The Critical Minerals Powering the Modern Economy - Research from Syntax Data

Critical minerals refer to a broad category of raw materials (including minerals, elements, and other substances) that are crucial to modern industrial activity. Of particular interest are rare earth elements, a group of seventeen metallic elements that are essential to industries such as electronics, batteries, defense and satellite systems, medical technologies, and energy. In this piece, Syntax Data explores the investment performance of companies involved in the extraction and processing of critical minerals, finding that those with higher risk characteristics have outperformed recently.

​​In 2025, The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed a list of critical minerals, 15 of which are rare earth elements, that are both essential to the nation’s economic activity and whose supply chains are vulnerable to disruption, either due to geopolitical factors, trade policy, or rapidly increasing global demand. The list was derived from an initial set of 84 mineral commodities, which were ranked according to their economic importance and likelihood of trade disruption. Each commodity was assigned a risk probability weighting, calculated by multiplying the likelihood of a trade disruption scenario by the impact of that scenario, and proposed for inclusion on the final list if the risk probability was classified as high, elevated, or moderate.
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Originally published by Syntax Data on January 22, 2026. Read full article here.

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