cesium (Cs/55)

Cesium is a very soft, ductile, alkali metal that is liquid at 28.4 degrees C. It is the most electropositive and reactive of the alkali metals and forms compounds with a variety of anions and alloys with the other alkali metals and with gold. The metal ignites spontaneously in the presence of air and reacts explosively in water. Because of this reactivity, cesium is classed as a hazardous material and must be stored and transported in isolation from possible reactants.

Metal

Chromium (Cr/24)

Chromium is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard and brittle metal that takes a high polish, resists tarnishing, and has a high melting point. Chromium is produced from chromite ore. About 80% of world production of chromite ore comes from India, Kazakhstan, and South Africa.

Metal

Cobalt (Co/27)

Cobalt is a bluish-gray, shiny, brittle metallic element. It has magnetic properties like iron. Cobalt-nickel alloys have good temperature stability and corrosion and wear resistance and are used in high temperature applications. The cobalt resources identified in the world are mostly found in copper or nickel mines in Australia, Canada, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC), Russia, and Zambia. In the US, cobalt resources are in mostly found in Minnesota. Most of the cobalt used in the US is imported.

Metal

Copper (Cu/29)

Copper is a mineral and an element. As a mineral, natural copper (also called native copper) is relatively rare. Copper is usually found in nature in association with sulfur. Copper is one of the oldest metals ever used. Because of its properties of high ductility, malleability, conductivity, and resistance to corrosion, copper has become a major industrial metal, ranking third after iron and aluminum in terms of quantities consumed.

Metal

Gallium (Ga/31)

Gallium is a metallic element that does not easily combine with other elements or ions to form ore minerals. It is, however, found as a trace element in a number of minerals and ores, the most important of which is bauxite (aluminum ore). In fact, gallium is a byproduct of alumina production. Gallium is not produced in the US, and demand is satisfied by imports. More than 95% of gallium consumed in the US is in the form of gallium arsenide.

Metal

Hafnium (Hf/72)

Hafnium metal is produced when it is separated from zircon, a zirconium silicate mineral that is usually 98% zirconium and 2% hafnium. Hafnium is a metallic element used in a number of industrial applications because of its resistance to corrosion and high temperatures.

Metal

Indium (In/49)

Indium is a soft, malleable, silvery-white metallic element; it is produced mainly from residues generated during zinc ore processing.

Metal

Lead (Pb/82)

Lead is a very corrosion-resistant, dense, ductile, and malleable blue-gray metal that has been used for at least 5,000 years. The most significant lead mineral is galena (lead sulfide).

Metal

Lithium (Li/3)

Lithium is a metallic element widely distributed in the earth's crust at low concentrations. Spodumene, petalite, and lepidolite are important mineral sources of lithium. Subsurface brines are the dominant raw material for lithium carbonate production worldwide because of lower production costs as compared with the costs for hard rock ores.

Metal

Magnesium (Mg/12)

Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, representing about 2% of its total mass; it belongs to the alkaline earth metal series. The metal is silvery white and is prized for its lightness and strength in alloys. Magnesium can be extracted from the minerals dolomite and carnallite, but it is most often obtained from seawater or well and lake brines.

Metal

Manganese (Mn/25)

Manganese is a very brittle but hard metallic element. Pyrolusite (manganese dioxide (MnO 2 ) is the main ore mineral for manganese. Manganese is essential to iron and steel production by virtue of its sulfur-fixing, deoxidizing, and alloying properties.

Metal

Mercury (Hg/80)

Mercury is the only common metal that is liquid at room temperature. It occurs either as native metal or in cinnabar, corderoite, livingstonite, and other minerals. Mercury has uniform volumetric thermal expansion, good electrical conductivity, and easily forms amalgams with almost all common metals except iron.

Metal

Molybdenum (Mo/42)

Molybdenum is a refractory metallic element used principally as an alloying agent in steel, cast iron, and superalloys to enhance hardenability, strength, toughness, and wear and corrosion resistance. The mineral molybdenite (molybdenum sulfide) is an important source of molybdenum.

Metal

Nickel (Ni/28)

Nickel is a silvery metallic element. Most of the nickel mined comes from two types of deposits: laterites where the principal minerals are nickeliferous limonite (hydrated iron oxide) and garnierite (hydrous nickel silicate), or magmatic sulfide deposits where the principal mineral is pentlandite (iron nickel sulfide).

Metal

Niobium (Nb/41)

Columbium and niobium are synonymous names for the chemical element with atomic number 41; columbium was the name given in 1801, and niobium (Nb) was the name officially designated by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry in 1950. The US does not have a niobium mining industry because identified resources are low grade. Brazil and Canada are the major producers of niobium mineral concentrates.

Metal

Rhenium (Re/75)

Rhenium is a silvery-gray, heavy, transition metal. With an estimated average concentration of 1 part per billion (ppb), rhenium is one of the rarest elements in the earth's crust. Rhenium has the third-highest melting point and second-highest boiling point of any element. Rhenium resembles manganese and technetium chemically and is mainly obtained as a by-product of the extraction and refinement of molybdenum and copper ores.

Metal

Rubidium (Rb/37)

Rubidium is a soft, ductile, silvery-white metal that melts at 39.3 degrees C. Naturally occurring rubidium is slightly radioactive. Rubidium is an extremely reactive metal - it ignites spontaneously in the presence of air and decomposes water explosively, igniting the liberated hydrogen.

Metal

Strontium (Sr/38)

Strontium is a silvery-white metal, found in nature in two minerals, celestite (strontium sulfate) and strontianite (strontium carbonate).

Metal

Tantalum (Ta/73)

Tantalum is a metallic element that is ductile, easily fabricated, highly resistant to corrosion by acids, and a good conductor of heat and electricity with a high melting point. The major use for tantalum, as tantalum metal powder, is in the production of electronic components, mainly tantalum capacitors. Major end uses for tantalum capacitors include portable telephones, pagers, personal computers, and automotive electronics. Alloyed with other metals, tantalum is also used in making carbide tools for metalworking equipment and in the production of superalloys for jet engine components.

Metal

Tin (Sn/50)

Tin is a silvery-white metallic element. The most important ore mineral of tin, cassiterite (tin dioxide), is formed in high-temperature veins that are usually related to igneous rocks such as granites and rhyolites. It is often found in association with tungsten minerals.

Metal

Titanium (Ti/22)

Titanium is a hard, silvery-white metallic element. As a metal, titanium is well known for corrosion resistance and for its high strength-to-weight ratio. When titanium metal is produced from ore, it is first produced in sponge form before it is melted into metal shapes. Titanium dioxide pigment is a white pigment characterized by its purity, refractive index, particle size, and surface properties. Titanium metal and pigment are produced from the minerals ilmenite, leucoxene, and rutile.

Metal

Tungsten (W/74)

Tungsten is a gray-white metallic element; it has the highest melting temperature of all elements except carbon and is one of the heaviest elements. Tungsten is produced from the mineral ores scheelite (calcium tungstate) and wolframite (iron-manganese tungstate). The ore is concentrated and then usually produced into the intermediate product ammonium paratungstate (APT) before being processed into metallic applications. The US does not have any operating tungsten mines.

Metal

Uranium (U/92)

Uranium is a common metal found in rocks all over the world. Uranium occurs in combination with small amounts of other elements.

Metal

Vanadium (V/23)

Vanadium is a soft, silver-gray metallic element. There is no single mineral ore from which vanadium is recovered. However, it is found as a trace element in a several types of rock and is a by-product of other mining operations. Vanadinite (lead chlorovanadate) is mineral that contains vanadium.

Metal

Zinc (Zn/30)

Zinc is a blue-gray, metallic element; it is recovered from a number of different zinc minerals, the most significant of which is sphalerite (zinc sulfide). Other minerals, such as smithsonite (zinc carbonate) and zincite (zinc oxide), are also zinc ores.

Metal

Zirconium (Zr/40)

Zircon is a zirconium silicate mineral that is usually 98% zirconium and 2% hafnium and is the primary source of both materials. Zirconium is a metallic element used in a number of industrial applications because it is so resistant to corrosion and high temperatures.