THE USGS EARTH MAPPING RESOURCES INITIATIVE (EARTH MRI) EFFORT

The US Geological Survey (USGS), in partnership with the Association of American State Geologists, is in its first year of the $9.6M Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI), whose goal is to improve our knowledge of the geologic framework of the United States in areas with potential of hosting undiscovered critical mineral resources. Earth MRI is taking a “mineral systems” approach to evaluate areas for deposit types that typically may contain one or more critical mineral commodities as co- and by-products, allowing for a more efficient evaluation of large regions of the Nation.

For 2019, we focused on mineral systems containing rare earth elements (REEs) in areas hosting alkaline-to-peralkaline igneous systems, carbonatites, iron oxide-apatite/iron oxide-copper-gold deposits, heavy mineral paleoplacers, and regolith-hosted REE deposits. These systems are known to host some of the world’s largest REE deposits and, if discovered, could improve the Nation’s supply of these critical commodities used in the high-tech and defense industries. In order to acquire fundamental framework data, Earth MRI is: 1) supporting 14 new State Geological Survey geologic mapping projects; 2) contracting with private industry for 5 airborne geophysical surveys covering parts of Alaska, California, Nevada, Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas, and South Carolina, and; 3) conducting new lidar elevation data to support these efforts. In addition, 30 State Geological Surveys were funded to make archived mineral resource data and drill core information publicly available online. Activities in subsequent years will focus on additional critical mineral commodities, towards building a more robust understanding of how the various critical mineral-bearing systems evolved and what geologic factors control their emplacement.