Browse Critical Materials and Minerals

Acanthite is the monoclinic silver sulfide mineral Ag2S, listed as grandfathered with original-description year 1855 in the September 2026 IMA master list. It is distinct from elemental silver, generic silver-containing nanoparticles and the high-temperature cubic Ag2S form commonly called argentite. A laboratory bacterial study identifies acanthite as a minority particle type within a mixed silver-containing population. No criticality designation is inherited from silver.

• Stutzerimonas stutzeri

Acidic, metal- and sulfate-bearing drainage generated when mining exposes sulfide-bearing materials to oxidation. This record denotes the heterogeneous liquid mine-derived feed, distinct from natural ore, individual dissolved elements, coal-mine-drainage treatment solids, and isolated precipitate phases. The characterized Brazilian copper-mine and South African mining-facility waters below are separate source-specific samples, not a universal composition or interchangeable reactor feed. No constituent criticality designation or industrial recovery performance is transferred to this resource.

Akaganeite is a distinct iron oxyhydroxide mineral species, listed with formula (Fe(III),Ni(II))8(OH,O)16Cl1.25·nH2O, renamed status (Rn), and IMA number 1962-004 in the September 2026 IMA master list. The experimental abbreviation beta-FeOOH identifies the synthetic phase assignment used by the study; it does not establish the ideal IMA composition or nickel content of that preparation. This record is separate from iron element, other iron oxyhydroxide species, iron-ore commodities, and mixed waste feeds. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA

Alabandite is the cubic manganese sulfide mineral, ideal formula MnS, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from the MnS polymorph rambergite, elemental manganese and a whole polymetallic ore. The accepted experiment identifies alabandite as one component of natural Talvivaara black shale and measures its content in fractions from laboratory flotation with freeze-dried bacterial biomass. This is not pure-mineral testing, proof of a microbial surface mechanism, manganese product recovery or a criticality designation inherited from Mn.

• Staphylococcus carnosus

Albite is the triclinic sodium feldspar mineral with ideal formula NaAlSi3O8. The September 2026 IMA list marks it grandfathered (G; historical year 1815), not with a numbered approval accession. It is distinct from the feldspar commodity, the potassium-feldspar family, other plagioclase compositions and mixed ores containing albite. The accepted dissolution evidence concerns source-identified Amelia clevelandite under abiotic laboratory conditions; neither microbial activity nor criticality is inferred from elemental composition.

Alburnite is the natural silver-germanium sulfide-telluride mineral Ag8GeTe2S4, listed as approved IMA 2012-073 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. The original 2013 approval announcement identifies the Cârnicel vein, Roşia Montană deposit, Apuseni Mountains, Romania, as its type locality. This species remains distinct from argyrodite and from generic Te-bearing material historically called argyrodite. A 2016 study of a Măgura vein specimen reported an arsenic-bearing phase as alburnite using optical microscopy and SEM-EDS, but explicitly left its identity unresolved: it could have alburnite symmetry or be a distinct phase. Its nonstoichiometric, silver-excess EDS result is not treated here as a confirmed alburnite composition. That paper also corrects the authors' 2015 report of associated Cu-Fe-bearing sulfotellurides, attributing the earlier signals to a SEM charge- compensation artifact involving neighboring chalcopyrite; this is not a correction of the 2014 alburnite description. The complete 2014 description and its graphics were not available for this curation, so their quantitative and structural detail remains deferred. No extraction mechanism, recovery performance or constituent-element criticality designation is assigned to this mineral.

A sodium-strontium-yttrium-cerium carbonate mineral approved as IMA 2020-055, with ideal IMA-CNMNC September 2026 formula Na2Sr2YCe(CO3)6(H2O)3. The YCe suffix reflects dominance at different crystallographic sites, not a ranking of bulk rare-earth concentrations. This species is distinct from donnayite-(Y), alicewilsonite-(YLa), individual elements and mixed ores. Lykova et al. (2023, Part 2) characterized holotype CMNMC 53660 from Mont Saint-Hilaire, Canada, previously labelled donnayite-(Y). The zoned crystal contains an outer alicewilsonite-(YCe) rim and an inner donnayite-(Y)/gaidonnayite assemblage; the single-crystal diffraction grain was selected from the alicewilsonite rim. Wavelength-dispersive electron-microprobe measurements used 20 kV, 10 nA, grain-dependent 20–50 micrometre beams and corrections for beam instability. Table 1 reports holotype means of 8.52 wt% Y2O3 and 9.52 wt% Ce2O3 from six analyses. CO2 and H2O were calculated because insufficient pure material could be isolated; infrared spectra support water qualitatively. The 293 K single-crystal refinement gives triclinic P1 and R1 = 0.055 with an 87:13 twin model. Crystal quality limits structural detail: hydrogen was not reliably located, Ca was omitted from the model, and Ce and Dy represented lighter and heavier lanthanides as scattering proxies. Main-text Sr1 site composition uses Ce0.23 whereas Table 4 and the official CIF use Ce0.22; Table 3's Rint of 0.062 also differs from the CIF agreement field of 0.0394. These unresolved differences prevent unqualified reuse of detailed model occupancies or agreement statistics. Natural intergrowths and proposed replacement relations are geological interpretations, not controlled conversion experiments. Qualitative room-temperature dissolution with effervescence in aqueous HCl lacks specified concentration, time and yield, and is not curated as an extraction or recovery mechanism. No microbial process, industrial deployment or transferred elemental criticality is established by this characterization.

An approved sodium-strontium-yttrium-lanthanum carbonate mineral, IMA 2021-047, with ideal IMA-CNMNC September 2026 formula Na2Sr2YLa(CO3)6(H2O)3. Its suffix denotes dominance at different crystallographic sites, not a bulk elemental ranking. Lykova et al. (2024, Part 4) characterized holotype CMNMC 89063 from the Paratoo copper mine, South Australia; the structure-determination portion is KNR 44330 in Oslo. Table 1 averages seven electron-microprobe analyses: 9.59 wt% Y2O3 and 11.74 wt% La2O3. Measurements used 20 kV, 10 nA and a 30 micrometre beam with beam-instability corrections. Ce was below detection, not demonstrated absent. CO2 and H2O were calculated because material was scarce; infrared data support water qualitatively. The 293 K single-crystal model is triclinic P1, R1 = 0.058, with a 22:78 twin model. La and Dy served as lanthanide scattering proxies; assigned cation occupancies and half-occupied split carbonate/water sites depend on constraints. Poor crystal quality limits localization and hydrogen was not located. Water-site labels in Table 4 and the official CIF differ, so detailed label-specific bonding is not asserted. This species differs from alicewilsonite-(YCe), donnayite-(Y), elements and mixed mine resources. Its natural secondary geological occurrence does not make it a secondary resource. The discussion's inferred Ce fractionation is not a controlled experiment on this mineral; qualitative room-temperature HCl effervescence lacks specified acid concentration, duration and yield. No extraction mechanism, microbial process, industrial deployment or transferred elemental criticality is established here.

A geological rare-earth-bearing feed represented by the REE-concentrated crushed allanite ore supplied as Zappall from WRE in Schmitz et al. (2025). The paper also calls this material allanite mineral sand. Its generic allanite designation does not establish a particular allanite species, phase purity, mine of origin or commercial grade. This concentrated primary resource is distinct from an ideal mineral species, elemental rare earths, their commodities and secondary waste. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Gluconobacter oxydans

A rare-earth-bearing processing liquor generated from allanite ore, represented here by the chemically purified and reconstituted Halleck Creek, Wyoming feed used by Lu et al. (2026). Acid leaching, impurity precipitation, REE hydroxide precipitation and hydrochloric-acid redissolution precede the biological-reagent experiment. This processing intermediate is distinct from geological ore, beneficiated allanite concentrate, a pure allanite species and an isolated REE product. Its classification reflects chemical processing, not extraction alone. No criticality designation is inherited from its constituents.

• Pichia kudriavzevii

Aluminium oxide considered as a refined commercial material, used as feed for aluminium smelting and in nonmetallurgical applications such as ceramics, abrasives and refractories. This commodity is distinct from aluminium metal, aluminium hydroxide, bauxite ore and red mud. The broad commodity does not establish a particular crystalline phase or high-purity product specification. The EU designations explicitly name alumina as the intermediate processing form within the combined bauxite/alumina/aluminium value chain. No microbial mechanism is asserted here.

Salt-flux-bearing mixed slag from aluminium scrap remelting, containing process salts and oxide-rich solids. The accepted study sampled a rotary furnace batch from a Brazilian recycler using NaCl/KCl flux. This resource is defined by salt-flux remelting origin, distinct from the existing post-metal-recovery secondary aluminium dross specimen, generic smelting slag, bauxite residue, elemental aluminium or a single mineral. Laboratory water leaching and recovered salt crystals are documented; microbial action, inherited criticality and industrial deployment of this recipe are not.

Aluminium (Al), the chemical element, distinct from its ions, alumina, bauxite ores and red-mud wastes. The dated US designation maps the named aluminum commodity to this element without assigning criticality to every Al-bearing material. The curated mechanism concerns laboratory aluminium mobilization from a mixed red-mud sample, not production of aluminium metal.

• Aspergillus niger

Alunite is the potassium aluminium hydroxysulfate mineral KAl3(SO4)2(OH)6, listed by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 as redefined, 1987 s.p. It is a distinct species within the alunite group, not a label for every aluminium sulfate or mixed mining residue. Zhong et al. (2019) examined a natural alunite-bearing ore containing quartz and kaolinite. Their laboratory CaO-assisted thermal treatment followed by water leaching increased soluble potassium under selected conditions; the separate evaporation product remained a mixture of potassium/calcium sulfate phases. The accepted experiment is abiotic and does not establish microbial extraction, a pure potassium product, complete aluminium recovery, or industrial deployment. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

Amblygonite is the fluorine-dominant lithium aluminium phosphate mineral with ideal formula LiAl(PO4)F, distinct from hydroxyl-dominant montebrasite and from lithium as an element. Natural crystals form a substituted F/OH series rather than necessarily pure endmembers. Groat2003 provides primary neutron-diffraction and NMR evidence for this series, including F-rich natural specimens. Triclinic P-1 and the centered C-1 convention describe settings of the same structure. A separate thesis reports heating of a natural specimen labelled amblygonite, but its mixed starting material and conflicting fluorine estimates straddle the species boundary. The thermal observation is retained only for that author-assigned specimen, not as a universal amblygonite decomposition threshold, microbial mechanism or lithium recovery yield.

Ameghinite is the approved sodium-borate mineral NaB3O3(OH)4, IMA1966-034, in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. The original Tincalayu, Salta, Argentina specimens contained ameghinite nodules separated from surrounding borax by tincalconite. The 1967 chemical aliquot retained an optically estimated two percent tincalconite; its analysis is not a pure end-member composition. Dal Negro, Martin Pozas and Ungaretti's 1975 single-crystal study established a C2/c structure with isolated triborate units, each containing one boron tetrahedron and two triangles, linked through sodium coordination and hydrogen bonds. Hydrogen positions were found in difference-Fourier maps; the study did not supply a new bulk chemical assay of its fragment. The distinct sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate produced in Xiong et al.'s 2017 borax experiments was described as an ameghinite polymorph and possible precursor, not as experimentally demonstrated formation of ameghinite. This mineral species is distinct from elemental boron and the borates commodity; criticality and microbial activity are not inferred.

Ammoniojarosite is the ammonium ferric hydroxysulfate mineral with ideal formula (NH4)Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6, with ferric iron. The September 2026 IMA list records it as redefined, 1987 s.p. It is distinct from potassium jarosite, natrojarosite, hydroniumjarosite and industrial jarosite residues. Wang et al. (2007) prepared diffraction-assigned ammoniojarosite during biological oxidation of ferrous sulfate in ammonium-containing laboratory media. Their products were nonstoichiometric, and low-ammonium experiments instead produced schwertmannite or mixed precipitates. Neither phase assignment nor bulk composition establishes absolute phase purity, a recovered-metal yield, microbial necessity or industrial deployment. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
• Sulfuracidifex metallicus

Anatase is the TiO2 mineral species listed by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 with approved status A and the designation 1962 s.p. The latter denotes a special procedure, not a numbered approval identifier. Anatase is distinct from rutile and brookite despite their common ideal formula, and from elemental titanium, titanium-bearing ores and unspecified TiO2 nanoparticles. The curated experiment concerns a manufactured anatase counterpart produced using engineered bacterial biomass, a soluble titanium reagent and subsequent heat treatment. It does not establish microbial formation of natural anatase, dissolution of a natural titanium mineral or recovery of titanium from an ore or waste. No constituent-derived criticality is asserted.

• Escherichia coli

A natural cerium-strontium carbonate mineral with the ideal IMA-CNMNC September 2026 formula CeSr(CO3)2(OH)(H2O). The authority lists renamed status and 1987 special procedure, not a numbered approval accession. The 2024 approved ancylite-supergroup nomenclature distinguishes this Sr-dominant, Ce-dominant species from Ca-dominant calcioancylites and from kozoites. In its general formula, x is the trivalent-cation content per two cations; the ancylite group spans 1 <= x <= 1.5, whereas the kozoite group spans 1.5 < x <= 2. Dal Negro et al. (1975) studied a natural crystal from a nepheline-syenite pegmatite at Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec. Their Table 2 composition, La0.56Ce0.82Sr0.40Ca0.22(CO3)2(OH)1.38 ·0.62H2O, is a mixed-REE specimen formula, distinct from the ideal endmember. Five-grain microprobe averages were normalized using a separate thermogravimetric loss; water and carbon dioxide could not be individually determined from that curve. The text's assumed 20:80 water-to-carbon-dioxide loss partition does not match the individual volatile values in Table 1. Those values are not independent measured water and carbon dioxide contents. A crystal fragment was refined in orthorhombic Pmcn, a nonstandard setting of Pnma, to R = 0.059 using 498 observed reflections. The model places mixed heavy cations on a shared site, with eight carbonate oxygen neighbours and two hydroxyl or water oxygen neighbours; it does not locate hydrogen atoms or independently resolve the separate cation occupancies. Tables 3–6 include coordinates, displacement parameters, distances and structure factors. Structural comparisons with aragonite and bastnaesite are interpretations, not observed mineral conversions. No mineral-specific extraction experiment, microbial mechanism, recovery yield, industrial deployment or inherited criticality designation is asserted.

Andersonite is the sodium calcium uranyl carbonate hydrate mineral with the September 2026 IMA formula Na2Ca(UO2)(CO3)3(H2O)6. Its grandfathered status G and original-description year 1951 are not an approval accession. A natural Cane Springs Canyon specimen studied in 2018 was refined in trigonal R-3m with 5.3 H2O per formula unit, distinct from the ideal six-water formula and from synthetic preparations. The authors proposed variable channel-water occupancy and a (5+x)H2O formulation; that proposal does not replace the current IMA formula here. This mineral is distinct from elemental uranium and a uranium commodity. No criticality designation, microbial process or industrial recovery is inferred.

Anglesite is the Pb(SO4) mineral species listed with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1832 in the September 2026 IMA compilation. It is distinct from elemental lead, galena, dissolved lead and a mixed lead-bearing concentrate or battery paste. The observation below concerns a laboratory reaction product identified in leached galena-concentrate residues. It does not establish the identity of every lead-sulfate reagent or inherit a criticality designation from lead.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Anhydrite is the grandfathered calcium sulfate mineral species CaSO4, distinct from gypsum, bassanite, elemental calcium or sulfur, and mixed industrial residues such as phosphogypsum and titanogypsum. This owner describes the anhydrous proposed product in a disputed microbial gypsum-dehydration experiment, not a proven biologically recovered product. The same primary experiments are cross-represented in cmmmech:gypsum; their occurrence in two mineral owners does not create independent replication. Mineral identity is established separately from the contested mechanism. No constituent criticality, industrial deployment or recovery yield is asserted.

• Chroococcidiopsis
• Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Anilite is the orthorhombic copper sulfide mineral Cu7S4, distinct from digenite, djurleite, chalcocite, covellite, copper element and mixed ores. The September 2026 IMA list gives approved status and approval 1968-030. The accepted experiment concerns natural anilite-bearing grains with intergrown djurleite, not a certified pure mineral feed. This record curates abiotic ferric-sulfate alteration; it does not inherit copper criticality or establish a microbial mechanism.

Annabergite is the grandfathered hydrated nickel arsenate mineral with ideal composition Ni3(AsO4)2·8H2O, a vivianite-group member. It is distinct from elemental nickel, other end members, mixed-metal natural specimens and synthetic laboratory analogues. The experiments curated here used synthetic material; natural crystals can contain substitutions and color alone does not determine end-member identity. No criticality designation or microbial extraction claim is inferred from the constituent metal.

Anorthite is the calcium-rich plagioclase feldspar species with ideal endmember formula Ca(Al2Si2O8), grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list with original-description year 1823. It is distinct from elemental calcium, aluminium or silicon, generic feldspar and mixed rock resources. The bacterial experiment used natural plagioclase reported as approximately An90; the separate fungal experiment used a purchased, source-assigned anorthite feed with unresolved bulk-composition and phase-purity limitations. Neither feed is assumed to be the pure endmember. No constituent criticality is inherited.

• Paenibacillus polymyxa
• Ramichloridium apiculatum

Antimony (Sb), represented as an element distinct from antimonate feed, sorbed antimonite and sulfide-bearing products. A sediment-inoculated laboratory experiment supports transformation through coupled microbial and chemical reactions under sulfidogenic conditions. The United States 2025 critical-mineral designation names the antimony commodity; it does not designate every Sb compound, host mineral or secondary resource.

Orthorhombic calcium carbonate mineral with ideal formula CaCO3, distinct from calcite and vaterite polymorphs, hydrated monohydrocalcite, the calcium element and carbonate-bearing resources. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1791, not a new-mineral approval accession. Laboratory bacterial mineralization supports aragonite formation under specified solution conditions; it does not establish a criticality designation, a purified critical-metal product or industrial use.

• Bacillus licheniformis

Argentojarosite is the silver ferric hydroxysulfate mineral with ideal formula AgFe3(SO4)2(OH)6, with ferric iron. The September 2026 IMA list records it as redefined, 1987 s.p. It is distinct from potassium jarosite and from silver ions, metallic silver or a generic industrial jarosite precipitate. Mukherjee's 2013 Ohio State MSc thesis identified synthetic argentojarosite following silver-nitrate addition to an iron-oxidizing culture's ferric sulfate and poorly crystalline ferric precipitates. The thesis explicitly separates the biological iron-oxidation step from the subsequent abiotic precipitation step. Silver-bearing solids and relative diffraction crystallinity are not measures of silver recovery from an ore or waste, absolute product purity or microbial precipitation necessity. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Argyrodite is the silver-germanium sulfide mineral species Ag8GeS6, listed by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 as grandfathered, with 1886 as the original-description year rather than an IMA approval number. Ono and Sato's 1995 study identified natural argyrodite in fine-grained massive black ore from the Ezuri Kuroko deposit, Japan, using reflected-light microscopy and electron-microprobe analysis. Figure 3F shows the mineral with galena, covellite, chalcopyrite and bornite in barite; Table 2 gives a specimen analysis described as close to ideal Ag8GeS6, with minor Cu, Fe and As. This specimen observation does not establish uniform composition, bulk germanium grade, resource size or recovery yield. The authors' fluid-inclusion measurements concern sphalerite and their formation-temperature interpretation is not an argyrodite extraction assay. This natural species is distinct from synthetic lithium argyrodite electrolytes and from the separately recognized alburnite, Ag8GeTe2S4. Historical Te-rich argyrodite reports from Roşia Montană are not used here as interchangeable composition evidence: the 2014 alburnite description explicitly revisits the earlier interpretation. Handbook crystallographic citations to synthetic Ag8GeS6 are not treated as measurements of the Ezuri specimen. No microbial mechanism, industrial recovery performance or inherited constituent-element criticality designation is assigned.

Aristarainite is the approved sodium-magnesium borate mineral Na2Mg[B6O8(OH)4]2·4H2O, IMA1973-029, in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. Hurlbut and Erd described natural crystals from the Tincalayu borax deposit, Salta, Argentina, including material separated from borax/kernite hosts with warm water. Their 1974 chemical analysis on 95.4 mg included potassium and yielded the historical oxide formula Na2O·MgO·6B2O3·10H2O. Ghose and Wan's 1977 single-crystal refinement revised that ideal hydration to eight oxide-formula waters, equivalent to the current structural formula. This revision came from the structural model, not a new bulk-water assay. Hexaborate units form chains parallel to b; magnesium and sodium link these into sheets parallel to (001), cross-linked by hydrogen bonds. One hydrogen on the O(14) water site was modeled as two half-occupied positions; this is crystallographic disorder, not a measured molecular-motion rate. The papers' qualitative water/acid solubility and proposed geological polymerization do not establish extraction kinetics or an engineered process. Species identity is distinct from the borates commodity and its constituent elements; no criticality, microbial mechanism or industrial recovery claim is inferred.

Arsenic (As), grounded by the neutral-atom ChEBI identifier. Arsenate, arsenite, gallium arsenide and metal hydroxide sludge are different chemical or resource entities. The US designation maps the listed arsenic commodity to this element without designating all arsenic-bearing wastes. Arsenic was retained in the final 2025 list despite proposed removal in the draft. The mechanism concerns co-mobilization from sludge in the same experiment curated for gallium, not an independent replication or an arsenic detoxification process.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Arsenopyrite is the FeAsS mineral species listed in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC master list. It is distinct from elemental arsenic, dissolved arsenic species, pyrite-arsenopyrite concentrates and refractory gold ores. The experiment below used a natural high-purity mineral specimen, not a measured gold-bearing ore. No criticality designation is inherited from arsenic or from an associated commodity.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Artinite is the hydrated basic magnesium carbonate mineral Mg2(CO3)(OH)2(H2O)3, conventionally Mg2(CO3)(OH)2·3H2O. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1902; that year is not an approval identifier. Artinite is distinct from dypingite, hydromagnesite, nesquehonite, magnesium metal and mixed carbonate binders. The curated evidence is laboratory abiotic dissolution and precipitation, without inherited constituent criticality or a demonstrated microbial recovery mechanism.

Asbolane is a hydrous manganese oxide mineral with variable associated hydroxide cations, listed as grandfathered with historical year 1841 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. Its listed formula is Mn4+(O,OH)2·(Co,Ni,Mg,Ca)x(OH)2x·nH2O. It is distinct from elemental manganese, cobalt and nickel, from lateritic ore, and from an arbitrary cobalt-doped birnessite preparation. The experiment below uses a synthetic Co/Ni-bearing powder that the source assigns to asbolane by XRD; no independent refinement establishes ideal composition or complete phase purity. No commodity criticality is inherited.

• Geobacter sulfurreducens

Atacamite is the orthorhombic copper hydroxychloride mineral Cu2Cl(OH)3. It is distinct from elemental copper, other copper minerals and mixed corrosion patinas. The laboratory mineral experiment below used a synthetic preparation. No criticality designation is inherited from copper.

• Beauveria bassiana

Sludge generated by wastewater treatment at an automotive factory, represented by the nickel- and zinc-bearing feed studied by Yagnentkovsky et al. (2009). The paper does not identify the factory or resolve its individual contributing processes and mineral phases. This secondary-resource identity is distinct from untreated wastewater, municipal sewage sludge, pure nickel or zinc compounds, and spent automotive exhaust catalysts. The selected feed does not define all automotive treatment sludges, and no constituent-element criticality is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Autunite is a calcium uranyl phosphate mineral with formula Ca(UO2)2(PO4)2(H2O)11 in the September 2026 IMA list, which assigns grandfathered status G and original-description year 1852; that year is not a numbered IMA approval. Locock and Burns characterized a synthetic crystal grown over four months by diffusion of phosphate and uranyl nitrate into calcium-bearing silica gel, not a natural specimen. They sealed the crystal with diluted growth solution to limit rapid air dehydration and refined an orthorhombic Pnma structure containing sheets of uranyl square bipyramids linked to phosphate tetrahedra. Calcium has seven coordinating water groups and two longer contacts to uranyl apical oxygen atoms. The refined Ca-site occupancy was 86.0(7)%, so this experimental crystal is not established as a fully occupied ideal endmember; charge compensation by oxonium was proposed rather than directly demonstrated. Hydrogen positions were derived from difference maps and crystal-chemical arguments with bond-length constraints and fixed displacement parameters; the proposed hydrogen-bond network is not an unconstrained determination of every hydrogen position. The dependent publisher deposits contain anisotropic parameters and 4318 unique indexed reflections, matching the reported unique-reflection count, but their inspection is not an independent refinement or replication. The paper proposes loss of two independent interstitial-water sites to yield a seven-water calcium phase; this structural proposal does not establish the product as the six-water meta-autunite species in the current IMA list. Autunite is distinct from meta-autunite, the autunite mineral group, uranyl ions and elemental uranium. No microbial extraction, isolated-product recovery, industrial deployment or inherited uranium criticality is asserted by this identity record.

Azurite is the monoclinic copper hydroxycarbonate mineral Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2, distinct from malachite, calcite, generic copper carbonate and elemental copper. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status G and original-description year 1824. A laboratory bacterial study assigns a minor diffraction feature in a mixed precipitate to azurite; this does not establish a pure azurite product or a phase-specific copper recovery yield. No criticality designation is inherited from copper.

• Sporosarcina soli

Baddeleyite is the natural monoclinic zirconium oxide mineral species ZrO2, listed as grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. It is distinct from elemental zirconium, zircon (ZrSiO4), synthetic zirconia products and other ZrO2 polymorphs. Huraiová, Hurai and Konečný (2011) characterized baddeleyite associated with a zoned zircon crystal separated from redeposited sediments of the Hajnáčka-Kostná dolina basaltic maar, southern Slovakia. Cathodoluminescence and backscattered-electron images show baddeleyite in melt pockets and in a reaction rim intergrown with sanidine and anorthoclase. Their Table 2 reports six representative baddeleyite microprobe analyses containing 96.65-98.27 wt.% ZrO2 and 0.99-1.06 wt.% HfO2, alongside analyses of the distinct host zircon. These oxide-equivalent specimen compositions are not elemental-metal percentages, mineral-wide purity or resource grades. The study uses microscopy and electron microprobe chemistry; it does not report a new diffraction refinement. Formation by reaction of zircon with Si-poor, Al-rich melt is the authors' geological interpretation, not a controlled transformation experiment. The reported absence of light rare earth elements is bounded by analytical detection limits, not proof of zero concentration. This identity and natural-occurrence evidence does not establish microbial extraction, recovery, industrial deployment or a dated criticality designation for the mineral.

An approved sodium-barium-yttrium-cerium carbonate mineral, IMA 2020-065, with ideal IMA-CNMNC September 2026 formula Na2Ba2YCe(CO3)6(H2O)3. The suffix denotes dominant cations at distinct crystallographic sites. Lykova et al. (2024, Part 3) characterized holotype CMNMC 46324 from Mont Saint-Hilaire, Canada. Its five electron-microprobe analyses average 8.24 wt% Y2O3 and 8.38 wt% Ce2O3 (Table 1); the other specimens in that table are separate. Analyses used 20 kV, 10 nA, 20–50 micrometre beams and beam-instability corrections. CO2 and H2O were calculated, not measured; infrared data support water qualitatively. The 293 K single-crystal model is triclinic P1, R1 = 0.040, with twinning. Poor crystal quality, omitted Ca, Ce/Dy scattering proxies for lighter/heavier lanthanides, constrained occupancies and unlocated hydrogen limit atom-specific interpretation. Table 6 gives unequal measured and assigned-model scattering values for Y6 (40.1 versus 38.3 electrons). The 2026 Part 5 follow-up identifies a bainbridgeite-(NdCe) rim on the photographed YCe holotype crystal, with a YCe core and an intermediate YCe/alicewilsonite-(YCe) zone. Accordingly, the 2024 chemistry is a specimen-resolved analysis, not a homogeneous whole-crystal assay; the 2026 mixed-phase diffraction model is not substituted for it. This mineral is distinct from bainbridgeite-(NdCe), alicewilsonite-(YCe), elements and ores. Natural intergrowth and proposed geological replacement are not controlled transformation evidence. The qualitative aqueous-HCl effervescence observation has no concentration, duration or yield and is not curated as recovery. No microbial process, industrial deployment or inherited elemental criticality is established by these characterizations.

Barićite is a hydrated magnesium phosphate mineral species. The September 2026 IMA list gives the approved formula Mg3(PO4)2(H2O)8 and approval number 1975-027. It remains distinct from bobierrite, elemental magnesium or phosphorus, and mixed recovered precipitates. The historical experimental source uses baricite and a mixed (Mg,Fe) formula; its phase assignment is retained as reported, not a measurement proving the current ideal composition. No criticality designation is inherited from constituents.

• Oleidesulfovibrio alaskensis G20

The crude, crushed and ground barite raw-material commodity, also named baryte in the original EU 2024 critical-materials list. USGS reports mined barite and products sold by crushers and grinders for uses including drilling-fluid weighting and fillers. This record denotes that traded industrial material, with variable feed and product specifications, rather than a single mineral specimen, the barite mineral species as a taxonomic concept, or elemental barium. The US list uses Barite and the EU list uses baryte; both entries are mapped to this commodity scope. No mineral-species identifier or microbial mechanism is asserted.

Naturally occurring basaltic geological material, represented here by six heterogeneous drill-core specimens from ICDP HSDP2, Hilo, Hawaii: basaltic flows, basaltic hyaloclastites and pillow basalts. This resource is not a single mineral species, pure basaltic glass, an elemental metal or a recovered commodity. The specimens contain different proportions of glass, primary silicates and secondary alteration phases. The source's manufactured BAS glasses are experimental analogues and are not the natural feed represented by this record. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Paraburkholderia fungorum

Steelmaking slag identified by primary studies as basic-oxygen-furnace (BOF), or Linz-Donawitz converter, slag. The separately studied feeds are a December 2016 sample from Yarborough, Scunthorpe, UK, and a sample supplied by an unnamed Austrian steelmaking company in the 2022 study. This process-defined secondary resource is distinct from electric-arc-furnace slag or dust, blast-furnace residues, copper smelter slag, constituent elements and individual mineral species. These heterogeneous samples do not define all BOF slags. No inherited elemental identifier or criticality designation is assigned.

Dust generated by basic oxygen steelmaking, represented here by a stockpiled material from a historical iron and steelworks at Teesside, UK. This is a mixed processing residue, distinct from basic oxygen furnace slag, electric-arc-furnace dust and blast-furnace cast-house dust. The sampled dust contains iron, zinc and other elements; neither its constituents nor the paper's terminology establishes a criticality designation for the whole resource. Laboratory leaching evidence applies to the prepared source sample.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Bassanite is the grandfathered calcium sulfate hemihydrate mineral, Ca(SO4)·0.5H2O, distinct from gypsum, anhydrite, manufactured plaster specifications and mixed sulfate residues. Natural mineral identity is established separately from laboratory phase assignments. The evidence here concerns mixed precipitates obtained with extracted bacterial extracellular polymers or from saline bacterial cultures. It establishes neither an isolated bassanite product yield nor an industrial recovery process.

Bastnaesite, also spelled bastnäsite, is represented here as the fluorocarbonate family with ideal composition REE(CO3)F, encompassing the separately named bastnäsite-(Ce), -(La), -(Nd) and -(Y) species in the September 2026 IMA mineral list. This family-level record does not assert one member species or cover all hydroxyl-bearing or other members of the broader structural group. The experimental material below is a Ce- and La-rich natural mineral separate, not a pure endmember, a whole bastnaesite-bearing rock, an elemental rare earth, or a recovered commodity. Bulk oxide composition alone does not establish its member-species assignment. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Bacillus thuringiensis

A heterogeneous powder stream produced by pretreatment of spent lithium-ion batteries. Composition depends on battery chemistry and processing; the curated experiment used nickel-manganese-cobalt battery material after discharging, dismantling, thermal treatment, crushing and sorting. This secondary resource is distinct from whole batteries, an individual cathode compound, cobalt or lithium elements, and recovered battery-grade products. Constituent-element criticality is not inherited by this mixed feed.

The heterogeneous residue from alkaline Bayer processing of bauxite for alumina production, commonly called red mud. It is distinct from bauxite ore, alumina commodity, aluminium element and any single mineral species. The curated assay used material collected from the Ajka spill site; its composition and treatment response do not define every bauxite residue. No criticality designation is inherited from constituent elements.

• Aspergillus niger

Naturally occurring, heterogeneous aluminium ore used as a commercial raw material. Bauxite contains varying proportions of aluminium hydroxide minerals, principally gibbsite, boehmite and diaspore, together with silica, iron oxides, titania and other constituents. Commercial uses include metallurgical feed, abrasives and refractories. This commodity is distinct from a single mineral species, refined alumina, aluminium metal and the red-mud residue of alumina production. The EU designations explicitly name bauxite within the combined bauxite/alumina/aluminium value chain. No microbial mechanism is asserted here.

Becquerelite is a calcium uranyl oxide hydroxide hydrate mineral, Ca(UO2)6O4(OH)6·8H2O in the September 2026 IMA list. Its status is grandfathered G; 1922 is the original-description year, not an IMA approval accession. The mineral is distinct from elemental uranium, schoepite, other uranyl oxide hydrates and Sr-exchanged synthetic derivatives. The accepted dissolution experiment used synthesized becquerelite crystals, not an ore or a natural field population. Surface morphology and later spectroscopy support a restricted laboratory dissolution and secondary-precipitation account; they do not establish microbial activity, criticality, bulk uranium recovery efficiency or industrial deployment.

Beryllium (Be), represented as an element distinct from its ions, compounds, isotopes, host minerals, alloys and commodity streams. The US 2025 designation names the beryllium commodity and does not designate every compound or host material. No microbial extraction, transformation or recovery mechanism is accepted in this identity and designation record; unresolved experimental leads are retained in the accompanying research dossier.

Beudantite is the lead ferric arsenate-sulfate hydroxide mineral with ideal formula PbFe3(AsO4)(SO4)(OH)6, distinct from phosphate-bearing corkite, plumbojarosite, segnitite and elemental lead or arsenic. The September 2026 IMA list records its redefinition by special procedure in 1987; that date is not an individual approval accession. Szymański (1988) examined compositionally zoned natural material from Tsumeb, Namibia. Electron-microprobe analyses showed variable Al substitution for Fe and variable As/S ratios rather than a uniform ideal endmember. The accepted single-crystal refinement was crystal 2, with a = 7.3151(9) and c = 17.0355(5) angstrom, R-3m symmetry, 644 unique reflections and a final R factor of 3.7 percent. It supported disordered As/S sites and displaced Pb positions. Crystal 1 had unresolved diffraction-profile problems; crystal 3 showed a slight triclinic distortion but could not be satisfactorily refined and its composition was not determined. Neither the preferred symmetry nor the proposed Pb lone-pair explanation is generalized to every specimen. The article's separately deposited structure-factor Table 4 was not acquired; the published experimental methods, Tables 1-3/5 and Figures 1-3 support this bounded identity assessment. Bari et al. (2024) provide adjacent abiotic dissolution context for a synthetic solid they call beudantite. Its reported bulk formula, Pb0.32(H3O)0.68Fe3(AsO4)0.32(SO4)1.68(OH)6, differs markedly from the ideal species, and initial TEM-EDX detected grains lacking both As and Pb. Their 56-day tests at initial pH 2, 4, 6 and 8 used 0.06 g solid in 40 mL solution at 22 degrees C with triplicate sacrificial sampling. Filtered aqueous element contents, residual diffraction and arsenic X-ray absorption measurements describe that substituted, heterogeneous preparation. Greater mobilization at pH 2 and persistent residual diffraction do not establish dissolution rates or long-term stability of pure natural beudantite. No phase-specific dissolution mechanism is assigned here from those data. The source's inconsistent Fe unit, duplicated sulfate in its reaction equation, and comparison to an ideal Fe/Pb ratio despite the measured composition are not adopted as quantitative or balanced-reaction claims. These sources do not establish microbial transformation, isolated-product recovery or industrial operation. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

The aluminium-polymer-rich reject remaining after paper recovery by hydropulping discarded liquid beverage cartons, with residual cellulosic fibres and mixed plastics. This process-defined secondary resource is distinct from intact beverage cans, pharmaceutical blisters, aluminium as an element and purified polyethylene. The selected industrial-origin sample does not define a universal reject composition or inherit a criticality list.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans
• Acidithiobacillus caldus

Billietite is the barium uranyl oxide hydroxide hydrate mineral Ba(UO2)6O4(OH)6(H2O)8, distinct from elemental uranium, barium commodities and other uranyl oxide hydrates. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status G; 1947 is its original-description year, not an approval accession. Finch and colleagues refined a natural Shaba, Democratic Republic of Congo crystal in orthorhombic Pbn21, with two distinct uranyl polyhedral sheets linked by barium and interlayer water. Their eight-water refinement supersedes the incomplete four-water structural model discussed in that paper. Hydrogen bonding was inferred from geometry and bond valence; it was not a direct localization of all hydrogen atoms. The natural crystal used for structure refinement and the specimens used for surface experiments are separate evidence populations. No criticality, microbial mechanism or industrial recovery is inferred.

Sulfur-rich material recovered from biogas desulfurization, represented by dried powder obtained from a Danish biogas-plant desulfurization unit. Its process origin defines this secondary resource; it is not pure sulfur as an element, a natural sulfur mineral, commercial acid or the battery black mass subsequently leached with its conversion liquor. The selected study does not establish universal residue composition or inherited criticality.

Biotite denotes a compositional series of trioctahedral micas in or near the field between the annite-phlogopite and siderophyllite-eastonite joins in the IMA-approved mica nomenclature of Rieder et al. (1998). It is represented here as a mineral group, not an individual mineral species. The IMA's 2019 compendium reproduces Whitney and Evans (2010), which labels biotite as GROUP. No constituent criticality designation is inherited. The experimental feed below is author-designated biotite; its bulk oxide composition does not establish a particular member species or quantitative phase purity.

• Priestia aryabhattai

Birnessite is a layered manganese oxide mineral, listed as grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list with formula (Na,Ca,K)0.6(Mn4+,Mn3+)2O4(H2O)1.5. Its composition and polytype vary. It is distinct from elemental manganese, mixed manganese ore and nodules, the buserite precursor used to prepare some synthetic analogues, and manganese oxalate products. The mechanisms below concern separately prepared synthetic sodium and cobalt-bearing forms, and a source-assigned poorly crystalline biogenic Mn-oxide/fungal composite. They do not establish behavior for natural ore or every birnessite polytype. No criticality designation is inherited from manganese.

• Aspergillus niger
• Serpula himantioides
• Paraconiothyrium sp. WL-2

Bismuth (Bi), represented as an element distinct from bismuth subsalicylate, dissolved bismuth and intracellular Bi-bearing material. A laboratory Fusarium isolate accumulated Bi while growing on bismuth subsalicylate. The accumulated material was associated with phosphorus-rich granules, without an identified mineral phase or established Bi oxidation-state change. The United States 2025 designation names the bismuth commodity and does not automatically apply to every compound or resource.

• Fusarium sp. BI

Bismuthinite is the orthorhombic Bi2S3 mineral species, listed with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1832 in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from elemental bismuth, bismuth oxides, bismuth selenides or tellurides, and an uncharacterized material described only by nominal Bi2S3 composition. The experiment below concerns a synthetic phase assigned to bismuthinite by powder XRD, not a natural ore feed. No constituent criticality designation or microbial activity is inferred.

Bixbyite-(Mn) is the Mn(III)-dominant member of the bixbyite series, with ideal formula Mn2O3 under IMA-CNMNC decision 21-H. It is listed as redefined by a 2021 special procedure in the September 2026 list. It is distinct from the Fe-dominant species bixbyite-(Fe), the broader bixbyite structural series, elemental manganese and MnO2 minerals. The laboratory culture product below was assigned only as bixbyite-like Mn oxide by its authors. Its placement here expresses the Mn-rich structural analogy, not a retrospective certification of pure natural bixbyite-(Mn). No criticality designation is inherited from manganese.

• Mesorhizobium australicum

Dust generated during periodic tapping and casting of liquid iron and slag from a blast furnace, represented by an iron-rich, zinc-bearing sample from an Austrian steelmaker. This process-defined secondary resource is distinct from blast-furnace flue-gas dust, electric-arc-furnace dust, slag, natural ore and its constituent elements or mineral phases. The selected sample does not establish a universal dust composition or inherit elemental criticality.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Bobierrite is the hydrated magnesium phosphate mineral species Mg3(PO4)2(H2O)8. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1868, not an approval identifier. It is distinct from the other mineral species barićite, from elemental magnesium or phosphorus, and from mixed phosphate products. The studies below assign bobierrite to recovered culture precipitates; neither proves a purified product or industrial recovery. Constituent criticality is not inherited.

Böhmite, commonly spelled boehmite in the experimental literature, is the orthorhombic aluminium oxyhydroxide mineral AlO(OH), commonly designated gamma-AlOOH. It is distinct from diaspore, the Al(OH)3 polymorphs, elemental aluminium, heterogeneous bauxite and the broad refined alumina commodity. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1927, not a unique approval accession. The curated evidence concerns chemically synthesized nanoscale boehmite; no microbial mechanism, constituent criticality or industrial recovery performance is inferred.

Boltwoodite is a potassium-bearing uranyl silicate hydrate mineral, distinct from sodium-dominant natroboltwoodite and elemental uranium. The September 2026 IMA list gives (K0.63Na0.37)(UO2)(SiO3OH)(H2O)1.5, status G and original-description year 1956; the year is not an approval accession. This listed composition is not imposed on every specimen. Burns's 1998 natural crystal from near Rössing, Namibia, refined in monoclinic P21/m with structural formula (K0.56Na0.42)[(UO2)(SiO3OH)](H2O)1.5. The formula reflects partially occupied interlayer sites; water in the accompanying microprobe table was calculated from stoichiometry. Vochten and colleagues instead studied synthetic potassium-rich material and reported an ideal one-water formula and empirical 1.30 waters per formula unit. Its preparation, transformation and aqueous-release experiments below retain that source-specific material identity. No criticality, microbial mechanism or industrial recovery claim is inferred.

Boracite is the Mg3B7O13Cl mineral species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1789. That year is not a sequential approval identifier. The species is distinct from the broader boracite group, trembathite, congolite, hydroboracite, elemental boron and the borates commodity. The Mg-rich natural specimens below contain Fe substitution; neither their chemistry nor their phase-transition temperatures represent a chemically pure synthetic Mg endmember. No criticality designation or microbial activity is inferred from the mineral's boron content.

Commercial borate raw materials, encompassing borate ores and refined borate products rather than a single ion or mineral species. USGS distinguishes natural borates such as colemanite and ulexite from refined borax and the associated boric-acid product stream. The commodity is distinct from elemental boron and from the separately qualified metallurgy-grade boron designation. The criticality entry records the named BGS/CMIC assessment, whose cover states that it does not constitute government policy. The microbial experiment below concerns one colemanite-bearing ore, not every borate or a purified product.

• Aspergillus niger

Borax is the Na2B4O5(OH)4(H2O)8 mineral species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with grandfathered status G. The list leaves its original description year and original locality unresolved; no sequential IMA approval identifier is assigned here. Its structural formula is equivalent in bulk composition to sodium tetraborate decahydrate, Na2B4O7·10H2O. This species is distinct from elemental boron, the borates commodity, manufactured products sold as borax, tincalconite, kernite and anhydrous sodium tetraborate phases. Nishiyasu and Kyono's thermal experiments characterized commercial reagent and recrystallized material, not a natural ore or an industrial recovery operation. Their borax single-crystal refinements were monoclinic C2/c. No commodity criticality or microbial activity is inherited.

Bornite is the Cu5FeS4 mineral species listed as approved, with the notation 1962 s.p., in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from copper metal, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, mixed copper ores and processing residues. The natural specimens below contain other phases; their solution measurements cannot be treated as selective conversion of pure endmember bornite. No criticality designation is inherited from copper or iron.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Residual solids generated during concentration of boron-bearing ore. The curated feed is the minus-25-mm solid waste from the Espey concentrator of the Eti Mine Boric Acid Operation in Emet, Kütahya, Turkey. It contains colemanite, muscovite, quartz and dolomite according to the study's XRD characterization. This processing residue is distinct from unprocessed borate ore, traded borate products, elemental boron and a pure colemanite mineral. The sampled composition does not define every concentrator residue; no criticality designation is inherited from its constituents.

The element B, distinct from boric acid, borate ions, borate mineral species and commercial borates. The unqualified boron entry in Annex II of the original EU 2024 critical-raw-materials regulation is mapped to this element; the separately metallurgy-qualified strategic entry is not broadened here.

• Streptomyces

Briartite is the copper-iron-germanium sulfide mineral species Cu2FeGeS4, listed as approved, IMA 1965-018, by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026. Francotte and colleagues' 1965 description used the broader historical formula Cu2(Fe,Zn)GeS4 and combined polished-section observations, powder X-ray diffraction and electron-microprobe analyses of natural material from Kipushi, with comparative Tsumeb chemistry. Its Fe-Zn variation and uncertain structural interpretation do not establish that every historical analysis belongs to the currently delimited Fe species. The dated IMA list separately recognizes zincobriartite, Cu2ZnGeS4, IMA 2015-094; zinc-rich historical material is not silently reassigned to this briartite record. The original describes small grains and intergrowths with other sulfides, including chalcopyrite, renierite and sphalerite, rather than a pure bulk ore feed. Its Table III column labels conflict with the accompanying prose, so individual assay rows are not imported as unambiguous specimen measurements. Briartite is distinct from germanium element, germanite, renierite and a mixed copper-zinc ore. These mineralogical observations establish neither a microbial recovery mechanism nor industrial extraction performance; no constituent-element criticality designation is inherited.

Brochantite is the monoclinic copper hydroxysulfate mineral Cu4(SO4)(OH)6. It is distinct from elemental copper, other copper minerals and mixed corrosion patinas. The laboratory mineral experiment below used a synthetic preparation. No criticality designation is inherited from copper.

• Beauveria bassiana

Brookite is the TiO2 mineral species listed by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1825. That year is not an IMA approval identifier. It is distinct from the rutile and anatase mineral species, from elemental titanium and from unspecified manufactured TiO2 particles. Liu and colleagues studied natural brookite from Magnet Cove, Arkansas, USA, obtained as specimen 8115 from the University of California, Berkeley Earth and Planetary Science collection. Selected black crystals were cleaned with 1 mol/L nitric acid, washed, dried, crushed and ground. Ambient powder XRD and Rietveld fitting support the brookite phase assignment; the subsequent high-pressure experiment is not a microbial assay. Two EDS locations on one ground particle yielded mean reported abundances of O 38.64, Ti 59.23 and Nb 2.13 weight percent. These are localized analyses, not a bulk ore grade, a representative mine inventory or evidence of a chemically pure endmember. Figure S2 compares powder before and after pressing near 8 MPa and supports no apparent phase change during that preparation step. Later compression in a diamond-anvil cell produces pressure- and medium-dependent TiO2 phase mixtures; the source explicitly treats the phase-content diagrams as kinetic, non-equilibrium observations. Its baddeleyite terminology refers to a TiO2 structural polymorph, not formation of the zirconium mineral species ZrO2. No microbial mechanism, titanium extraction yield, industrial recovery or constituent-derived criticality is asserted by this identity and natural-specimen record.

Brucite is the magnesium hydroxide mineral Mg(OH)2. The IMA-CNMNC September 2026 master list gives grandfathered status G and the original-description year 1818, not a numbered approval identifier. It is distinct from elemental magnesium, magnesium-metal commodity, the brucite mineral group, and chemically unspecified magnesium hydroxide products. Field observations at Prony Bay document brucite encrusting microbial filaments; they do not establish that microbes are required for brucite formation. No criticality designation is inherited from magnesium.

Brushite is the hydrated calcium hydrogen phosphate mineral Ca(PO3OH)(H2O)2, commonly written CaHPO4·2H2O. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1865, not a unique approval accession. It is distinct from anhydrous monetite, apatite minerals, elemental phosphorus and mixed phosphate fertilizers. The curated laboratory experiment contains brushite-bearing mixtures, including cell-free precipitates, rather than a phase-pure recovered product. No constituent criticality is inherited.

• Escherichia coli

A natural anhydrous carbonate mineral with the IMA-CNMNC September 2026 formula (Na,Ca)3(Sr,Ba,Ce)3(CO3)5. It is grandfathered; the listed 1953 value is an original-description year, not an IMA approval accession. This record denotes the mineral species, not the entire burbankite group, its constituent elements, or a carbonatite ore. Pecora and Kerr (1953) characterized natural hexagonal burbankite from calcite-rich veins at the Vermiculite Prospects, Big Sandy Creek, Bearpaw Mountains, Montana. Powder and single-crystal diffraction support the mineral characterization. Their chemical preparation remained about 96 percent burbankite by grain count, with about 3 percent ancylite and 1 percent other minerals; Table 2 separately gives the impure analysis and an impurity-adjusted calculation. The corrected chemistry is not a direct pure-phase measurement. The authors reported vigorous effervescence in cold dilute (1:5) HCl, but did not establish a leaching yield, rate or isolated rare-earth product. Observed weathering assemblages contained several minerals and do not resolve a unique reaction pathway. A later synthetic Na-Ca-La carbonate with burbankite structure is treated below as an experimental analogue, not as the measured composition of these natural specimens. No dated criticality designation or microbial mechanism is asserted.

Processing-generated fragments of cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film photovoltaic modules constitute a composite feed for material recycling. The accepted experiment generated milled fragments from manufacturer-sourced modules; their service history and status before laboratory preparation were not reported. This record therefore does not establish postconsumer or industrial manufacturing-scrap provenance for those samples. The feed is distinct from crystalline-silicon and CIGS modules, a pure CdTe compound, and the cadmium or tellurium elements. Constituent criticality designations are not inherited.

Cadmium (Cd), atomic number 48. The neutral-atom identifier grounds the element, not Cd(II), cadmium chloride, cadmium sulfide, or a mineral species. India's June 2023 committee list names the cadmium material; that dated designation is mapped to this element without extending it to its compounds. This is the 30-material committee assessment, not a claim about the separate statutory critical/strategic schedule or current law. Curated laboratory evidence concerns culture-associated cadmium-sulfide formation.

• Klebsiella planticola

Cadmoindite is the cadmium-indium sulfide mineral species CdIn2S4, approved as IMA 2003-042 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. Chaplygin and colleagues (2004) described natural octahedral crystals from fumarolic crusts at Kudriavy volcano on Iturup Island in the Kuril Islands. Microscopy, fifteen electron-microprobe analyses and powder X-ray diffraction support a cubic thiospinel assignment, compared separately with synthetic CdIn2S4 and the iron analogue indite. The analyzed natural grains contain Fe and Zn and smaller Ge and Se contributions; ideal end-member stoichiometry is not a claim of specimen purity. Crystals occur in both pyrite-associated and pyrite-free assemblages, with cadmium-bearing wurtzite and other phases. The paper reports sampling roughly 15-30 centimetres below the crust surface at outgoing-gas temperatures of 450-600 degrees Celsius. Those are field sampling conditions, not directly observed crystallization temperatures or biological incubation conditions. Formation from cooling gas, including the proposed breakdown of metal chlorides, is inferred from the occurrence and cited gas modelling; it was not demonstrated by a controlled transformation experiment on this mineral. Separate laboratory synthesis conditions and electronic uses of synthetic CdIn2S4 do not establish recovery or deployment of natural cadmoindite. This species is distinct from elemental cadmium or indium, indite, bulk fumarolic crust and manufactured CdIn2S4 considered only by formula. The specimen study does not establish a bulk resource grade or extraction yield. No microbial mechanism or constituent-derived criticality designation is assigned.

A natural lanthanum-calcium carbonate mineral, IMA2021-090, with the ideal IMA-CNMNC September 2026 formula (LaCa)(CO3)2(OH)(H2O). The 2024 ancylite nomenclature distinguishes Ca-dominant calcioancylites from Sr-dominant ancylites, with the suffix denoting the dominant rare-earth constituent. Wang et al. (2023) described the mineral from nepheline syenite in the Gejiu alkaline complex, Yunnan, China; type material is deposited as M16129 in the Geological Museum of China. Individual crystals were 5–20 micrometres. Five electron-microprobe analyses gave mean La2O3 of 24.59 wt% and Ce2O3 of 23.32 wt% (Table 1); this is mixed-REE natural material, not a pure-La endmember. CO2 and water contents were calculated from stoichiometry and charge balance. Raman OH-region bands support a hydrous mineral but do not independently measure its water content. The reported Al2O3 was excluded from the formula as possible microscopic inclusions or surface films, rather than an identified separate phase. A roughly 16 × 7 × 5 micrometre crystal extracted from a polished section was studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction at 296.15 K. The Pmcn refinement has R1 = 0.0652 for 347 reflections with I > 2 sigma(I). The shared-site La/Ca scattering model, with occupancies 0.66(4)/0.34(4), is distinct from the measured multi-element composition. The official CIF includes no hydrogen positions; its checkCIF report states that structure factors were not supplied and retains formula/model alerts. Table 1's fluorine mean of 0.31 wt% exceeds its printed range of 0–0.16 wt%, and Table 3's formula weight of 726.26 differs from the deposited CIF value of 363.13. These source discrepancies are unresolved; neither value set is silently corrected or treated as an independent composition measurement. The inferred association with late carbonation follows geological textures, not a controlled formation experiment. No microbial mechanism, quantified extraction or product recovery, industrial deployment or inherited criticality designation is asserted.

A natural REE-bearing carbonate mineral, distinct from burbankite and the burbankite group. The September 2026 IMA list gives Na3(Ca,Ce,Sr,La)3(CO3)5 and approval 1993-001. The 1995 original description concerns a Mont Saint-Hilaire holotype, Canadian Museum of Nature catalogue 50804; its precise quarry and geological setting were uncertain. Its surface was partly altered, and a separately encountered La-rich specimen was not pooled with the holotype. Three analyses on three grains support Ca-dominant chemistry. Carbon was detected separately, but the CO2 amount was calculated stoichiometrically, not independently measured. Infrared analysis did not detect OH or water. Powder and precession diffraction established hexagonal symmetry but left three possible space groups; the 1995 paper did not resolve an atomic structure. It cautions that diffraction alone is insufficient to distinguish related species. Table 2 contains inconsistent mean/range entries, including Pr2O3, and a Ca atomic-proportion range apparently duplicated from Na; no disputed range is adopted. Rapid dissolution in 10 percent HCl was a qualitative identification observation without reported time, temperature, loading, yield or isolated product. It is not curated as a recovery mechanism. The later 2001 structure study and a 2024 experimental formation lead remain outside this record's accepted evidence. No criticality designation, microbial activity or industrial deployment is asserted.

Calcioveatchite is the approved calcium-strontium borate species with ideal formula SrCaB11O16(OH)5·H2O and IMA identifier 2020-011 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. It is distinct from the Sr-dominant species veatchite, elemental boron or strontium, and the broad borates commodity. Pekov et al. (2024) characterized natural type material from borehole 130 at 911 m depth in the Nepskoe potassium salt deposit, Siberia, Russia; the Fersman Mineralogical Museum holotype is 97013. The crystals were separated from a water-insoluble residue of the host salt rock. This sample preparation is not a quantified boron extraction or recovery experiment. Electron microprobe analysis of the holotype, averaged over four spots, gave 7.05 wt% CaO, 20.70 wt% SrO and 61.96 wt% B2O3 (Table 1, column 1). Its 10.22 wt% H2O was calculated from the structure because the small crystal could not be analyzed directly for water. A separate gross multi-crystal sample gave 10.07 wt% H2O by the Penfield method, averaging three analyses; these are not two measurements of the same preparation. The holotype empirical formula based on the calculated water is Sr1.23Ca0.78B10.99O16(OH)5·H2O, rather than an experimentally pure ideal end member. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction at 293(2) K supports monoclinic P21, Z = 2, with the eleven-coordinate cation site Sr dominant [Sr0.902(8)Ca0.098] and the ten-coordinate site Ca dominant [Ca0.686(7)Sr0.314]. Hydrogen positions were located in difference Fourier maps and refined with distance restraints. The site ordering distinguishes this species from veatchite; the paper's formal compositional boundary is Sr1.5Ca0.5B11O16(OH)5·H2O. Its new calcioveatchite observations are from Nepskoe. The inferred possibility of calcioveatchite zones in older Canadian material does not establish the modern identity of every previously studied veatchite specimen. The prose SrO range down to 17.1 wt% appears to include the ideal calculated Table 1 column 2 value of 17.11 wt%; that number is not adopted here as a measured endpoint. Tables 3-7 and Figures 7-8 support the reported structure, but an original CIF/reflection dataset was not acquired and the refinement was not independently repeated. Natural characterization and occurrence do not establish microbial activity, industrial boron recovery or a jurisdiction-specific criticality designation.

Calcium carbonate mineral with ideal formula CaCO3, distinct from its polymorphs vaterite and aragonite, calcium as an element, limestone or marble resources, and manufactured calcium carbonate products. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1836, not a new-mineral approval accession. Curated laboratory experiments identify calcite in bacterial-treatment solids; neither metal-removal percentages nor criticality designations are inherited by this mineral from their target metals.

• Lysinibacillus
• Sporosarcina pasteurii

Naturally occurring, mixed rare-earth-bearing ore associated with alkaline-carbonatite deposits, anchored here to the tested Mushgia Khudag material from Mongolia. The deposit association does not establish that every sampled rock meets a modal carbonatite classification. The curated feed contains quartz, apatite, calcite and other phases, with monazite and parisite assignments; it is neither a pure mineral nor a processed waste. Laboratory culture pretreatment followed by sulfuric-acid leaching is represented as a treatment-associated observation with unresolved causal controls. Neither industrial deployment nor inherited criticality is asserted.

• Thiobacillus denitrificans
• Bacillus cereus

Carnotite is the potassium uranyl vanadate mineral K2(UO2)2(VO4)2·3H2O. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list recognizes it with grandfathered status G; 1899 is the original-description year, not an IMA approval accession. This mineral-species owner is distinct from the broader carnotite group, elemental uranium or vanadium, mixed uranium ore and dissolved uranyl or vanadate salts. Glasauer et al. (2022) identified K-carnotite together with metatyuyamunite by X-ray diffraction in the final fine fraction of a natural uranium-vanadium sandstone incubated with living Shewanella putrefaciens CN32. The starting assemblage was identified as metatyuyamunite and fritzscheite, rather than a pure carnotite feed. Figure 1b and sections 3.1 and 3.3 support this bounded phase-occurrence comparison. Increased K and decreased Ca in the final fine fraction are consistent with interlayer-cation exchange. The study does not isolate a uniquely biological cause of carnotite formation: the authors recognize both biotic and abiotic pathways, and do not provide a matched final abiotic diffraction series. Section 3.2 describes tyuyamunite-to-carnotite conversion whereas the conclusion names fritzscheite as the precursor; this record assigns neither unique precursor. The shared laboratory experiment used 1.6 g of mixed sandstone in 80 mL defined medium with 10 mM sodium lactate and 1 mM phosphate, nitrogen degassing and autoclaving before inoculation, followed by an anoxic glovebox incubation extending to ten months. Treatments were in triplicate. These three mineral records refer to the same experiment, not independent replications. Bacteria-free solution controls were included, but do not isolate each phase's fate. The mixed-ore spectra support partial V reduction while U remained predominantly U(VI); results from the separate soluble-salt arm must not be transferred to this mineral. Dissolved U was low, rather than established to be exactly zero. Section 3.2 gives a V plateau time of 120 days while Figure 2 labels the time axes in hours, so no exact kinetic endpoint is adopted. The species identity and culture-associated phase occurrence are curated here without a mineral-specific mechanism assertion. Carnotite formation is not established as obligatory, exclusively biological, a pure recovered product or an industrial process. No criticality designation is inherited from its constituent elements.

Carrollite is the CuCo2S4 mineral species, listed as grandfathered with original-description year 1852 in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from elemental cobalt or copper, dissolved metal ions, mixed cobalt-bearing ores and mine tailings. The evidence below concerns laboratory surface alteration of source-identified natural carrollite crystals in an acidophile culture system. It does not establish an isolated-metal recovery yield or industrial deployment. No criticality designation is inherited from constituent elements.

A heterogeneous natural tin-bearing geological feed containing cassiterite and sulfide minerals, represented here by the Myanmar ore studied by Wang et al. (2025). The crushed experimental ore contained source-assigned pyrite, cassiterite, quartz, tourmaline and mica. Its mine and deposit are not specified. Crushing does not establish a processing-waste origin. This resource is distinct from cassiterite or pyrrhotite mineral species, elemental tin, a tin commodity and a produced concentrate. The study does not establish extraction from a pure mineral or properties of all ores described by this name. No criticality designation is inherited from tin.

• Leptospirillum ferriphilum
• Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans
• Acidithiobacillus caldus

Cassiterite is the mineral species with IMA-approved formula SnO2. The September 2026 IMA list records grandfathered status G and original description year 1832; that year is not an IMA approval identifier. The mineral is distinct from elemental tin, a tin commodity, and a cassiterite-bearing experimental feed. The curated separation study used a Brazilian mineral sample reported as 84.7% pure by X-ray fluorescence, rather than a demonstrated pure SnO2 phase. No criticality designation is inherited from tin.

• Rhodococcus opacus

Catapleiite is the sodium-zirconium silicate mineral species with ideal formula Na2Zr(Si3O9)(H2O)2. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list records grandfathered status and the year 1850, not a numbered approval accession. It is distinct from calciocatapleiite, elpidite, elemental zirconium and mixed zirconium-bearing rocks. An ideal species formula does not establish the composition or symmetry of every natural grain. Cegiełka and colleagues (2022) assigned catapleiite from microscopy and electron-microprobe data in a loose Dyrnaes River block that they attributed to the Ilímaussaq Green Granite, south Greenland. Figure 3B, Figure 6 and Table 5 document their catapleiite assignment in zircon-bearing aggregates associated with elpidite. This is the same heterogeneous block already described in the elpidite record, not independent sampling or a pure catapleiite feed. The paper does not provide sample-specific diffraction confirmation. Its proposed late-magmatic formation and subsequent hydrothermal sodium loss are geological interpretations, not controlled transformation assays. The detailed analytical appendix and Supplementary Table 1 remain unavailable. Figure 3C labels material SZR while its caption calls it catapleiite; Table 4 and Table 6 repeat IL-356 under different material headings. Main-text and Table 5 sodium ranges also disagree. These unresolved source differences are retained without importing whole-dataset composition ranges or calculating alteration yields. Zubkova and colleagues (2020) distinguish natural catapleiite from the zirconosilicate produced by annealing it at 1000 degrees C. Their silver-exchange experiment used that thermally transformed derivative, whose framework differs from hydrated catapleiite. Its silver-bearing product is not a demonstrated exchange product of the unheated mineral. Figure 1 reuses earlier structural models for the starting mineral and thermal derivative; the new structure determination concerns the silver-exchanged derivative. This study supplies material-boundary context, not a catapleiite recovery yield. No microbial mechanism, industrial recovery or constituent-derived criticality designation is assigned.

Discarded lead-bearing cathode-ray-tube (CRT) glass is a composite secondary resource for lead recovery, distinct from elemental lead, a lead mineral, separated CRT fluorescent powder and spent fluorescent-lamp phosphor. The accepted laboratory feed is described as waste CRT glass and contains 22.08 wt.% PbO in the source composition table. Its exact component, supplier and device history are not reported. The source's general distinction between lead-bearing funnel/neck glass and typically non-leaded screen glass does not establish that this experimental sample was a separately collected funnel fraction. Constituent criticality designations are not inherited.

Cattiite is the highly hydrated magnesium phosphate mineral listed as Mg3(PO4)2(H2O)18·4H2O in the September 2026 IMA list, with approval2000-032; this has22 waters per formula unit, conventionally Mg3(PO4)2·22H2O. It is distinct from bobierrite, less-hydrated magnesium phosphates, elemental magnesium/phosphorus and mixed recovered fertilizers. The original natural material was assigned to the 1A2 polytype, with preparation-sensitive diffraction and dehydration limits. No microbial mechanism or constituent criticality is inferred from its natural occurrence or chemical transformations.

Cavansite is a hydrated calcium vanadyl silicate mineral, Ca(V4+O)(Si4O10)(H2O)4, approved as IMA 1967-019 and retained in the September 2026 IMA list. It is a distinct species from pentagonite despite their related composition. The primary Oregon description and later natural-crystal work support a porous silicate framework containing vanadyl groups, calcium and water. Pcmn in the original description and Pnma in the 2012 study are different settings of the same orthorhombic space-group type, with the a and c axes interchanged. The 2009 proposed H3O+/OH-bearing formula is disputed by the 2012 hydrogen-bond refinement, and is not substituted for the current IMA formula. Natural-crystal heating experiments support protocol-dependent abiotic dehydration, without a microbial mechanism, mineral-specific recovery yield or industrial deployment. No criticality designation is inherited from vanadium or other constituents.

Celestine, also called celestite in the primary study, is the orthorhombic strontium sulfate mineral SrSO4 in the barite group. It is distinct from strontianite, elemental strontium, mixed sulfate phases, strontium-containing solutions and the industrial baryte commodity. The September 2026 IMA list reports approved status with 1967 s.p.; this special-procedure notation is not a unique numbered mineral accession. The curated laboratory study identifies celestine alongside strontianite on cyanobacterial cell surfaces; no mineral-specific criticality designation, pure-phase recovery yield or industrial application is inferred.

Discarded hardmetal production components composed of tungsten carbide with cobalt or cobalt-nickel binder, represented by rolling-mill rollers and brazed cutting tips in the Chaika study. This manufactured secondary resource is distinct from pure tungsten carbide, a mineral species, tungsten mining tailings and metal grinding sludge. The sampled shapes and compositions do not define every hardmetal waste stream. No criticality designation or industrial deployment is inferred.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Cerianite-(Ce) is the cubic cerium dioxide mineral, with ideal formula CeO2. The IMA-CNMNC September 2026 list records renamed status Rn and the 1987 special-procedure action, not a sequential approval number. Natural material can contain thorium; this does not establish thorium in the experimental synthetic analogue. The accepted experiment produces a minor CeO2 phase by heating a fungal-conditioned phosphate/oxalate precursor, not by direct living-cell precipitation of cerianite. Elemental cerium criticality is not inherited by this mineral.

Cerium (Ce), a lanthanoid chemical element. The United States' named cerium commodity designation is mapped to this element without extending it to every cerium compound. The experiment uses soluble CeCl3 and yields cerium-bearing phosphate/oxalate solids, not elemental cerium metal.

• Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015

Cerussite is the grandfathered lead carbonate mineral, Pb(CO3), recognized by the IMA-CNMNC September 2026 list. It is distinct from elemental lead, hydrocerussite, anglesite, lead oxalate, lead-bearing ore and battery paste. The dated list gives 1845 as the original-description year, not an IMA approval number. No criticality designation is inherited from lead.

• Serpula himantioides
• Coniophora puteana
• Serpula lacrymans
• +1 more

Cesium (caesium; Cs), represented as an element distinct from Cs(I) salts, radioactive isotopes, pollucite mineral and cesium-bearing commodities or wastes. A laboratory study measured Cs retained by washed Bifidobacterium adolescentis biomass after growth in non-radioactive cesium chloride. The US 2025 critical-mineral designation names the cesium commodity; it does not designate every cesium compound or imply deployment of a microbial recovery process.

• Bifidobacterium adolescentis

Chalcocite is the Cu2S mineral species listed as grandfathered, with original description year 1751, in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from copper element, covellite, digenite, bornite, mixed copper ore and manufactured copper-sulfide reagents. The natural mineral separate used below is not established as a pure endmember. No criticality designation is inherited from copper.

Mixed copper-sulfide mineral concentrates represented by the D3, Eb and Ea feeds in Oyama et al. (2021), distinct from the constituent chalcopyrite and enargite mineral species, the nearly pure model chalcopyrite tested separately in that paper, and the DC-I/DC-II/DC-III enargite-pyrite concentrates examined in Okibe et al. (2022). Figure 1 reports chalcopyrite/enargite/pyrite contents of 12/21/30 wt% for D3, 17/6.7/36 wt% for Eb and 8/24/10 wt% for Ea; bornite, chalcocite, geerite and other phases also occur. The displayed Ea phase labels total 97%, so the figure is not treated as a closed compositional balance. Mine, batch and beneficiation details are not established; the acknowledgments identify an academic supplier for Ea. This owner denotes concentrated geological feed, not a documented discarded residue, a pure phase or a traded product specification. No mineral identifier or constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus caldus

Chalcopyrite is the mineral species with IMA-approved formula CuFeS2. The September 2026 IMA list records status G (grandfathered) and the uncertain original-description year 1725 ?. That year is not an IMA approval number. This mineral species is distinct from elemental copper, the copper commodity, and an impure flotation concentrate. The curated bioleaching experiment concerns an Aitik concentrate; its copper-element representation in cmmmech:copper is the same experiment, not an independent replication. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus caldus
• Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans
• Leptospirillum ferriphilum

Chernikovite is a hydrated hydronium uranyl phosphate mineral, represented as (H3O)(UO2)(PO4)(H2O)3 in the September 2026 IMA list. Its status A and 1988 s.p. entry indicate approval by a special procedure, not a numbered 1988 proposal identifier. The Handbook describes a tetragonal member of the meta-autunite group. This species is distinct from calcium autunite, meta-autunite, dissolved uranium and phosphate-rock feedstock. The study below identifies a laboratory precipitate by comparison with a chernikovite powder pattern; it does not examine a natural chernikovite ore or establish a phase-pure product. No uranium criticality designation is inherited by the mineral.

• Talaromyces funiculosus

Childrenite is the Fe2+-dominant aluminium phosphate mineral with ideal formula Fe2+Al(PO4)(OH)2(H2O), distinct from the Mn2+-dominant endmember eosphorite and oxidized related phases. The September 2026 IMA list records grandfathered status and original-description year 1823. Toupal et al. (2024) characterized two natural grains in granite collected on 11 July 2020 from two outcrops near the southern boundary of the Homolka granite, Czech Republic. Twenty electron-microprobe spots across those two grains gave Fe/(Fe+Mn) from 0.51 to 0.86; these are analytical spots, not twenty independent specimens. Single-crystal diffraction and Raman measurements on Grain A support an orthorhombic Cmca childrenite structure with divalent-cation bond valence at the mixed Fe site. This is specimen-specific structural evidence, not a direct oxidation-state assay of every natural childrenite. It improves on the older Handbook's Bba2 assignment and possible monoclinic interpretation without treating all historical specimens as identical. The crystals show patchy Fe/Mn zoning and probable uraninite inclusions; the inclusions are not independently confirmed as a uranium mineral here. Calculated water raises all microprobe totals above 100 wt%, which the authors attribute to beam-induced partial dehydration; this is not a controlled dehydration experiment. The chemical and structural observations distinguish the investigated grains from a merely compositionally similar ferric phase. The official CIF and main Table 2 disagree on temperature, 273(2) versus 293(2) K, and measured-reflection count, 5429 versus 5682; neither disputed value is adopted as a resolved condition. The CIF's Fe/Ca scattering-site model and formula-sum field are not treated as the measured Fe/Mn/Ca chemistry, and its analytical Si0.04 differs from the main formula's approximately Si0.01. These source limits do not remove the agreement on the unit cell, Cmca symmetry and the 602 observed reflections underlying R1=0.0295. This record establishes natural-mineral identity only, without an experimentally demonstrated formation, extraction, microbial transformation or recovery mechanism. No criticality designation is inherited from constituent elements.

Chlorapatite is the chlorine-dominant apatite mineral species Ca5(PO4)3Cl, distinct from hydroxylapatite, fluorapatite, pyromorphite, generic apatite and mixed phosphate-rock resources. The September 2026 IMA list marks it renamed with 2010 s.p.; this special-procedure notation is not a new-mineral accession. The accepted experiment used a characterized synthetic analogue as a bacterial nutrient-source comparison. Its findings are not inherited from the pyromorphite dissolution arm or from elemental phosphorus criticality.

• Pseudomonas putida

Chlorite denotes a hydrous phyllosilicate group with a hydroxide interlayer, not a single species or the dissolved chlorite anion. The nomenclature authority distinguishes constituent species by composition and structure. The microbial study used a natural Michigamme, Michigan chlorite preparation with residual magnetite and another unresolved iron-bearing impurity. Its author-assigned ferroan clinochlore identity is retained as specimen context, without converting this group owner into a phase-pure clinochlore or chamosite record. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Shewanella oneidensis MR-1

Mixed residual mineral solids from physical beneficiation of chromite-bearing ore. The curated 2018 case is fresh superficial tailings collected in May 2017 at a beneficiation plant in Sukinda valley, Odisha, India, with a separate stockpiled-tailings core used for chemical extraction comparisons. The source describes comminution, desliming and gravity concentration, rather than chromate manufacture. These solids are distinct from the chromite mineral species, unprocessed ore, lateritic overburden, the plant's chromite concentrate and chemically processed chromite ore residues. Reported XRD phases include chromite, goethite, hematite, gibbsite and chlorite; Cr also occurs in nonchromite phases. Table 1 reports 56.7 wt% Fe2O3 and 18.1 wt% Cr2O3 on an XRF oxide-equivalent basis, not quantitative mineral fractions. A separate 2025 fungal study uses two Eti Krom enrichment-tailings feeds labelled olivine and serpentine; both are mixed mineral materials, distinct from the Odisha samples and from pure olivine or serpentine minerals. Neither constituent criticality nor industrial microbial processing is inferred from these feeds' compositions or industrial origins.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans
• Pseudomonas capeferrum
• Trametes versicolor

Chromium-bearing waste from chemical processing of chromite ore, distinct from the chromite mineral species and physical-beneficiation tailings. The curated case is a cementitious, high-lime-process residue from a Glasgow waste-fill site that received material from the Rutherglen Chromite Processing Works. High-lime processing oxidized ore Cr(III) to soluble Cr(VI), followed by aqueous extraction. The 2015 study sampled field-moist material from an exploratory borehole during the M74 motorway project and initially identified it tentatively as COPR from its pale granular appearance and high-pH yellow leachate. Subsequent XRF and XRD characterized a mixed residue rather than proving a pure feed. XRD identified cementitious and hydrated phases, including calcite, portlandite, brownmillerite, pyroaurite, hydrogarnet and brucite; remnant chromite was not detected by that assay. Table 4 reports 3.8 wt% Cr in the XRF composition, without loss-on-ignition correction; this is neither a mineral fraction nor a field-wet feed concentration. This record does not confer a constituent element's criticality designation on the residue or assert commercial microbial processing.

• Geobacter sulfurreducens

Chromite is the Fe(II)Cr2O4 mineral species, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list with original-description year 1845. It is distinct from elemental chromium, chromate, chromium-bearing spinels of unspecified composition, mixed chromite ores and processing tailings. The natural specimen called chromite in the experiment below was not compositionally or crystallographically characterized in that paper. Its measured Fe(II) change is a specimen-associated observation, not proof of conversion of pure endmember chromite. No criticality designation is inherited from chromium.

• Azospira oryzae PS

Chromium-bearing collagenous shavings generated during leather manufacture after chrome tanning, represented here by wet-blue tannery waste from Poland. This processing residue is distinct from tannery wastewater-treatment sludge, tanning liquors, elemental chromium and purified collagen. The accepted laboratory evidence concerns yeast-associated matrix bioconversion and chromium partitioning, not an isolated chromium product or industrial deployment. Constituent criticality is not inherited.

• Yarrowia lipolytica

Chromium (Cr), represented as an element. Its identity differs from chromate oxyanions, potassium chromate reagent, chromium-bearing precipitates and chromite mineral species. The dated US designation names the chromium mineral commodity and is mapped to its elemental identity here; it is not inherited by every chromium compound or waste.

• Shewanella oneidensis MR-1

Residues from processing chrysotile-bearing ore for asbestos production, represented here by the Clinton Creek mill tailings in Yukon, Canada. These heterogeneous, magnesium-rich residues contain fibrous chrysotile, serpentinite and other phases, including weathering carbonates. They are distinct from a pure chrysotile mineral specimen, unprocessed serpentinite, mine waste rock and other ultramafic tailings streams. No criticality designation is inherited from magnesium or other constituents.

Chrysotile is the Mg3Si2O5(OH)4 serpentine mineral species, redefined under the 2007 special procedure in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from lizardite, magnesium element, asbestos as a collective material term and chrysotile asbestos mill tailings. The reviewed experiment used a prepared natural chrysotile sample with nonideal composition, not an assumed pure end member. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Thermovibrio ammonificans

Chukanovite is the iron(II) hydroxide-carbonate mineral species Fe2(CO3)(OH)2, approved as IMA 2005-039 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. It is distinct from siderite, mixed-valence green rusts, elemental iron and mixed culture products. The curated experiments concern source-assigned laboratory precipitates, not a pure recovered commodity or an industrial process. No constituent iron criticality designation is inherited.

• Shewanella putrefaciens CN-32

Churchite-(Y) is the hydrated yttrium phosphate mineral species Y(PO4)(H2O)2, listed with renamed status in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC master list. Its 1987 special-procedure year is not a unique approval accession. It is distinct from elemental yttrium, anhydrous xenotime-(Y), and an unidentified rare-earth phosphate precipitate. Laboratory synthesis and irradiation of a characterized synthetic YPO4·2H2O analogue support the abiotic processes below. Neither a microbial formation mechanism nor criticality inherited from yttrium is assigned. These experiments do not demonstrate extraction from an ore, isolated-element recovery, or industrial operation.

Cinnabar is the trigonal mercury sulfide mineral alpha-HgS, distinct from cubic metacinnabar, hypercinnabar, elemental mercury and unspecified Hg-S particles. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status but an unknown original-description year; no approval accession is inferred. The curated study concerns laboratory mercury mobilization from source-assigned commercial cinnabar, not microbial formation of the species or isolation of a recovered product. No criticality designation is inherited from mercury or sulfur.

Heterogeneous discarded material generated by coal beneficiation, represented by gravity/flotation processing dumps of the Lviv-Volyn coal basin and the Chervonogradska central concentrating factory. This secondary resource is distinct from natural coal, coal combustion ash, mine-drainage treatment solids, a particular germanium mineral and elemental germanium. The studies describe native-community-associated laboratory leaching and an enlarged experimental cascade using selected dump samples; their compositions and outcomes are not universal waste properties. Constituent criticality, selective metal products and industrial deployment are not inferred.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Fine particulate residue from coal combustion carried with flue gas and collected as fly ash, distinct from coal, coal bottom ash, municipal-waste incineration ash and sewage-sludge incineration ash. It is a heterogeneous secondary resource rather than a mineral species or a rare-earth commodity. A selected power-plant sample underwent laboratory treatment with yeast culture supernatant; constituent-element criticality is not inherited by the ash.

• Starmerella bombicola

Heterogeneous solid residue generated by coal gasification, including source-defined crude/coarse and fine fractions. This processing-derived resource is distinct from coal, coal-beneficiation waste and combustion-derived coal fly ash; it is neither a mineral species nor an aluminium or iron commodity. The accepted experiment concerns one supplied coal gasification crude slag (CGCS) sample and does not establish the same behavior for fine slag or other plants. Laboratory abiotic acid leaching and conversion of the liquors into a mixed flocculant are documented; constituent-element criticality is not inherited.

Heterogeneous solids accumulated during treatment of drainage from coal mines, including metal-rich precipitates and coatings in passive remediation systems. Their processing origin distinguishes this secondary resource from untreated mine water, natural ore, coal combustion ash and an individual oxide mineral. The curated experiment used material from five Pennsylvania passive systems containing different proportions of manganese, iron, aluminium and rare-earth elements. Neither a universal composition nor a constituent's criticality designation is assigned to the resource. Laboratory culture-associated metal mobilization is documented; a purified recovered product, economic recovery yield and industrial deployment are not established.

• Bacillus mycoides
• Bacillus pseudomycoides

Naturally occurring layered iron-manganese oxide and oxyhydroxide deposits on exposed marine rock surfaces, commonly seamounts. This resource identity covers the cobalt-bearing, predominantly hydrogenetic crusts formed by accumulation from seawater; it does not denote every hydrothermal encrustation. The heterogeneous crust material is distinct from sediment-hosted polymetallic nodules, constituent cobalt or manganese elements, a pure mineral species, and a processing residue. Maciąg et al. characterize crusts and their altered basalt interfaces from Dirck Hartog Ridge; their sample-specific mineral mixtures are not a universal formula or grade. Collection and physical preparation do not make this geological resource secondary. The laboratory mechanism below records conditional redistribution of cobalt and nickel in whole-crust microcosms; it does not establish a specific receiving phase, a purified metal product or industrial deployment. The resource inherits no constituent criticality.

Cobalt (Co), atomic number 27. This element-level record uses the ChEBI cobalt-atom identifier for chemical identity. Cobalt-bearing cathodes and mixed battery black mass are material forms and secondary resources, respectively; neither is a mineral species or synonymous with the element. The dated US designation maps the listed cobalt commodity to this element record; it does not designate every cobalt-bearing mineral or waste stream.

Cobaltite is the CoAsS mineral species listed by IMA-CNMNC in its September 2026 master list (PDF page 48). Its status is grandfathered; the accompanying 1832 value denotes the original-description year, not an IMA approval number. This mineral identity is distinct from the cobalt element and battery black mass. No microbial mechanism or criticality designation is assigned here.

Coffinite is the uranium-bearing silicate mineral listed by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 as U(SiO4)·nH2O, with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1956. That year is not a numbered mineral approval. Coffinite is distinct from uraninite, dissolved uranium, uranium-bearing ores and synthetic mixtures that merely contain uranium and silicon. The variable water term is not a measured hydration number for every specimen. Suzuki et al. (2016) identified natural coffinite nanoparticles in the L3 calcium-carbonate layer of a fracture-filling vein from borehole 07MI07 at the Mizunami Underground Laboratory, Japan. Elemental mapping, selected-area electron diffraction and lattice imaging support their assignment; the particles occur with aluminosilicate and contain other elements including phosphorus, zirconium and yttrium. The authors' proposed microbial origin is an interpretation of a natural setting, not a controlled organism-specific formation experiment. The separate laboratory mechanism below concerns newly formed coffinite on a prepared UO2 pellet, not bioleaching of that natural vein or testing of irradiated spent fuel. No criticality designation is inherited from elemental uranium, and no isolated-metal yield or industrial operation is asserted.

Coal suitable for making coke, treated as an end-use commodity rather than a mineral species, the carbon element, coke itself or all coal. The EIA glossary defines coking coal as suitable bituminous coal. Its separate metallurgical-coal definition includes both coking coal and pulverized coal consumed in steelmaking, whereas the USGS 2026 fact sheet uses coking and metallurgical coal interchangeably in its coke-production scope. This record follows the narrower coke-making identity and records the original EU 2024 coking-coal designation without silently equating all metallurgical-coal uses. The experiment concerns beneficiation of selected Tabas feeds described by the authors as suitable for coking; retained coke-making performance after treatment was not demonstrated.

Colemanite is the CaB3O4(OH)3(H2O) mineral species in the September 2026 IMA list. Status G denotes grandfathering and 1884 is an original-description year, not a sequential approval identifier. It is distinct from elemental boron, the broad borates commodity, and mixed commercial ore. The colemanite-bearing ore experiment below is also represented in cmmmech:borates; this is the same study, not an independent replication or a purified-mineral assay. No commodity criticality designation is inherited.

• Aspergillus niger

Compreignacite is the potassium uranyl oxide hydroxide hydrate mineral K2(UO2)6O4(OH)6(H2O)7, approved as IMA 1964-026 and listed with status A in September 2026. It is distinct from elemental uranium, uranium commodities and the synthetic sodium analogue called Na-compreignacite. Burns refined natural type-locality material from Margnac, Haute-Vienne, France in orthorhombic Pnnm; partially occupied interlayer potassium and water sites support the revised seven-water formula. The dissolution study below used synthetic K-bearing material represented with eight waters and a nonideal measured U:K ratio. Its preparation is not silently equated with ideal natural material. No criticality, microbial mechanism or industrial deployment is inferred.

Heterogeneous residue generated during electrolytic refining of copper, containing feed-dependent mixtures of copper, precious metals, metalloids and other constituents. The studied Guixi-smelter material contained arsenic, antimony and bismuth together with copper, silver, selenium, tellurium, gold and lead. This owner denotes the refinery residue, not a mineral species, elemental copper, a standardized commodity, furnace flue dust, or the downstream copper autoclave slime already represented separately. Composition and processing behavior of the Guixi sample are not universal specifications. No criticality designation is inherited from its constituents.

Tellurium-containing processing residue described by Bonificio and Clarke as an effluent from processing tellurium from copper anode slime. The experimentally tested material was a dried powder supplied by the Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold refinery in El Paso, Texas. This downstream residue is distinct from untreated copper anode slime, copper ore, elemental tellurium and the separate commercial tellurium compounds used in the study. Its bulk elemental composition, mineral phases and original processing conditions were not reported. No criticality-list status is inferred from its constituents or the article's historical discussion of tellurium.

• Pseudoalteromonas

Residual solids from flotation concentration of copper-bearing ores, distinct from unprocessed ore, copper concentrate, smelter slag and heap-leach residues. The curated feed is the inactive Las Luces T1 tailings wall near Taltal, Chile. The operator describes sulfide-ore flotation and tailings thickening at the Las Luces concentrator; the experiment characterizes a heterogeneous, silicate-rich sample containing residual copper and other elements. Its composition does not define all copper flotation tailings. No constituent's criticality designation is inherited.

Dry-collected particulate residue from copper smelting and converting, represented here by a blend of dust from reverberatory and converter furnaces at the Sarcheshmeh Copper Complex, Iran. One week's samples were mixed in the production ratio of three parts reverberatory dust to two parts converter dust. This processing-derived feed is distinct from furnace slag, natural copper minerals, copper anode slime and its downstream autoclave residue, and the wet copper-shale blast-furnace gas-scrubbing residue curated as Theisen sludge. The study reported 35.8 wt% total copper in the original blend and about 70% of particles finer than 80 micrometers; these are sample-specific assays, not a universal dust specification or recoverable reserve. Acid-preleached dust is an experimental preparation of this owner, not another material record. No criticality-list designation is inherited from copper or other constituents.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans
• Leptospirillum ferrooxidans

Heterogeneous slag generated by copper smelting, distinct from copper ore, flotation tailings, a pure mineral or a recovered copper product. The curated experiment used two historical Polish copper-production slags: crystalline fayalite/glass-rich material (CS) and predominantly glassy material (AS), with different residual copper-bearing phases. These characterized feeds do not define all copper smelter slags. No constituent's criticality designation is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Copper is the element Cu, grounded by the ChEBI copper-atom identifier. The United States 2025 designation names the copper commodity; it does not designate every copper-bearing mineral or waste. Experimental copper released from chalcopyrite concentrate is distinct from elemental copper metal and from a recovered, purified product.

• Acidithiobacillus caldus
• Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans
• Leptospirillum ferriphilum

Coquimbite is a trigonal aluminium-ferric-iron sulfate mineral, ideally AlFe(III)3(SO4)6(H2O)12·6H2O. IMA-CNMNC proposal 19-F, approved in October 2019, redefined the species to recognize essential aluminium; the September 2026 mineral list retains that formula and redefined status. The older Al-free formula Fe2(SO4)3·9H2O is not the current species definition. Coquimbite and paracoquimbite have related structures and form the coquimbite group; aluminocoquimbite has a different topology and is not a member of that group. In Mauro et al. 2020, a natural Monte Arsiccio specimen was characterized by electron microprobe, spectroscopy and single-crystal diffraction. Twenty microprobe spots gave the empirical formula Al0.96Fe3.11S5.97O24·18H2O, with water calculated from the structure rather than directly measured. Table 3 and the associated CIF model an Al-dominant site with occupancy Al0.946(7)Fe0.054(7). These sample-specific chemical and structural results support the revised identity without implying an exactly ideal bulk composition. The study establishes mineral identity and structure; it does not test microbial formation, extraction or recovery.

A natural barium-rare-earth fluorocarbonate mineral with the IMA-CNMNC September 2026 formula (Na,Ca,□)BaCe2(CO3)4(F,O), where □ denotes a vacancy. The authority lists renamed status and 1987 special procedure; this is not an IMA approval accession. This record denotes the Ce species, distinct from cordylite-(La), a rare-earth commodity or a mixed ore. Giester et al. (1998) investigated six specimens by chemical analysis and single-crystal X-ray diffraction and a seventh by X-ray methods alone, from Narssarssuk in Greenland, Mont Saint-Hilaire in Canada, Bayan Obo in China and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The seventh crystal, original Flink material M.M. no. 392 (Narssarssuk 1*), suffered beam damage that prevented standard microprobe analysis; its qualitative EDX signal establishes Na presence without a quantitative Na concentration. The seven structures were refined in P63/mmc. Attempts in the lower-symmetry alternative P-62c did not give conclusive grounds to prefer it. The paper's idealized formula (Na1-xCax/2)BaCe2(CO3)4F, with 0 <= x <= 1, uses Ce as a proxy for the sum of rare-earth elements, not a measured pure-Ce endmember. X-ray scattering alone cannot resolve the Na/Ca proportion; the separate chemical analyses constrain it. CO2 in Table 5 is calculated by difference, selected Na determinations used direct-current argon-plasma spectrometry, and reliable water analysis was unavailable. These distinctions preclude treating all reported contents as direct microprobe measurements. Comparative and type material support the authors' identification of historical baiyuneboite-(Ce) as cordylite-(Ce) and revision of the older formula; the broader current IMA formula is retained separately from their 1998 model. Printed atomic coordinates and distances were inspected, but deposited anisotropic displacement Table 3 (AM-98-005) was not acquired. No controlled extraction, microbial mechanism, recovery yield, industrial deployment or transferred criticality designation is asserted.

Corkite is the lead ferric sulfate-phosphate hydroxide mineral with ideal formula PbFe3(SO4)(PO4)(OH)6, distinct from arsenate-bearing beudantite, plumbojarosite, pyromorphite and elemental lead. The September 2026 IMA list records its redefinition by special procedure in 1987. Ferrenti et al. (2023) synthesized corkite-bearing powders and characterized their structure and thermal behavior. The best products remained mixed with approximately 9.5 weight percent Pb5(PO4)3Cl; refined phase fractions are not synthesis yield or absolute purity. The authors favor centrosymmetric R-3m from combined diffraction and vibrational evidence, whereas the Handbook lists R3m for natural material. Both diffraction models fit similarly, and substitution, disorder and sample differences remain relevant. The accepted processes are laboratory abiotic synthesis and thermal alteration, without microbial activity, recovered-metal product or industrial demonstration. Criticality is not inherited from constituent elements.

Covellite is the CuS mineral species, listed as grandfathered with original description year 1832 in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from elemental copper, dissolved copper, mixed copper ores and an unspecified manufactured copper sulfide. The experiment below identifies a covellite crystalline phase in a laboratory precipitate made from mine drainage using biologically generated sulfide; it does not demonstrate microbial leaching of natural covellite or establish the purity of the whole precipitate. No criticality designation is inherited from copper.

Crandallite is the calcium aluminium phosphate mineral CaAl3(PO4)(PO3OH)(OH)6, distinct from strontium-dominant goyazite, the broader crandallite group and mixed phosphorite resources. Primary evidence supports laboratory abiotic synthesis and partial thermal dehydroxylation of crandallite-bearing preparations. Natural crandallite was also identified in mixed Croatian phosphorite, but the associated microbial observations do not establish a crandallite-specific extraction or formation mechanism. No mineral criticality, industrial recovery, fertilizer performance or microbial recovery yield is asserted.

Cryptomelane is a potassium-bearing manganese oxide mineral, with ideal formula K(Mn4+7Mn3+)O16 in the September 2026 IMA list. The list marks it approved (A), with the literal number/year field "1982 s.p. ?"; this special-procedure notation is not a verified YYYY-NNN approval accession. It is distinct from manganese as an element, manganese ore as a mixed resource, and other tunnel manganese oxides. This record separates chemically prepared potassium-bearing cryptomelane-assigned products from the cryptomelane-like domains of a sodium-rich synthetic analogue. Neither experiment below establishes microbial cryptomelane production. No manganese or nickel commodity criticality is inherited.

Cuprite is the cubic copper(I) oxide mineral Cu2O, listed as grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA compilation. It is distinct from elemental copper, tenorite (CuO), copper oxalates and heterogeneous copper ores. The experiment below used a commercial Cu2O preparation, not a natural ore specimen. No criticality designation is inherited from copper.

• Beauveria caledonica

Cuprosklodowskite is the copper uranyl silicate hydrate mineral Cu(UO2)2(SiO3OH)2(H2O)4·2H2O in the September 2026 IMA list, equivalent in bulk composition to Cu[(UO2)(SiO3OH)]2·6H2O. Its triclinic P-1 structure is distinct from magnesium-bearing sklodowskite, and the mineral is not elemental copper or uranium. Status G denotes a grandfathered species; 1933 is the original-description year, not a numbered approval accession. Plášil's 2018 study provides original natural-crystal diffraction and hydrogen-position refinement despite the article's Review label. The diffraction crystal came from the National Museum in Prague collection; the article does not establish that it is the Musunoi specimen photographed separately in Figure 2d. Section 3.1 and Figure 4a describe copper's distorted sixfold coordination and the two longer bonds to uranyl oxygen, differing from magnesium's linkage to silicate oxygen in sklodowskite. The original supplementary CIF and Table 2 agree on the unit-cell parameters and R1 = 3.75% for 1033 reflections above I > 3 sigma(I). The CIF retains incomplete publication-template fields and different temperature entries (cell measurement 295(11) K; diffraction ambient 287 K), so a single exact experimental temperature is not imposed here. This record establishes mineral identity and specimen-specific structure; it does not assert a dissolution, microbial extraction, recovery, criticality or industrial-deployment claim.

Curite is the lead uranyl oxide hydroxide hydrate mineral with the IMA formula Pb3+x[(UO2)4O4+x(OH)3-x]2(H2O)2, distinct from elemental uranium, lead commodities and synthetic strontium analogues. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status G; 1921 is its original-description year, not an approval accession. A natural Shinkolobwe crystal was refined in orthorhombic Pnma in 2019. Hydroxyl hydrogen positions were refined from X-ray data, whereas water orientations required Torque calculations; these are not wholly independent experimental determinations of all hydrogen positions. Slight lead nonstoichiometry and a proposed local hydroxyl/oxide charge-balance mechanism remain distinguished from directly resolved substitution. Natural structural evidence and synthetic surface experiments concern separate specimens. No criticality designation, microbial mechanism or industrial recovery is inferred.

Digenite is a distinct copper sulfide mineral, listed as Cu1.8S by the September 2026 IMA list and as Cu9S5 in the Handbook of Mineralogy. IMA status is approved through 1962 special procedure, not a numbered approval accession. It is distinct from anilite, djurleite, chalcocite, covellite, copper element and mixed copper ores. The curated laboratory study uses synthesized digenite and chemical ferric sulfate; neither constituent criticality nor microbial activity is inferred.

Diopside is the pyroxene mineral species CaMgSi2O6, listed as approved with the literal 1988 s.p. entry in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from elemental magnesium or silicon, the pyroxene group, and mixed silicate rocks. The reviewed study used natural crystals with reported nonideal composition Ca0.99Mg0.98Fe0.02Cr0.01Si2O6 rather than an assumed pure synthetic end member. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Pseudomonas reactans

Discarded LED lighting assemblies and their prepared mixed powder, represented here by lamps collected from electrical stores. This manufactured waste resource is distinct from fluorescent-lamp phosphor, LCD panels, an isolated LED semiconductor or its constituent elements. The selected study does not establish a universal lamp composition or which components were removed before milling. No constituent-element criticality designation is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Dittmarite is the magnesium ammonium phosphate monohydrate mineral species, (NH4)Mg(PO4)(H2O), grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list with original-description year 1887. It is distinct from struvite, which contains six waters per formula unit, and from elemental magnesium or phosphorus. The studied synthetic feed was XRD-identified as dittmarite despite being called synthetic struvite throughout much of the paper. The same Suyamud 2020 experiment is represented under magnesium and glushinskite; this is not an independent study or an inherited criticality designation.

• Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015

Djurleite is the monoclinic copper sulfide mineral Cu31S16, distinct from chalcocite, digenite, covellite, copper element and a mixed copper ore. The September 2026 IMA list records approved status A and 1967 s.p.; the special-procedure notation is not a numbered approval accession. A natural djurleite-rich separate supports a qualified laboratory culture-associated copper-mobilization observation. Its associated copper minerals, missing uninoculated comparator and inconsistent inoculum reporting prevent a pure-phase extraction yield or an independently isolated microbial effect.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Dolomite is the calcium-magnesium carbonate mineral CaMg(CO3)2. The IMA-CNMNC September 2026 list gives grandfathered status G and original-description year 1792, not a numbered approval identifier. This owner denotes the mineral species, distinct from dolostone rock, the dolomite mineral group, Mg-bearing calcite, compositionally similar disordered precursors, and elemental magnesium. A laboratory mixed-biofilm study reports dolomite with detectable ordering reflections in an anoxic illuminated Mn-amended treatment; neither all Mg-rich carbonate precipitates nor all mineral samples are thereby identical. No criticality designation is inherited from a constituent.

A sodium-strontium-calcium-yttrium carbonate mineral with the ideal IMA-CNMNC September 2026 formula NaSr3CaY(CO3)6(H2O)3. This mineral species is distinct from alicewilsonite-(YCe), a rare-earth element and a mixed ore. The authority lists renamed status and 1987 s.p.; that special-procedure year is not used here as a unique approval identifier. Lykova et al. (2023, Part 1) reexamined seven museum specimens catalogued as donnayite-(Y) cotypes from Mont Saint-Hilaire, Canada. Six were reassigned to alicewilsonite-(YCe); CMNMC 39396 was retained as donnayite-(Y) and designated its holotype under approved proposal 22-F. Historical data combined the two species and are not treated as a uniform donnayite dataset. Wavelength-dispersive electron-microprobe analyses of the holotype used 20 kV, 10 nA and a 30 micrometre beam with corrections for beam instability. Table 2 reports mean Y2O3 of 10.18 wt% across 17 analyses; H2O and CO2 were calculated from stoichiometry, not directly measured. These specimen assays are not extraction yields. The holotype's single-crystal refinement gave R1 = 0.139 and no satisfactory structural model. The reported triclinic P1 structure with R1 = 0.055 instead used the separate specimen CMNMC 90405 at 293 K. Its model has split carbonate and water positions, unlocated hydrogen, and Dy scattering proxies for lanthanides; it does not directly measure ideal stoichiometry. Published Table 5 gives Rint = 0.092 while the official CIF gives 0.0342 for the equivalent-reflection agreement field; that difference remains unresolved. The official CIF, powder pattern and supplementary bond-valence table were inspected without independent diffraction refinement. The curated evidence establishes natural identity and characterization, not a controlled microbial, extraction or recovery experiment. No criticality designation is transferred from contained elements.

Dunite is an ultramafic rock and geological feed, not a mineral species or elemental magnesium. BGS Rock Classification Scheme code DUN defines this peridotite type by more than 90% olivine in the assemblage of olivine, pyroxene and hornblende. The curated experiments used three powders from a North Carolina dunite deposit, including strongly altered material with much lower remaining olivine fractions. Their laboratory results do not describe every dunite, a pure forsterite feed, a waste tailing, or a traded product grade. No criticality designation is inherited from constituent elements.

• Gluconobacter oxydans

Dypingite is the hydrated magnesium carbonate mineral species Mg5(CO3)4(OH)2·5H2O, listed as approved with IMA number 1970-011 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. It is distinct from hydromagnesite, nesquehonite, elemental magnesium and the magnesite commodity. The laboratory products below were identified as dypingite by the study authors; they are not an isolated magnesium-metal product. No constituent-element criticality designation is inherited.

The element Dy, distinct from its dissolved ions, salts, magnets, minerals and waste streams. The dated US designation concerns the named dysprosium mineral commodity, without assigning criticality to every Dy-bearing material. The mechanism records a laboratory study of dried brewing-yeast biomass with synthetic Dy solutions; it does not establish recovery from actual industrial effluent or a purified dysprosium product.

• Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Dzhalindite is the indium hydroxide mineral species In(OH)3, listed as approved in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list with the special-procedure year 1967. It is distinct from elemental indium, indite (FeIn2S4), mixed ores and synthetic indium hydroxide products considered only by formula. Kiseleva and colleagues (2008) report a natural occurrence in one quartz-sulfide vein section from 50 metres below the surface at the Bugdaya deposit, eastern Transbaikalia, Russia. They describe 30-94 micrometre crystals in late quartz and zoned In-bearing grains examined by optical microscopy, backscattered-electron imaging and energy-dispersive elemental analysis. Their dzhalindite assignment rests on composition, optical properties and apparent crystal symmetry; X-ray diffraction was unsuccessful because the segregations were too small. Observed Fe zoning does not establish iron speciation or prove substitution within the mineral lattice. The suggested hypogene origin and precipitation from fluids that corroded sphalerite are interpretations, not demonstrated reaction pathways. Temperatures inferred from other phases or analogous veins are not direct measurements on these crystals. This particular occurrence does not establish a universal origin, a bulk resource grade, or an extraction yield. No microbial mechanism, industrial recovery or constituent-derived criticality is assigned.

Zinc-bearing dust generated by electric-arc-furnace steelmaking, represented here by two actual dusts supplied by an unnamed steelmaking company. This process-defined secondary resource is distinct from cast-house dust, blast-furnace flue-gas dust, steelmaking slag, zinc ore and elemental zinc. The two samples do not define a universal composition. No elemental identifier or criticality designation is assigned to the dust.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Metal- and polymer-bearing residual material generated during physical recycling of electrical cables. The accepted experiment uses the low-density fraction remaining after knife milling and two-step gravity separation of end-of-life vehicle cables, rather than intact cable, a high-grade copper concentrate, printed circuit boards or undifferentiated vehicle shredder residue. This process-defined secondary feed is not a mineral species or elemental copper commodity. One laboratory study compares inoculated and bactericide-treated acidic ferric leaching, with only limited evidence for microbial enhancement; neither isolated copper production nor industrial deployment is demonstrated. Constituent-metal criticality is not inherited.

Defective electroformed copper components retaining an inner silver-bearing conductive coating from manufacture on expendable wax mandrels. The studied tube-shaped rejects had incomplete copper deposition or uneven wall thickness. This manufacturing-derived secondary resource is distinct from elemental copper or silver, printed circuit boards, electroplating sludge and multilayer beverage packaging. Its selected composition does not define all electroforming waste or confer a jurisdictional criticality designation.

• Acidithiobacillus ferruginosus

Manufactured manganese dioxide products obtained by electrolysis. Tosoh identifies uses as positive-electrode material in alkaline primary batteries and as feed for lithium-manganate cathode materials, with application-specific representative product properties. USGS separately reports chemically and electrolytically produced synthetic manganese dioxide, supporting the process distinction. This commodity is distinct from manganese metal, the manganese element, natural manganese-dioxide ore or a particular mineral species, spent battery material, and a finished electrode. The manufacturer reports active oxygen expressed as manganese dioxide in one product table; this does not establish a universal crystalline-phase purity or grade threshold. The product family does not itself resolve the broader battery-grade manganese designation. No inherited criticality designation, unique crystal phase, or microbial production of qualified electrolytic manganese dioxide is asserted.

Manufactured manganese metal obtained by electrolytic deposition, supplied in forms including flake and powder. MMC describes purified manganese solution deposited on cathodes, followed by stripping and product preparation; its separate low-hydrogen and low-oxygen products illustrate variation within this family. Tosoh identifies alloy-addition applications. This process-defined commodity is distinct from the manganese element, manganese ores, dissolved manganese, manganese dioxide, sulfate salts and mixed manganese-aluminium briquettes. Producer specifications are examples, not universal purity or battery-qualification rules. MMC distinguishes total manganese from a metallic-manganese calculation excluding nonmetallic components; its product page and linked 2017 low-oxygen sheet disagree on the oxygen maximum, so no numerical grade boundary is assigned. No criticality designation or microbial production of this qualified metal product is asserted.

Process residue from electrolytic manganese production, including the manganese-electrolysed slag sampled from a disposal dam near Jishou, Hunan, in Cao et al. This heterogeneous secondary resource is distinct from manganese ore, elemental manganese, and manufactured electrolytic manganese metal or dioxide. Its composition is sample dependent; no constituent-element criticality designation is inherited.

• Fusarium

Metal-bearing liquids originating from industrial electroplating baths, represented by five Cu, Ni, Pd and Au bath effluents supplied by Galvanica Aricci Srl, Ghisalba, Italy, in Ciani et al. (2026). These compositionally different process liquids are distinct from electroplating wastewater-treatment sludge, metallic electroforming scrap and laboratory metal-salt solutions. The study's Ni(1)+Cu mixture is an experimental combination of two supplied liquids, not a sixth independently sampled waste stream. No criticality designation is inherited from constituent metals.

• Dactylococcopsis salina 16Som2
• Cyanothece sp. CE4

Metal-bearing solids generated by treatment of electroplating wastewater, represented here by the Chennai effluent-treatment sludge of Prabhu and Baskar (2015) and the compositionally different electroplating sludge of Kordloo et al. (2026). The latter paper does not name its sludge supplier or sampling site. These heterogeneous wastes are not pure metal compounds, untreated plating baths, metallic electroforming scrap, GaAs-production hydroxide sludge, or the existing automotive-factory sludge whose contributing process is unresolved. The two studies are separate assays, not pooled feeds or a replication. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Elpidite is the sodium-zirconium silicate mineral species with ideal formula Na2ZrSi6O15(H2O)3. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list records grandfathered status and the year 1894; this is not a numbered approval accession. The species is distinct from elemental zirconium, zircon, catapleiite and mixed zirconium-bearing rocks. Cegiełka and colleagues (2022) assigned natural elpidite in a loose block collected from the Dyrnaes River, south Greenland, whose green colour and mineralogy they attributed to the Ilímaussaq Green Granite. Their electron-microprobe analyses, microscopy and zirconium map show elpidite-labelled material enclosing zircon and catapleiite. This is the authors' mineral assignment from a heterogeneous natural specimen, not a sample-specific diffraction confirmation or a pure elpidite feed. Main-paper Table 6 includes both elpidite and altered elpidite; its ideal formula does not imply uniformly stoichiometric analyzed grains. The proposed late-magmatic formation sequence and later hydrothermal sodium loss are interpretations of textures and compositions, not controlled reaction experiments. The cited supplementary analyses and detailed analytical appendix were not acquired, so this record retains bounded main-paper occurrence context without importing whole-dataset ranges or calculating alteration yields. Table 4 and Table 6 both list analysis IL-356 under different material headings; that unresolved assignment is not treated as independent phase proof. No microbial mechanism, extraction yield, industrial recovery or constituent-derived criticality designation is assigned.

Mixed high-arsenic mineral concentrates represented by DC-I, DC-II and DC-III in Okibe et al. (2022), distinct from pure enargite or pyrite and from elemental copper or arsenic. Company-supplied mineral liberation analyses assign enargite and pyrite, respectively, as 51.8 and 34.6 wt% in DC-I, 37.4 and 47.3 wt% in DC-II, and 26.1 and 63.1 wt% in DC-III. Original XRD also identifies these phases, with a source-labelled tennantite contribution in DC-III. Other copper minerals occur, so dissolved copper cannot be assigned exclusively to enargite. DC-I and DC-III were supplied by Sumitomo Metal Mining and DC-II by JX Nippon Mining and Metals; mine, batch and detailed beneficiation provenance are not reported. The paper frames dirty concentrates as flotation waste separated from clean smelter feed. This record denotes the characterized concentrated geological feeds without asserting prior disposal, a tailings stockpile or a traded product specification. No mineral-species identifier or constituent criticality designation is transferred to the mixed resource.

• Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans

Discarded copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic modules and their separated coated-glass fractions are a composite secondary resource. The curated study explicitly describes end-of-life Q-Smart panels supplied by Polyeco S.A. This scope excludes crystalline-silicon and CdTe modules, sputtering targets, production-chamber scrap, and factory-supplied cells without documented end-of-life provenance. The resource is distinct from its constituent elements and from a pure CIGS compound or mineral species. Constituent criticality designations are not inherited.

Discarded crystalline-silicon photovoltaic modules and their separated cell fractions are a composite secondary resource generated by photovoltaic equipment use and dismantling. Their silicon wafers, metal contacts, glass and encapsulants remain distinct from elemental silicon, silicon-metal commodity, silver and mineral species. This record excludes CdTe and CIGS thin-film modules, manufacturing scrap of unspecified origin and generic electronic waste. The curated experiment used a chemical extract from end-of-life Hyundai m-Si units, not intact modules in direct contact with microorganisms. Criticality designations of constituent elements are not inherited by this waste feed.

Enstatite is the Mg2Si2O6 mineral species listed as approved through a 1988 special procedure in the September 2026 IMA list. The special-procedure year is not a unique approval-number identifier. This species is distinct from elemental magnesium and from the mixed San Carlos experimental feed, which contained 31 wt% enstatite and 69 wt% olivine by the authors' XRD characterization. No constituent criticality is inherited. The companion olivine-group record describes other material scope within the same Klug experiment, not an independent replication.

• Gluconobacter oxydans

Eosphorite is the Mn2+-dominant aluminium phosphate mineral with ideal formula Mn2+Al(PO4)(OH)2(H2O), distinct from Fe2+-dominant childrenite. The September 2026 IMA list records grandfathered status and original-description year 1878. Gatta et al. (2013) examined fragments of one natural crystal from the Chamachhu granitic pegmatite area in Pakistan. Their 22 electron-microprobe spots characterize this crystal rather than 22 independent specimens. The analysis gives Mn0.940 and Fe0.061 atoms per formula unit on a one-P basis; water was calculated using assumed anion stoichiometry. Neutron diffraction at 20 K supports an orthorhombic Cmca model and locates hydrogen sites. The refined mixed metal site contains Fe0.056(1), close to the chemical analysis, without evidence of additional Mn/Fe ordering in this low-Fe specimen. The model assigns O3 to hydroxyl and O4 to statistically shared hydroxyl/water configurations, with the two mirror-related H2 positions mutually exclusive and approximately half occupied. This corrects the hydroxyl/water assignment in Hoyos et al. (1993), whose different natural Taquaral specimen nevertheless supported the same general Cmca framework. The older paper's two-water formula in its introduction and Table 2 is not adopted over the one-water IMA formula and 2013 analysis. The 2013 chemical analysis includes fluorine, but attempted O/F occupancy refinement was not meaningful; its deposited model omits F and must not be read as complete measured composition. Table 5 and the discussion label an O4-H1-O4 angle where the accompanying short contact is described through H2, so no exact value for that disputed hydrogen-bond label is curated. These are specimen-specific structural observations, without a demonstrated extraction, formation or microbial recovery mechanism. No criticality designation is inherited from manganese, aluminium or phosphorus.

The element Er, distinct from its dissolved ions, experimental nitrate salt, host minerals and manufactured materials. The dated US designation concerns the named erbium mineral commodity, without transferring criticality to every Er-bearing substance. The curated laboratory experiment documents element in harvested cyanobacterial biomass, not a resolved uptake pathway, purified metal recovery or industrial deployment.

• Limnospira platensis

Erythrite is the grandfathered hydrated cobalt arsenate mineral with ideal composition Co3(AsO4)2·8H2O, a vivianite-group member. It is distinct from elemental cobalt, other end members, mixed-metal natural specimens and synthetic laboratory analogues. The experiments curated here used synthetic material; natural crystals can contain substitutions and color alone does not determine end-member identity. No criticality designation or microbial extraction claim is inferred from the constituent metal.

Natural basaltic achondritic meteorite material considered as an experimental feed, distinct from an L-chondrite, terrestrial basalt, a pure mineral or secondary resource. The curated example is the EU specimen in Tonietti et al. (2026). Its reported mineral assemblage is dominated by plagioclase and pyroxene, with minor olivine and quartz. The paper attributes eucrite material to Vesta but gives no exact meteorite name or accession for EU; Table 1 says Skylab (US), whereas the acknowledgments thank SkyFall Meteorites. The experimental specimen's provenance is therefore incompletely resolved. No resource-level criticality designation is inferred from its constituent trace metals.

• Sphingomonas desiccabilis

A beneficiated geological feed represented by the TANBREEZ concentrate from southern Greenland characterized by Ma and colleagues (2019). The source describes crushing followed by partly magnetic selection; this is an upgraded mixed mineral concentrate, distinct from the uncharacterized crushed eudialyte ore in Hunter's 2020 thesis, a formal eudialyte mineral species or group, elemental zirconium and recovered rare-earth products. Table I reports 1.60 wt% total rare earth elements and 6.46 wt% Zr in the laboratory feed. QEMSCAN assigns 67.05% of the material to eudialyte, alongside amphibole, nepheline, feldspar and other phases; this classification does not establish a pure species or a universal commercial concentrate specification. The source acknowledges the Geological Survey of Finland as concentrate supplier. No criticality designation is inherited from constituent elements.

A natural geological feed represented by the eudialyte ore sample from the Ilimaussaq Complex, Greenland, used in Hunter's 2020 doctoral thesis. The sample was jaw-crushed and finely ground for laboratory leaching. Its mineral proportions, bulk elemental grade and particle-size distribution are not established in the reviewed experimental account. This resource is distinct from a formally identified eudialyte mineral species, the eudialyte group, an upgraded concentrate, elemental zirconium or rare earths, and a recovered product. A literature crystal structure in the thesis is not characterization of this particular feed. No criticality designation is inherited from its constituent elements.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

The element Eu, distinct from Eu(III), europium nitrate, oxides, mineral species and waste streams. The dated US designation concerns the named europium mineral commodity and does not transfer criticality to every Eu-bearing material. Laboratory evidence below concerns cyanobacterial culture-associated removal from synthetic solutions; it does not establish selective extraction, a purified product or industrial deployment.

• Anabaena sp. SAG 12.82

Falottaite is the manganese oxalate trihydrate mineral MnC2O4.3H2O, approved as IMA 2013-044 in the September 2026 IMA compilation. It is distinct from elemental manganese, manganese oxides and manganese oxalate dihydrates. Its identity does not confer a criticality designation from manganese. The experimental product below is a phase assigned in a mixed laboratory precipitate, not a natural ore or purified commodity.

• Aspergillus niger

Feitknechtite is the manganese(III) oxide hydroxide mineral beta-MnOOH, listed as approved with the notation 1968 s.p. in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. That notation is retained as authority metadata, not converted into an invented accession. Post et al. (2023) resolve a monoclinic C2/m structure, superseding older trigonal descriptions; the species is distinct from manganite and groutite and from Mn(II) pyrochroite. The mechanism below concerns a source-assigned transient mixed-phase product. No criticality is inherited from manganese.

• Geobacter sulfurreducens

Feldspar traded as an industrial raw material, including mined and beneficiated material ground for glassmaking, ceramics and fillers. The constituent feldspars are aluminosilicate minerals containing potassium, sodium or calcium; this commodity is distinct from the feldspar mineral group and its individual species. The shared USGS chapter does not make nepheline syenite part of this record: it reports feldspar and nepheline syenite separately. The original EU 2024 Annex II(k) designation is mapped to industrial feldspar. Potassium release from an experimental feldspar powder does not establish manufacture of a commercial feldspar product or potash. No microbial mechanism is asserted.

Felsőbányaite is the hydrated aluminium hydroxysulfate mineral with ideal formula Al4(SO4)(OH)10·4H2O. The September 2026 IMA list records it as grandfathered, with 1854 in the original-description year column. This owner denotes the mineral species, not elemental aluminium, a bulk mine-water precipitate, or the separately listed hydrobasaluminite. Farkas and Pertlik (1997) characterized natural type-locality felsőbányaite and a Sussex specimen called basaluminite by chemistry and single-crystal diffraction, interpreting the latter as a microcrystalline variety of the former. Their reported monoclinic P21 structure contains aluminium-oxygen layers; beam-induced dehydration reduced structural accuracy, and hydrogen positions were not determined. Later work questions whether poorly ordered materials called basaluminite in acid-mine-drainage studies are structurally equivalent to the crystalline mineral. The 2017 Carrero article's accessible abstract flags this uncertainty; its detailed measurements are not curated here. Nomenclatural synonymy alone therefore does not transfer every basaluminite experiment to this owner. Microbial precipitation, extraction, recovery and industrial deployment are unassessed for this record. No criticality designation is inherited from aluminium.

Feroxyhyte is the iron(III) oxyhydroxide mineral species Fe3+O(OH), listed as approved with IMA number 1975-032 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. The curated experiment used chemically synthesized feroxyhyte, described as delta-prime FeOOH, rather than a natural ore. This mineral identity is distinct from other FeOOH polymorphs, elemental iron and the mixed secondary solids formed during the experiment. No constituent-element criticality or industrial recovery is inferred.

• Shewanella putrefaciens CN-32

Ferricopiapite is the triclinic ferric-iron member of the copiapite group, ideally Fe(III)2/3Fe(III)4(SO4)6(OH)2·20H2O. The September 2026 IMA list recognizes it as a grandfathered species, distinct from mixed-valence copiapite and other copiapite-group minerals. The accepted original demonstrates abiotic preparation and acid-solution calorimetry of a characterized synthetic sample with nonideal composition and a minor unidentified impurity. It supplies no microbial synthesis or metal-recovery yield.

Ferrihydrite is an approved mineral species in the September 2026 IMA list, with formula Fe(III)5O7(OH) and approval number 1971-015. The name also occurs in experimental descriptions of poorly crystalline synthetic two-line iron oxyhydroxides; that assay designation does not independently establish ideal IMA formula, natural origin or purity. This record concerns a characterized synthetic nanophase substrate, not iron metal, an ore grade or every Fe(III) oxide. The Ax17 assay is also represented under iron and the paired ferrihydrite/magnetite record; these are substrate/product perspectives on one experiment, not independent replication. No iron criticality designation is inherited.

• Desulfovulcanus ferrireducens

Iron-boron master-alloy products supplied as alloying additions, rather than pure boron, borate ore or a single stoichiometric iron boride. ISO 10386:1994 identifies ferroboron supplied for steelmaking and foundry use. Bomet also describes its boron-iron products as additions for rare-earth permanent magnets and amorphous materials, and publishes several enterprise grades under BMTQB2016, document BMT16-204. This grade-dependent composition is not represented by a single FeB formula or a universal boron-purity cutoff. The ISO catalogue scope was inspected, but its complete standard was not acquired; the manufacturer table does not substitute for that standard. Ferroboron is a specific traded alloy family and is not asserted to exhaust the original EU metallurgy-grade boron designation. No criticality designation or microbial production mechanism is assigned.

Mixed slag generated during smelting of chromite-bearing feed to produce ferrochrome alloy. The curated experiment used waste supplied by Zimasco at Kwekwe, Zimbabwe. This processing-derived resource is distinct from chromite ore, physical beneficiation tailings, chromite ore processing residue from chemical chromium extraction, the ferrochrome alloy product and individual slag mineral phases. Composition varies with feed and process; the selected sample is not a universal specification. No constituent criticality designation or mineral identifier is inherited.

Phosphorus-bearing fish-bone residues investigated as a secondary feed for nutrient reuse, represented by fish bones of unspecified species and supply provenance ground and sieved to below 1 mm in the selected laboratory studies. The organic-mineral feed is distinct from elemental phosphorus, purified hydroxyapatite, phosphate rock, manure and bone-incineration ash. The inspected methods do not establish a cooking or industrial processing history for this fish-bone feed. Material composition and treatment effects remain specimen-specific; no constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Priestia megaterium
• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Florencite-(Ce) is the cerium-dominant aluminium phosphate mineral CeAl3(PO4)2(OH)6. It is distinct from other florencite species, the broader crandallite group, cerium as an element and mixed coal wastes containing REE-bearing particles. Li and colleagues (2022) synthesized a cerium phosphate preparation assigned to florencite by powder diffraction and morphology, then examined solid composition after alkaline treatment and subsequent acid leaching. These are abiotic laboratory experiments on a synthetic analogue. Changes in SEM-EDS composition support a qualified preferential-leaching interpretation; they do not quantify a mineral-specific extraction or isolated-product yield. The same article's bulk coal-waste recovery percentages and particle classifications are not transferred to this mineral. Microbial activity, criticality and industrial deployment are unrecorded.

Florencite-(La) is the lanthanum-dominant aluminium phosphate mineral with ideal formula LaAl3(PO4)2(OH)6, distinct from florencite-(Ce), other florencite species, elemental lanthanum and mixed rare-earth ores. The September 2026 IMA list records renamed status and the 1987 special procedure; this is not a numbered species accession or a critical-material designation. Lefebvre and Gasparrini (1980) characterized natural La-rich grains in a Shituru drill-core siltstone, using electron-microprobe chemistry, optical properties and powder diffraction. The Shituru analysis has La as the dominant measured rare earth; Pr was detected qualitatively but not quantified, and water was not measured. Reported rare-earth proportions therefore are not a complete independently measured end-member formula. The diffraction pattern from an extracted 60-micrometre crystal supported florencite identity, while a mixed hematite-florencite concentrate gave only one attributable reflection. The origin was interpreted from geology, with hydrothermal and later supergene alternatives; no controlled formation experiment was performed. Ghignone et al. (2024) separately examined a collection specimen F1 from Igarape Bahia, Brazil. Its unpolished, uncoated SEM-EDS measurements are explicitly semiquantitative, with an oxide total of 35.6 wt%, and cannot be treated as a complete bulk assay or proof of a pure La end-member. The measured Raman spectra of compositionally different florencites are similar; Raman matching alone cannot resolve the dominant rare-earth species. The computed ideal La structure and vibrational modes are models, not a new experimental single-crystal refinement of F1. No microbial mechanism, recovery yield, dated criticality claim or industrial deployment is established by these characterization studies.

Liquid residual streams generated by wet flue-gas desulfurization and associated wastewater treatment, distinct from solid FGD gypsum, coal ash, elemental selenium and natural mineral resources. The accepted experiment concerns a particular coal-power-plant effluent after physical/chemical pretreatment and dilution, not an invariant composition or all FGD streams. Its selenium-bearing residuals were investigated for treatment; no marketable recovered selenium product or inherited criticality is asserted.

Fluorapatite is the calcium phosphate fluoride mineral with IMA-CNMNC formula Ca5(PO4)3F. The September 2026 list records renamed status and a 2010 special procedure; this is not a new-mineral approval number. It is distinct from elemental phosphorus or fluorine, hydroxyapatite, chlorapatite and the heterogeneous phosphate-rock resource. No criticality designation is inherited from its constituents.

• Serpula himantioides
• Coniophora puteana
• Serpula lacrymans
• +1 more

A mixed secondary resource from spent fluorescent lamps. The curated assay concerns retorted phosphor powder supplied by Idaho National Laboratory, rather than untreated whole lamps, a single mineral species, an element, or a purified rare-earth commodity. Its total rare-earth leaching outcome is not assigned to any individual element. No criticality designation is inherited from the elements present in this waste.

• Gluconobacter oxydans

The element F, distinct from fluoride anion, molecular fluorine, individual organofluorine compounds, fluorite mineral and the fluorspar commodity. Australia's explicitly named Fluorine entry is mapped to the element; its comparative footnote about US and EU fluorspar does not establish elemental-fluorine criticality in those jurisdictions.

• Pseudomonas putida

Fluorite is the calcium fluoride mineral CaF2, listed with grandfathered status G in the IMA-CNMNC September 2026 mineral list. Its original-description year is unresolved in that list; no numbered approval accession is asserted. The Handbook of Mineralogy describes cubic fluorite and natural hydrothermal, sedimentary and igneous occurrences. This mineral owner is distinct from the traded fluorspar commodity and elemental fluorine. The experiments below use ground natural crystals reported as 99% CaF2 and concern bacterial-cell-associated flocculation and settling. They establish neither mineral dissolution nor production of a specified fluorspar grade. No criticality designation is inherited from the commodity or element, and no industrial deployment is claimed.

• Corynebacterium xerosis

The calcium-fluoride raw-material commodity used in acid production, metallurgy and other industrial applications. The USGS definition covers crude or beneficiated material mined or milled for fluorite; its 2026 commodity chapter distinguishes acid and metallurgical grades and also recognizes synthetic fluorspar from recycling processes. This commodity record does not identify elemental fluorine, dissolved fluoride, or the fluorite mineral species, and does not assert one grade or universal purity specification. US and EU named fluorspar designations are recorded directly. No microbial mechanism is asserted.

Forsterite is the Mg2(SiO4) mineral species, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list. This species is distinct from elemental magnesium or silicon and from generic magnesium-bearing rocks or commercial mineral mixtures. No constituent criticality is inherited. This record and the companion talc record curate different substrates in the same Cai 2013 experiment, not independent studies.

• Aspergillus niger

Fritzscheite is the manganese uranyl vanadate mineral Mn2+(UO2)2(VO4)2·4H2O. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list recognizes it with grandfathered status G; 1865 is the original-description year, not an IMA approval accession. This mineral-species owner is distinct from elemental manganese, uranium and vanadium, dissolved salts, other carnotite-group species and mixed uranium ore. Glasauer et al. (2022) assigned fritzscheite and metatyuyamunite to the starting natural uranium-vanadium sandstone using diffraction and composition. The paper reports fritzscheite as Mn(UO2)2(V2O8)·H2O, which differs in hydration from the current IMA formula; this record retains the authors' phase assignment without silently equating that reported hydration with the canonical species formula. Following incubation with living Shewanella putrefaciens CN32, fritzscheite was not detected by bulk X-ray diffraction in the final fine fraction, which contained K-carnotite and metatyuyamunite. Figure 1b and sections 3.1 and 3.3 support this detection comparison, not a quantitative disappearance or extraction yield. Mn and Ba concentrations in the fine fraction were relatively unchanged, so absence of its diffraction signature does not establish removal of those elements. Section 4.1 states that individual starting- mineral behavior could not be resolved. The conclusion assigns fritzscheite-to-K-carnotite conversion through interlayer-cation replacement, whereas section 3.2 names tyuyamunite as a precursor; this record does not select a unique pathway or claim that microbial activity was necessary for that phase replacement. The shared laboratory experiment used 1.6 g of mixed sandstone in 80 mL defined medium with 10 mM sodium lactate and 1 mM phosphate, nitrogen degassing and autoclaving before inoculation, followed by an anoxic glovebox incubation extending to ten months. Treatments were in triplicate. These three mineral records refer to the same experiment, not independent replications. Bacteria-free solution controls were included, but do not isolate each phase's fate. The mixed-ore spectra support partial V reduction while U remained predominantly U(VI); results from the separate soluble-salt arm must not be transferred to this mineral. Dissolved U was low, rather than established to be exactly zero. Section 3.2 gives a V plateau time of 120 days while Figure 2 labels the time axes in hours, so no exact kinetic endpoint is adopted. The species identity and bounded starting-phase context are curated without a mineral-specific mechanism assertion. No complete dissolution, isolated product recovery or industrial deployment is demonstrated, and no criticality designation is inherited from constituent elements.

Heterogeneous metal-hydroxide sludge generated by neutralizing waste streams from industrial gallium arsenide wafer production. The curated evidence concerns the sludge supplied for Fritze et al. (2026), not crystalline GaAs, a pure iron mineral or all semiconductor wastes. Table 1 reports 32.81% Si, 6.97% Fe, 1.21% Ga, 1.34% As, 0.27% P and 1.83% Ca by handheld XRF; Section 2.1 separately reports 0.538% fluoride by ion-selective electrodes. These are the study's reported composition percentages, not a complete phase analysis or a specification for every sludge batch. No elemental identifier or constituent criticality designation is assigned to this waste. The gallium and arsenic records describe constituent outcomes from the same experiment; they are not independent replications.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

The element Gd, distinct from its dissolved ions, experimental nitrate salt, host minerals and manufactured materials. The dated US designation concerns the named gadolinium mineral commodity, without transferring criticality to every Gd-bearing substance. The curated laboratory experiment documents element in harvested cyanobacterial biomass, not a resolved uptake pathway, purified metal recovery or industrial deployment.

• Limnospira platensis

Galena is the PbS mineral species listed as grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list; its original-description year is unresolved there. It is distinct from elemental lead, anglesite, manufactured PbS reagents and mixed lead ores or flotation concentrates. The experiment below concerns galena within a natural mixed concentrate, not a pure natural endmember. No criticality designation is inherited from lead.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Gallium (Ga), grounded by the neutral-atom ChEBI identifier. This element record is distinct from gallium ions, gallium arsenide semiconductor material and the heterogeneous hydroxide sludge used in the experiment. The US 2025 designation maps its gallium commodity to this element; it does not designate every gallium-bearing waste. The arsenic record describes co-mobilization in the same experiment, not an independent replication.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Germanite is the copper-iron-germanium sulfide mineral species Cu13Fe2Ge2S16, listed by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 as grandfathered, with 1922 as the original-description year rather than an IMA approval number. The 1984 powder-XRD study of Tsumeb material uses the equivalent doubled formula Cu26Ge4Fe4S32 and supports a cubic structure, while explicitly retaining intergrown impurities and unresolved cation-site assignments. Its ideal formula does not establish the composition or purity of every specimen. The Handbook describes occurrence in dolostone-hosted hydrothermal copper-lead-zinc ore at Tsumeb and association with renierite and other sulfides. These are geological observations, not current production or recovery-performance claims. Germanite is distinct from germanium element, a mixed ore feed and renierite; no microbial mechanism or inherited criticality designation is assigned. The Handbook's printed F-43n space-group label conflicts with P-43n in the primary refinement, so it is not silently treated as confirming that primary space-group assignment.

Germanium (Ge), grounded by the neutral-atom ChEBI identifier. This element is distinct from the GeO2 reagent and dissolved germanium species used in the experiments, germanium-bearing minerals and coal wastes. The US 2025 list names the germanium commodity; its designation is mapped to this element without extending it to every germanium-bearing material.

• Pseudomonas putida

Gersdorffite is the nickel sulfarsenide mineral species with ideal formula NiAsS and cubic space group P2₁3. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list records it as renamed in 2022. CNMNC Newsletter 69 explicitly renamed gersdorffite-P2₁3 as gersdorffite, gersdorffite-Pa3 as paragersdorffite, and gersdorffite-Pca2₁ as orthogersdorffite; these other polymorphs are distinct species, not aliases of this record. Mauro and colleagues (2021, Section 3.1.1, Tables 1 and 3-5, Figures 2-4, and the original CIF) characterized natural zoned crystals from Contrada Zillì, Sicily, by electron-microprobe analysis and powder and single-crystal diffraction. The studied crystal has P2₁3 symmetry and a = 5.6968(7) Å. The specimen contains other minerals, and the gersdorffite grains show Fe/Co substitution and Sb/Bi-bearing zoning; this is not a pure bulk NiAsS feed. The proposed low-temperature, multistage geological origin is an interpretation of crystal chemistry and textures, not an experimentally demonstrated formation mechanism. Jaatinen's 2011 thesis supplies contextual mixed-concentrate leaching evidence under the older name: its GFC feed mineralogy, inherited from Wakeman et al. (2011), reports 30.6% gersdorffite but does not resolve the polymorph required by the current nomenclature. The GFC flask assays showed low culture activity and no consistent biological enhancement over their chemical controls. Dissolved metals from this mixed feed cannot establish dissolution of today's gersdorffite species or a recovered-product yield. A species-specific microbial mechanism and criticality designation are therefore unrecorded.

Gibbsite is the monoclinic aluminium hydroxide mineral Al(OH)3, distinct from bayerite and other Al(OH)3 polymorphs, aluminium oxyhydroxides, elemental aluminium, the alumina commodity and heterogeneous bauxite. The September 2026 IMA list reports approved status with the special-procedure entry 1962 s.p.; this is not a unique numbered mineral accession. The curated experiment concerns abiotic dissolution of synthetic gibbsite nanoplates. No mineral-specific criticality designation, microbial mechanism or industrial recovery performance is inferred. The separate Lee and Fein 2000 bacterial-dissolution lead remains uncurated pending inspectable full primary evidence, tracked in CMMMech issue 219.

Ginorite is the grandfathered calcium borate species listed as Ca2B14O20(OH)6(H2O)3·2H2O in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. Its 1934 entry is a description year, not an approval identifier. The older Ca2[B14O20(OH)6]·5H2O formula has the same elemental stoichiometry. A natural Sasso Pisano crystal studied by Perchiazzi et al. has a monoclinic P21/a structure with borate sheets, calcium sites and hydrogen bonding; three water molecules per formula unit coordinate calcium and two do not. Hydrogen positions were refined with O-H distance restraints. The study's tabulated chemical analyses came from earlier publications, while its own preliminary SEM/EDAX screen found strontium below detection. This species is distinct from strontioginorite, elemental boron and the borates commodity. Neither a criticality designation nor microbial extraction or commercial recovery is inferred from its boron content.

Glushinskite is the magnesium oxalate dihydrate mineral species, Mg(C2O4)(H2O)2, listed as redefined by the IMA in a 1987 special procedure in its September 2026 list. That date is not an approval-number identifier. It is distinct from elemental magnesium, magnesium oxalate without a specified hydration state, and the phosphate mineral feeds in the experiment. This record reuses the Suyamud 2020 experiment represented under magnesium and dittmarite; these are separate material identities, not independent experiments. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

• Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015

Goethite is the FeO(OH) mineral species listed as approved (A), with 1980 special-procedure history, in the IMA-CNMNC September 2026 master list. It is distinct from iron element, other iron oxyhydroxide minerals, iron-ore commodities and mixed goethite-bearing tailings. The natural mineral feeds below have sample-specific compositions; synthetic goethite preparations can contain more reactive precursor phases. No iron criticality designation is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans
• Acidithiobacillus caldus
• Acidiphilium cryptum

Processing-derived residual material from gold production, distinct from unprocessed gold ore, elemental gold, individual mineral species and isolated rare-earth products. The curated experiment concerns one air-dried, sieved batch obtained from the Mouteh Gold Factory tailings dam. It supports qualified chemical pretreatment and culture-associated praseodymium, cerium and europium mobilization at laboratory scale; its composition and behavior do not define all gold-mine tailings. No criticality designation is inherited from constituents.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Gold (Au), represented by its neutral-atom identity. The laboratory Au(III)-chloride solutions and source-assigned cell-associated particles below are experimental forms of this element, not separate ore or waste-feed identities. No criticality-list designation is asserted here.

• Cupriavidus metallidurans

Goldmanite is the calcium-vanadium garnet mineral with ideal formula Ca3V3+2(SiO4)3, status A and approval 1963-003 in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from elemental vanadium, generic vanadium-bearing garnet and mixed uranium-vanadium ore. Moench and Meyrowitz described fine natural grains from a prospect pit in the Sandy mine area, Laguna district, New Mexico. The chemically analyzed separate was a substituted garnet, calculated as 59.8 mole percent goldmanite endmember with grossular, andradite, pyrope and spessartite components; this is a composition calculation, not a phase fraction or recovery yield. Its total vanadium was reported as V2O3, but the authors explicitly could not determine vanadium and iron valences chemically and inferred trivalence from crystal chemistry. Earlier unusually high vanadium assays may have included spinel contamination. The ideal species formula therefore does not describe every natural grain as a pure endmember. Abiotic laboratory syntheses are documented below. No criticality designation is inherited from vanadium, and these studies do not establish microbial extraction or industrial recovery.

Gorceixite is the barium aluminium phosphate mineral with current IMA formula BaAl3(PO4)(PO3OH)(OH)6, distinct from calcium-dominant crandallite, strontium-dominant goyazite and cerium-dominant florencite-(Ce). The September 2026 IMA list records it as grandfathered, with original-description year 1906. Dzikowski, Groat and Jambor (2006) directly characterized a natural crystal from Crosscut Creek in the Rapid Creek area, Yukon, Canadian Museum of Nature specimen 51269. Electron-microprobe analysis and room-temperature single-crystal diffraction support a Ba-Al phosphate crystal with R-3m symmetry, a=7.0538(3) and c=17.2746(6) angstrom, refined using 253 unique reflections. This specimen-specific result does not overturn monoclinic Cm assignments for all other gorceixite specimens; the authors explicitly retain compositional and locality differences and an unresolved reason for symmetry variation. Chemistry suggests nearly full Ba occupation, whereas the crystallographic Ba occupancy refines to 0.882(6); proposed absorption/scattering explanations are unresolved. Hydrogen-related constraints and an inferred O/OH distribution support charge balance but do not locate every hydrogen atom directly. The study provides natural-mineral identity evidence, not an experimentally demonstrated formation, leaching, microbial extraction or industrial recovery mechanism. No criticality designation is inherited from its constituent elements.

Gowerite is the Ca(H2O)[B5O8(OH)][B(OH)3]·2H2O mineral species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with approved status A and special-procedure notation 1962 s.p.; the notation is not a unique approval identifier. The older CaO·3B2O3·5H2O and Ca[B5O8(OH)][B(OH)3]·3H2O formulas have the same elemental stoichiometry. Natural Furnace Creek crystals and separately synthesized crystals have been studied by diffraction. The monoclinic P21/a structure contains borate sheets, isolated B(OH)3 groups and three water molecules per formula unit, including one calcium-coordinated water molecule. The 1972 natural-crystal study did not locate hydrogen atoms; the 2025 synthetic-crystal study refined hydrogen positions using distance constraints. Gowerite is distinct from nobleite, elemental boron and the borates commodity. No criticality or microbial mechanism is inferred from its boron content.

Goyazite is the strontium aluminium phosphate mineral SrAl3(PO4)(PO3OH)(OH)6, distinct from calcium-dominant crandallite, other crandallite-group species and strontium as an element. A primary natural-crystal refinement supports its identity. A separate laboratory study produced goyazite-bearing synthetic preparations and measured thermal dehydroxylation across a nominal calcium-strontium series. Minor impurities, starting-gel composition and measurement-dependent thermal peaks limit interpretation. No microbial mechanism, strontium recovery yield, mineral criticality or industrial deployment is asserted.

Graphite raw-material products manufactured and supplied as active material for lithium-ion battery negative electrodes. This end-use commodity family is a subset of the broader graphite commodity family, not a second disjoint graphite identity; no single origin or numerical qualification threshold is assigned to all members. SGL Carbon describes synthetic graphite anode materials with properties tailored to customer applications and distinguishes them from carbon-silicon composites and conductive additives. The record excludes complete electrodes, electric-arc-furnace electrodes and spent battery waste. SAMR names the product standard GB/T 24533-2019 for graphite negative-electrode materials, but its full technical tables were not inspected. Manufacturer use and testing descriptions establish product context, not a universal battery-grade purity rule or a microbial recovery result. No criticality designation is generalized from the broader graphite record.

The commercial raw-material family comprising natural and synthetic graphite. The USGS Graphite 2021 yearbook jointly describes and separately accounts for these two origin-defined commodity streams. This broader record explicitly overlaps the natural-graphite commodity record, which denotes its natural-origin subset; the two records are not synonyms or disjoint material classes. Neither origin establishes a particular battery product qualification. This family is distinct from the carbon element, a graphite mineral species or specimen, graphene, and other carbon materials. The criticality entry preserves the unqualified graphite wording of the original EU 2024 Annex II; its separate Annex I battery-grade designation is not generalized to every family member. No microbial purification or recovery mechanism is asserted.

Greenockite is the hexagonal CdS mineral species, distinct from cubic hawleyite, unspecified cadmium-sulfide nanoparticles, elemental cadmium and mixed ores. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1840; that year is not a unique approval accession. The curated mechanism concerns a synthetic greenockite-assigned component of mixed CdS produced in a defined microbial laboratory experiment, not a demonstrated origin or extraction pathway for every natural greenockite occurrence. No cadmium criticality designation is inherited.

• Thermoanaerobacter sp. X513

Greigite is the mixed-valence iron sulfide mineral Fe2+Fe3+2S4, conventionally written Fe3S4, approved as IMA 1963-007 in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from elemental iron, mackinawite, pyrite, magnetite, and an undifferentiated iron-sulfide precipitate. The observations below concern extracellular greigite formed in mixed laboratory mineral assemblages, not extracted natural ore or a purified recovered product. No criticality status is inferred from a constituent element.

• Thermococcus prieurii
• Thermococcus kodakarensis KOD1

Ground rubber recovered from used tires, containing a crosslinked polymer matrix, fillers and zinc-bearing additives. The selected study used 400-600 micrometre particles from an unnamed waste-tire recycling facility. This secondary resource is distinct from elemental zinc, zinc mineral species, tire combustion ash, pyrolysis char, rubber-manufacturing waste and natural-rubber gloves. Chemical pretreatment does not create a separate material identity, and the feed does not inherit a criticality designation from a constituent element.

• Rhodococcus rhodochrous

Gypsum is the grandfathered calcium sulfate mineral species Ca(SO4)(H2O)2, distinct from anhydrite, bassanite, elemental calcium or sulfur, and mixed industrial residues such as phosphogypsum and titanogypsum. This owner describes the hydrated substrate in a disputed microbial dehydration experiment and an independent negative test. The same primary experiments are cross-represented in cmmmech:anhydrite; their occurrence in two mineral owners does not create independent replication. Mineral identity is established separately from the contested mechanism. No constituent criticality, industrial deployment or recovery yield is asserted.

• Chroococcidiopsis
• Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

A natural lead-neodymium carbonate mineral of the ancylite group, distinct from its La- and Ce- dominant counterparts and from synthetic Pb-free Nd carbonates. The September 2026 IMA list gives PbNd(CO3)2(OH)(H2O), status renamed and 1987 special procedure; that date records nomenclature action, not a species-specific approval accession. Sarp and Bertrand's 1985 original description used the name gysinite and a Geneva museum specimen, catalogue 410/85, labelled schuilingite from Shinkolobwe. Deliens and Stalder's 1995 type catalogue instead assigns the material to Kasompi copper mine because its mineral association is characteristic of Kasompi; it lists Geneva 410/85 and 435/60. The original label and later reassignment are retained as provenance evidence, not a newly verified collection locality. The original study's diffraction supports orthorhombic Pmcn; film-derived cell estimates and subsequently refined cell parameters are separate measurements. Its 21 microprobe analyses found Nd-dominant Pb-La-Nd chemistry with slight variation and no particular zoning. Carbon was measured, but water was obtained by difference. The reported combined thermogravimetric CO2-plus-water loss of about 23 wt.% differs from the 26.2 wt.% sum of the Table 2 mean components; the paper calls this agreement, but the record does not reconcile the difference or treat the empirical hydration as exact. Its 4.82 g/cm3 density is calculated, not measured. Effervescence in cold dilute HCl is a qualitative observation without a quantified dissolution or recovery experiment. The proposed geological REE source was an interpretation, not a controlled transformation. The separately cited 1985 atomic refinement and its original reflection data were not acquired here; no site occupancies or hydrogen positions are adopted from secondary summaries. No criticality designation, microbial mechanism or industrial recovery is asserted.

Hafnium (Hf), distinct from its Hf(IV) complexes, hafnium oxide phases, zirconium-bearing minerals and commercial alloy or waste streams. The US 2025 critical-mineral list names hafnium individually; the designation is mapped to this element without extending it to every Hf-bearing material. Curated evidence concerns cell-free binding of Hf(IV) clusters by a purified bacterial protein, not microbial ore extraction or industrial metal recovery.

• Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Hafnon is the hafnium silicate mineral species with ideal formula HfSiO4, approved as IMA 1974-018. It is distinct from zircon, elemental hafnium and synthetic hafnium-silicate products. The Handbook of Mineralogy describes the species as tetragonal but explicitly identifies its cell parameters, calculated density and powder pattern as synthetic data; those values are not measurements of a natural Brazilian specimen. Pereira, Ávila and Neumann (2004), in their study of cassiterite from eight concentrate samples in the São João del Rei Pegmatite Province, report zirconian hafnon as an inclusion in cassiterite from a pan concentrate collected in a stream crossing body E of the Volta Grande mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Table 2 assigns that occurrence to this sample, rather than to every surveyed locality. The study uses backscattered-electron imaging and semiquantitative SEM-EDS, and its hafnon discussion explicitly cites the overlapping 2002/2003 work. This is a qualified source-reported natural occurrence, not a new independent replication of the older microanalyses or a pure-phase diffraction refinement. Its geological formation interpretation is not a controlled transformation experiment. No occurrence-wide grade, extraction, microbial mechanism, industrial deployment or inherited hafnium criticality designation is assigned.

Hannayite is the hydrated ammonium magnesium hydrogen-phosphate mineral species (NH4)2Mg3(PO3OH)4(H2O)8. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1879, not a new-mineral approval identifier. It is distinct from elemental phosphorus or magnesium, guano as a mixed resource, and schertelite, newberyite, struvite and bobierrite. The accepted experimental record concerns chemical crystallization and alteration without microorganisms; association of these minerals with guano does not establish a microbial mechanism. Constituent criticality is not inherited.

Haradaite is a strontium-vanadyl silicate mineral with ideal formula SrV4+Si2O7, status A and approval 1963-011 in the September 2026 IMA list. The approval identifier is distinct from the 1967 structural paper and the later 1982 natural description. Natural material from the Noda-Tamagawa and Yamato mines, Japan, contains substitutions; the analyzed Yamato type material was calcian and barian, not the pure Sr endmember. The 1967 structure analysis preferred orthorhombic Amam over Ama2, with silicate chains joined by vanadium, while explicitly discussing limited reflections and possible intensity errors; that historical model is not a claim that every specimen and later refinement has been reassessed. The 1982 paper likewise prefers Amam and separates the two localities. Haradaite is distinct from elemental vanadium, generic vanadium ore and other vanadium silicates. Abiotic reagent synthesis supports a qualified formation mechanism. Geological association with other minerals does not demonstrate microbial formation, extraction or recovery, and criticality is not inherited from its constituents.

Hauerite is the cubic manganese disulfide mineral MnS2, with pyrite-type structure and grandfathered status in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from the MnS minerals alabandite and rambergite and from elemental manganese. The accepted experiment measures sulfur products during sterile ferric-chloride oxidation of source-identified hauerite. It does not establish a hauerite-specific microbial process, manganese recovery or inherited criticality.

Hausmannite is the grandfathered tetragonal manganese oxide mineral Mn2+Mn3+2O4, commonly written Mn3O4; the IMA September 2026 list gives 1828 as its historical entry. It is distinct from elemental manganese, other manganese oxides, manganese oxalate products and mixed natural manganese ores. The curated laboratory experiment used a synthesized oxide preparation identified by the authors as hausmannite, not a natural mineral specimen. No criticality designation is inherited from manganese.

• Aspergillus niger

Hawleyite is the cubic CdS mineral species, distinct from hexagonal greenockite, unspecified cadmium-sulfide nanoparticles, elemental cadmium and secondary wastes. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1955; that year is not a unique approval accession. Curated microbial evidence concerns synthetic hawleyite-assigned particles and mixed CdS from a defined X513 experiment. Mineral identity does not make every Cd-S precipitate hawleyite. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Thermoanaerobacter sp. X513

Hazenite is the hydrated potassium sodium magnesium phosphate mineral species KNaMg2(PO4)2(H2O)14, approved as IMA2007-061 and listed as approved in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from elemental phosphorus, magnesium or potassium, the ammonium analog of hazenite, and mixed lake deposits or recovered fertilizers. The original description establishes a natural mineral associated with dried or decomposed cyanobacterial material; it does not establish exclusive biological formation, a quantified recovery process or industrial deployment. Constituent criticality is not inherited.

• Stappia sp.

Heterogeneous ash generated by burning heavy fuel oil, represented here by an oil-fired thermal-power-plant residue. This combustion resource is distinct from coal fly ash, petroleum coke, refinery catalysts and its constituent elements. The selected study does not establish the collection fraction needed to identify its sample specifically as fly ash. No constituent-element criticality status is inherited by this resource.

• Aspergillus niger

This commodity subgroup uses the EU 2020 critical-raw-material assessment's ten-member heavy-rare-earth convention: europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium and yttrium. Scandium is assessed separately and promethium is excluded in that source. The assessment covers oxide mixtures and low-purity single oxides in its initial-processing stage, and high-purity metals or interalloys in advanced refining. These are related commodity forms, not one mineral or alloy. The EU 2024 Annex II designation names heavy rare earth elements without enumerating members; its mapping here uses the explicitly stated EU 2020 assessment convention. Light/heavy boundaries in other conventions are not asserted equivalent. This group overlaps individual element records and the broader rare-earth commodity family; no group-wide microbial mechanism or strategic designation is inferred from individual members.

Heazlewoodite is the Ni3S2 mineral species listed with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1897 in the September 2026 IMA compilation. The year is not an approval identifier. The Handbook gives space group R32 in a hexagonal setting. This species is distinct from millerite, pentlandite, elemental nickel and mixed nickel ores. The accepted experiment concerns a source-characterized synthetic analogue, not a natural ore or demonstrated absolutely pure endmember. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

Helium (He), grounded by the neutral-atom ChEBI identifier. This element record is distinct from isotope-specific preparations, commercial purity grades and helium-bearing gas resources. The original EU 2024 act lists helium as a critical raw material; this does not designate every helium-bearing resource. No microbial extraction, transformation or recovery mechanism is admitted in this record. The bounded literature assessment in the round-11 helium dossier separates helium used as a tracer or analytical/plasma gas from helium as a microbial recovery target; this is not a universal absence claim about biological interactions with helium.

Hematite is the Fe2O3 mineral species listed as approved (A), with 1971 special-procedure status, in the IMA-CNMNC September 2026 master list. It is distinct from iron element, iron-ore commodities, other Fe2O3 polymorphs and mixed iron-bearing feeds. The experimental author-designated hematite below has substantial non-Fe oxide components; its bulk Fe2O3 percentage is not a quantified hematite phase abundance. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Priestia megaterium

Hemimorphite is the orthorhombic hydrated zinc silicate mineral Zn4Si2O7(OH)2·H2O. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list records approved status A and 1962 s.p.; this special-procedure entry is not a numbered new-mineral approval. The record distinguishes crystalline hemimorphite from willemite, mixed zinc ores and a poorly ordered hemimorphite-like microbial precursor. It contains a natural-sample chemical-leaching experiment and narrowly scoped precursor-associated field evidence. It does not assert microbial production of phase-pure crystalline hemimorphite, inherited criticality or industrial recovery.

• Stenomitos frigidus

Heterogenite is the cobalt(III) mineral with ideal formula CoO(OH), recorded as approved, 1967 special procedure, in the September 2026 IMA list. The Handbook describes 3R and 2H polytypes; neither is assigned to the experimental ore below. It is distinct from elemental cobalt, other cobalt minerals and an entire copper-cobalt ore. The accepted primary experiment concerns chemical leaching of mixed natural ore whose cobalt-bearing mineral was assigned to heterogenite by QEMSCAN. It does not demonstrate microbial participation, a pure-phase dissolution yield or an inherited criticality designation.

Heterosite is the ferric phosphate mineral with ideal formula Fe3+(PO4), listed as grandfathered by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 with original-description year 1826. Natural specimens can contain substantial trivalent manganese. It is distinct from lithium-bearing triphylite and Mn3+-dominant purpurite. Eventoff et al. (1972) refined a natural Fletcher Quarry, New Hampshire crystal of approximate composition (Fe0.65Mn0.35)PO4 with an effectively vacant lithium site. The 2023 triphylite-group nomenclature retains heterosite while discrediting ferrisicklerite and sicklerite; the historical oxidation experiment already curated under cmmmech:triphylite is not counted here as a new experiment. The separate Reich et al. (2024) study concerns a synthetic heterosite-structure FePO4 sorbent made from commercial carbon-coated LiFePO4, not mined natural heterosite. Its laboratory lithium uptake from pretreated natural geothermal brine and a separate synthetic brine does not establish purified lithium recovery, natural-ore extraction, microbial activity or industrial deployment. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

Refined aluminium oxide product distinguished by its high purity. Geoscience Australia describes HPA as a white crystalline Al2O3 powder characterized by purity levels such as 99.99% Al2O3, with uses in lithium-ion batteries, electronics and optics. This grade-defined commodity is narrower than broad alumina and is distinct from aluminium metal, kaolin feedstock, bauxite and aluminium hydroxide. Its Australian designation specifically names high-purity alumina; it is not transferred to every aluminium-bearing feed or product. No microbial production or purification mechanism is asserted here.

The high-purity iron-ore raw-material category named in Canada's 2024 Critical Minerals List for green steelmaking. It covers ore and concentrate supply for that use, distinct from elemental iron, high-purity iron metal, steel, or any single iron-bearing mineral species. The inspected federal list does not give a numerical purity specification. Newfoundland and Labrador's Julienne Lake example describes beneficiation of lower-grade ore into a concentrate with more than 66% iron and less than 5% silica; those project-specific values are not a universal definition of the Canadian category. No microbial upgrading or recovery mechanism is asserted here.

Hollandite is the barium manganese oxide mineral with IMA-CNMNC formula Ba(Mn4+6Mn3+2)O16 in the September 2026 list, which records redefined status and a 2012 special procedure. The mineral species is distinct from the broader hollandite structure family, elemental manganese, manganese ore and manganese oxalates. No criticality designation is inherited from manganese or barium.

• Serpula himantioides
• Coniophora puteana
• Serpula lacrymans
• +1 more

The element Ho, distinct from its dissolved ions, experimental nitrate salt, host minerals and manufactured materials. The dated US designation concerns the named holmium mineral commodity, without transferring criticality to every Ho-bearing substance. The curated laboratory experiment documents element in harvested cyanobacterial biomass, not a resolved uptake pathway, purified metal recovery or industrial deployment.

• Limnospira platensis

Hopeite is the orthorhombic zinc phosphate tetrahydrate mineral, ideal Zn3(PO4)2.4H2O, distinct from its dimorph parahopeite, zinc metal, zinc sulfate reagent and zinc oxalates. The September 2026 IMA list records grandfathered status G and original-description year 1826; that year is not an approval accession. The curated experiment distinguishes chemically precipitated starting hopeite from fungal-associated surface alteration and secondary hopeite-assigned crystals. No criticality designation is inherited from zinc.

• Aspergillus niger

Humboldtine is the iron(II) oxalate dihydrate mineral Fe(C2O4).2H2O, listed as a grandfathered species, with original-description year 1821, in the September 2026 IMA compilation. It is distinct from elemental iron, dissolved iron-oxalate complexes, other metal oxalates and the heterogeneous siderite- and pyrrhotite-bearing experimental feeds. No criticality designation is inherited from iron.

• Aspergillus niger
• Serpula himantioides
• Coniophora puteana
• +2 more

Huntite is the calcium-magnesium carbonate mineral species CaMg3(CO3)4, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list with original-description year 1953. That year is not an approval identifier. Huntite is distinct from dolomite, magnesite, hydrated magnesium carbonates and elemental magnesium. The reported culture products are mixed mineral assemblages, and no constituent-element criticality is inherited.

Hureaulite is the manganese(II) hydrogen phosphate hydrate mineral with current IMA formula Mn2+5(PO3OH)2(PO4)2(H2O)4. The September 2026 list records renamed status, 2007 s.p.; this is not a new-species approval number. Natural material can contain iron and other substitutions. Garcia Guajardo et al. (2024) prepared a synthetic manganese phosphate assigned to monoclinic C2/c hureaulite by powder diffraction and vibrational spectroscopy, then tested composite electrodes made from that powder. The synthetic reagent-derived material is distinguished from mined natural hureaulite, from lithiophilite and from a merely hureaulite-like phase. Its laboratory charge-storage behavior is not microbial transformation, extraction of manganese from ore, recovery of an isolated metal product or industrial deployment. Charge-partition and proton-transfer explanations are model-based interpretations, and the exact redox reaction remains unresolved. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

Hydroboracite is the CaMg[B3O4(OH)3]2(H2O)3 species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1834, not a sequential approval identifier. Sabelli and Stoppioni's 1978 single-crystal study of natural material from Bigadiç, Turkey, refined a monoclinic P2/c structure with two formula units per cell. Its hydrogen positions were geometrically assigned and not independently refined. The mineral is distinct from colemanite, inyoite, ulexite, other borate species, elemental boron and the borates commodity. The experimental high-pressure label hydroboracite-II below does not assert a separate IMA-approved natural species. No commodity criticality or microbial activity is inherited.

Hydrocerussite is the Pb3(CO3)2(OH)2 mineral species, listed as grandfathered with original-description year 1877 in the September 2026 IMA master list. It is distinct from cerussite, pyromorphite, elemental lead and lead-bearing wastes. The accepted experiment concerns a hydrocerussite-assigned component in processed bacterial-cell products from lead acetate solution, not a pure recovered mineral or an industrial waste assay. The Kato2022 experiment is also contextualized under lead and pyromorphite; these records are not independent replications. No lead-commodity criticality is inherited.

• Pseudomonas

Hydromagnesite is the hydrated magnesium carbonate mineral species Mg5(CO3)4(OH)2(H2O)4. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1828, not an IMA approval number. It is distinct from dypingite, nesquehonite, elemental magnesium and the magnesite commodity. The culture evidence concerns a reported component of mixed carbonate products, not magnesium metal or a purified hydromagnesite commodity; constituent criticality is not inherited.

Hydroniumjarosite is the hydronium-dominant ferric sulfate hydroxide mineral, ideally (H3O)Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6. It is distinct from potassium jarosite, natrojarosite, ammoniojarosite and an industrial jarosite-bearing residue. The September 2026 IMA list records a 1987 redefinition by special procedure; this is not an individual approval accession. Basciano and Peterson (2007) characterized synthetic material and a hydronium-dominant natural sample from Rio Tinto, Spain, using chemical analyses and powder-diffraction refinement. Their natural sample 7-13-2-1 also contained quartz and minor potassium and sodium. It does not represent a pure endmember or a demonstrated microbial product. The study supports specimen-specific identity and laboratory abiotic formation, not isolated iron recovery, long-term contaminant retention, or industrial deployment of the preparation. Constituent-element criticality is not inherited.

Hydrotalcite is the magnesium-aluminium layered double hydroxide carbonate mineral Mg6Al2(OH)16(CO3)(H2O)4. The IMA-CNMNC September 2026 list gives approved status A and 2016 s.p., indicating a special-procedure action rather than a conventional sequential approval number. This species is distinct from the hydrotalcite group and from generic synthetic layered double hydroxides containing other metal ratios or interlayer anions. A Niue calcrete contains source-XRD-assigned hydrotalcite associated with optically interpreted biofilms; microbial formation is not demonstrated. Elemental magnesium or aluminium criticality is not inherited.

Hydroxylapatite is the hydroxyl-dominant apatite mineral species Ca5(PO4)3(OH), commonly called hydroxyapatite in experimental literature. The September 2026 IMA list gives renamed status and 2010 s.p.; this is a nomenclatural special procedure, not a new-mineral accession. It is distinct from fluorapatite, chlorapatite, generic apatite, mixed phosphate rock and elemental phosphorus or calcium. This record concerns source-assigned nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite in a laboratory biofilm model, without assuming a measured pure end-member composition, criticality designation or industrial recovery.

• Escherichia coli str. K-12 substr. W3110

Hydrozincite is the monoclinic zinc hydroxycarbonate mineral Zn5(CO3)2(OH)6, listed by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1853, not a numbered approval. It is distinct from smithsonite, zincite, elemental zinc and mixed zinc-bearing sediments. The curated evidence concerns hydrozincite-bearing field mats associated with photosynthetic microorganisms and a separate sterile precipitation experiment. It supports a qualified biological association rather than a pure-culture demonstration of microbial necessity, a phase-specific metal recovery yield, or industrial deployment. No criticality designation is inherited from zinc.

Illite is represented as a mineral group, as designated in the IMA compendium nomenclature table, rather than an ideal single species or an undifferentiated clay commodity. The experimental material is the source-designated IMt-1 illite preparation. Its measured behavior is not transferred from the separate nontronite and montmorillonite studies that reported mixed illite-like transformation products. No phase-pure endmember, universal formula or constituent criticality designation is asserted.

• Shewanella vesiculosa

Ilmenite is the mineral species with ideal formula Fe2+Ti4+O3, listed with grandfathered status G and original description year 1827 by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026. The year is not an IMA approval number. The species is distinct from elemental titanium or iron, titanium commodities, ilmenite-bearing ores and concentrates, and manufactured titanium oxides. The primary dissolution study used three mixed placer concentrates dominated by ilmenite-like phases, not pure stoichiometric crystals. Its laboratory observation is scoped to those ground feeds. No criticality designation is inherited from titanium, and no microbial mechanism is accepted from the unavailable or insufficiently controlled bioleaching leads.

Inderborite is the CaMg[B3O3(OH)5]2(H2O)4·2H2O mineral species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1941, not a sequential approval identifier. It is distinct from inderite, hydroboracite, elemental boron and the borates commodity. Gatta et al.'s natural crystals from Quarry 98, Inder Deposit, Kazakhstan, have a monoclinic C2/c structure: borate rings connect Ca and Mg polyhedra into sheets, with hydrogen bonds linking the sheets. Their openly deposited Revision_1 manuscript reports EPMA-WDS on three crystals, including quartz micro-inclusions and modest beam damage; near-ideal Ca and Mg composition is a specimen-level observation, not a universal purity or ore-grade claim. Inderborite-II below is an experimental high-pressure label, not an asserted independently approved natural species. No criticality or microbial activity is inherited from boron or associated minerals.

Inderite is the Mg[B3O3(OH)5](H2O)4·H2O mineral species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with status A and year notation 1962 s.p. for a special procedure, not a fabricated sequential approval identifier. It is distinct from its dimorph kurnakovite, from inderborite, elemental boron and the borates commodity. Gatta et al. studied natural Kramer Deposit, California, material by EPMA-WDS, laser-ablation mass spectrometry and neutron diffraction. The P21/c structure comprises borate-ring/Mg-polyhedron clusters connected by hydrogen bonds, with four Mg-bound water molecules and one interstitial water per formula unit. The chemical characterization is specimen specific, including modest electron-beam damage and an assumed B/H stoichiometry in the EPMA formula; it is not a resource-grade survey. Commodity criticality and microbial activity are not inherited.

Indite is the iron-indium sulfide mineral species with ideal formula FeIn2S4. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list marks it approved and gives the year as 1967 s.p.; this special-procedure notation is not a numbered approval accession. Genkin and Murav'eva (1963) described natural grains in cassiterite-quartz ore from the Dzhalinda deposit, Little Khingan, in the Russian Far East. Reflected-light microscopy, quantitative microspectrographic analysis and powder X-ray diffraction support the identification. The diffraction comparison with previously synthesized FeIn2S4 supports a cubic spinel-type assignment; it is not a new single-crystal structure refinement of the natural material. The measured natural grains had variable, approximately determined iron-indium-sulfur proportions rather than uniformly ideal end-member stoichiometry. Nearly all observed indite grains were replaced to varying degrees by veinlets of the distinct indium hydroxide mineral dzhalindite. Natural and synthetic diffraction intensities also differ for the 311 reflection, which the authors retain in their structural comparison. The ideal species formula therefore does not establish purity of the analyzed grains or of the surrounding ore. The proposed later hydrothermal introduction of indite during quartz-associated replacement of cassiterite is a geological interpretation of textures and associations, not an experimentally demonstrated formation pathway. Cited laboratory synthesis conditions and separate heating experiments on dzhalindite are not natural indite formation conditions. This record denotes the mineral species, separately from elemental indium, synthetic FeIn2S4 materials and the mixed cassiterite ore. No microbial mechanism, extraction yield, industrial recovery or constituent-derived criticality designation is assigned by this identity and natural-specimen evidence.

The element In, distinct from indium ions, salts, indium tin oxide and indium-bearing minerals or waste streams. The dated US designation concerns the named indium mineral commodity. The mechanism describes laboratory biosorption from synthetic solutions by prepared mixed microalgal biomass; it does not establish treatment of an actual indium waste stream or recovery of an isolated indium product.

Inyoite is the CaB3O3(OH)5(H2O)3·H2O species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1914, not a sequential approval identifier. Schaller's 1916 original investigation distinguishes glassy inyoite cores from meyerhofferite alteration products in specimens from Mount Blanco near Death Valley, California. Its small 0.1037-g inyoite analysis did not directly determine boron. The modern pressure experiment below concerns a separate museum crystal, not those historical specimens. Inyoite is distinct from borax, tincalconite, kernite, ulexite, colemanite and the borates commodity. Inyoite-II is the authors' experimental high-pressure phase label, not a second asserted IMA-approved natural mineral. No commodity criticality or microbial activity is inherited.

Naturally weathered, rare-earth-bearing clay material, distinct from an individual clay mineral, isolated rare-earth element or processing residue. Separate curated experiments concern ferruginous, poorly sorted material from 3.8–4.8 m depth above volcanic breccia in the Ambohimirahavavy Alkaline Complex, Madagascar, and a Guangxi, China ore described as an ion-adsorption feed. Their specimens, communities, preparations and assays remain distinct; neither characterizes every ion-adsorption deposit.

• Aspergillus
• Bacillus

A processed, mixed mineral residue remaining after ammonium-sulfate extraction of ion-exchangeable rare earths from weathered ion-adsorption ore. Zhang and colleagues (2024) prepared the studied material in the laboratory from Guangdong, China ore; this is not evidence of sampling an industrial tailings deposit. It is distinct from the natural ion-adsorption rare-earth clay feed, individual mineral species and isolated rare-earth products. The preparation included repeated salt leaching, rinsing, 60-mesh sieving, drying and crushing. The authors' ion-unexchangeable designation is operational, referring to the rare earths remaining after that pretreatment. It does not mean resistance to every subsequent extractant. The experimental feed contains mainly kaolinite, quartz, orthoclase and muscovite, with minor Fe-bearing and rare-earth-bearing phases. Its composition is not a universal tailings specification, and no criticality designation is inherited from its constituent elements.

• Aspergillus niger

Iridium (Ir), distinct from experimental hexachloroiridate(IV), metallic alloys and iridium-bearing ores or waste streams. The US 2025 list names iridium individually; this designation is mapped to the element without extending it to every Ir-bearing material. Curated evidence concerns laboratory adsorption and desorption using lyophilized unicellular algal biomass in synthetic solutions, not reduction to Ir metal or deployment.

• Galdieria javensis

Iron-ore tailings are processing-derived residual feeds from iron-ore production, distinct from natural iron ore, elemental iron and individual iron minerals. This record curates a mixed goethite/hematite/quartz tailing used as a source of biologically mobilized iron in a laboratory two-stage manganese-leaching experiment. The unnamed facility and tested composition do not define all iron-ore tailings. No criticality designation is inherited from constituents.

The element Fe, distinct from its dissolved ions, iron-bearing minerals, alloys, and ore grades. The UK designation maps to the explicitly named iron entry in the government's technical annex; it does not designate every Fe-bearing compound or Canada's separate high-purity iron ore commodity.

• Desulfovulcanus ferrireducens

Jadarite is the LiNaB3SiO7(OH) mineral species in the September 2026 IMA list, with approved status and approval number 2006-036. It is distinct from the lithium and boron elements, their commodity designations, and mixed Jadar Valley sediment. The experiment below is also represented in cmmmech:lithium; this mineral-level representation is not an independent replication. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Jarosite is the potassium ferric hydroxysulfate mineral with ideal formula KFe3(SO4)2(OH)6, with all three iron atoms ferric. The September 2026 IMA list records the species as redefined, 1987 s.p. This record denotes K-jarosite, not the broader jarosite family, natrojarosite, ammoniojarosite, hydroniumjarosite, elemental iron or an industrial jarosite-bearing waste. The experiment below uses a laboratory biosynthesized potassium-jarosite preparation whose bulk composition differs from the ideal endmember. No constituent-element criticality or commercial recovery status is inferred.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Kaliborite is the grandfathered potassium-magnesium borate species KHMg2B12O16(OH)10(H2O)4 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. Its 1889 entry is an original-description year, not an approval identifier. Burns and Hawthorne studied a natural Kazakhstan crystal from Canadian Museum of Nature specimen 53372 and refined a monoclinic C2/c structure with borate chains parallel to b. Their 1994 study located hydrogen by difference-Fourier analysis with O-H distance restraints. The apparently symmetric hydrogen bond was interpreted as dynamically disordered from structural and bond-valence arguments; this was not a direct measurement of hydrogen motion. The paper did not provide a new bulk chemical analysis of that crystal. A separate museum material supplied the thermal experiments below. This mineral is distinct from elemental boron and the borates commodity; neither criticality, microbial activity nor industrial recovery is inferred.

Kaolin-bearing material discarded into mine waste dumps because iron impurities prevented commercialization, represented by high- and low-iron samples supplied by Caobar SA from Poveda de la Sierra, Guadalajara, Spain. The source describes waste from beds not exploited for sale; it does not establish that this is processing tailings. The mixed kaolinite-rich feed is distinct from a kaolinite mineral species, natural kaolin resource, elemental iron or an isolated recovered product. Secondary-resource scope follows its mine-discard status, not the source's conflicting descriptions of primary versus secondary geological origin. No criticality designation is inferred from constituents.

• Bacillus thuringiensis

Naturally occurring kaolinite-bearing clay feed, represented here by a mixed ore from Bilecik-Söğüt, Turkey. XRD identified kaolinite, quartz and microcline as major phases. This resource is distinct from the mineral species kaolinite, discarded kaolin mine waste and a refined alumina or traded purity-defined product. Table 1 reports 0.82 wt% Fe2O3, 21.79 wt% Al2O3 and 66.83 wt% SiO2 as bulk XRF oxide equivalents, not mineral fractions or proof of a particular iron phase. The record does not inherit a criticality designation from aluminium or another constituent.

• Aspergillus niger

Kaolinite is the aluminium phyllosilicate mineral Al2Si2O5(OH)4, distinct from kaolin as a natural clay resource and from halloysite, dickite and nacrite. The September 2026 IMA list records approval by a 1980 special procedure, not a numbered mineral accession. The curated CMS KGa-1b and KGa-2 reference specimens differ in ordering and accessory phases; kaolinite-associated iron is not established as exclusively structural iron. No criticality designation is inferred from aluminium or kaolin.

• Ectopseudomonas mendocina

Katsarosite is the approved zinc oxalate dihydrate mineral, ideal Zn(C2O4).2H2O, IMA 2020-014, with monoclinic C2/c structure. It is distinct from zinc metal, dissolved zinc, zinc sulfate reagent and magnesium-dominant oxalates that can have a related diffraction pattern. No criticality designation is inherited from zinc.

• Aspergillus niger

Kernite is the Na2B4O6(OH)2·3H2O mineral species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1927 rather than a sequential approval identifier. It is distinct from elemental boron, the broad borates commodity and the separately hydrated borax and tincalconite species. Gatta et al. characterized a natural Kramer Deposit, California, museum specimen by chemical analyses, single-crystal X-ray diffraction at 293 K and neutron diffraction at 20 K, supporting monoclinic P21/c kernite. Their Table 3 reports the specimen-specific empirical formula Na1.99B3.99O6(OH)2·3.01H2O and 50.90 +/- 0.20 wt% B2O3. Water at 26.40 +/- 0.20 wt% was estimated by treating the mass loss on heating to 800 degrees C as water, rather than being a separately measured recovery product. Table 2 reports Li2O below 0.01 wt%, and Table 1 reports rare-earth oxide signals below its element-specific detection limits; these censored observations neither mean zero nor establish the composition of all kernite deposits. The neutron refinement and maximum-entropy analysis favor static positional disorder for two water-hydrogen populations in this specimen, refining the older X-ray model rather than defining another species. Proton tunneling was not completely excluded. The two temperature refinements retained the same general structure, an endpoint comparison rather than a continuously measured stability interval. This identity and crystal-chemistry record does not adopt the paper's general criticality language, proposed industrial applications or inferred natural formation conditions as demonstrated extraction, microbial activity or deployment.

Kësterite is the mineral species Cu2ZnSnS4, recorded as grandfathered (G) with original-description year 1956 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. That year is not an IMA approval identifier. This natural mineral identity is distinct from elemental tin or zinc, mixed ores, synthetic CZTS photovoltaic materials, stannite and ferrokësterite. Historical papers often spell the name kesterite and describe Fe-bearing members. Černý and colleagues (2001) measured four natural Peerless pegmatite nodules, assigning two Zn-dominant specimens to ferroan kesterite from electron-microprobe composition and characterizing powder-diffraction unit cells. They explicitly named specimens by composition and did not refine cation ordering or establish each specimen's space group. Their specimens are compositionally variable natural materials, not pure endmembers. The microbial study below tested separately synthesized material identified by the historical authors as kesterite; it did not test natural kësterite, solar-cell films or industrial feed. No criticality designation is inherited from tin, zinc or copper.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Kornelite is a monoclinic ferric sulfate mineral, represented in the September 2026 IMA list as Fe(III)2(SO4)3(H2O)6·1.75H2O. Its additional channel water is variable; historical seven-water formulae are not exact hydration measurements for every specimen. This species is distinct from paracoquimbite, ferricopiapite and undifferentiated ferric-sulfate salts. The evidence below separates abiotic synthesis of a characterized crystalline product from provisional diffraction assignments in mixed bacterial-culture solids. Neither experiment establishes a recovered iron product from ore or waste, industrial deployment or a criticality designation.

• Desulfovibrio desulfuricans

Kozoite-(La) is the lanthanum-dominant orthorhombic rare-earth hydroxyl carbonate mineral with ideal formula La(CO3)(OH), approved as IMA 2002-054. It is distinct from elemental lanthanum, other kozoite species, hydroxylbastnäsite-(La) and commercial rare-earth feeds. The original Mitsukoshi, Japan material consists of minute crystals in spherical aggregates with concentric La-dominant and Nd-dominant zones. Four La-domain microprobe analyses have average La0.83 and Nd0.40 on a two-cation basis, with appreciable Ca0.43; this is not a chemically pure La end member. Carbon and hydrogen could not be measured in that intergrown material: the reported carbonate, hydroxyl and water contents were calculated from an ancylite-type formula, while infrared bands support carbonate and OH. The analytical total including calculated volatiles is 101.19 wt%. Powder diffraction gives Pmcn and a = 4.986(4), b = 8.513(6), c = 7.227(10) Å; no single-crystal analysis was possible. Nearly matching diffraction patterns of the La and Nd species require chemical discrimination. The mechanism below concerns separately synthesized La carbonate, not dissolution of the natural zoned specimen. These sources do not establish microbial causality, industrial deployment or a jurisdiction-specific criticality designation.

Kozoite-(Nd) is the neodymium-dominant orthorhombic rare-earth hydroxyl carbonate mineral with ideal formula Nd(CO3)(OH), approved as IMA 1998-063. It is distinct from elemental neodymium, kozoite-(La), hydroxylbastnäsite-(Nd) and commercial rare-earth feeds. The original Niikoba, Hizen-cho, Japan material consists of crystals smaller than 10 µm in an alkali olivine basalt cavity. Six-grain microprobe analyses show a mixed rare-earth composition, including Nd0.85 and La0.61 on a two-cation basis, rather than a pure Nd end member. Fluorine was not detected; no detection limit is supplied. Carbon and hydrogen were measured separately by triplicate elemental analysis using approximately 5 mg portions. Synchrotron powder diffraction and Rietveld refinement give Pmcn, a = 4.9829(1), b = 8.5188(2), c = 7.2570(2) Å and Z = 4. Hydrogen positions were not located, and the original study could not exclude a nearly orthorhombic monoclinic structure without suitable single crystals. The thermal experiment below concerns this natural mixed-REE material, not an isolated synthetic Nd end member. These sources do not establish microbial formation, industrial recovery or a jurisdiction-specific criticality designation.

A barium-cerium fluorocarbonate mineral with the ideal IMA-CNMNC September 2026 formula Ba2Ce(CO3)3F and approval identifier 1995-040. This record denotes the Ce-dominant mineral species, not kukharenkoite-(La), a carbonatite ore or its constituent elements. Zaitsev et al. (1996) described natural specimens from the Khibina and Vuorijarvi massifs in Russia and the Mont Saint-Hilaire and Saint-Amable massifs in Quebec. Their KH1 specimen has mean Ce2O3 of 15.30 wt% and La2O3 of 6.61 wt% across twelve microprobe analyses (Table 2); this is a mixed-rare-earth natural composition, not the ideal pure-Ce formula or a recovery measurement. CO2 was calculated from stoichiometry because insufficient material was available for direct determination. Small apparent La dominance in KH5 was explicitly considered inconclusive because of interference-correction uncertainty; it is not assigned to the La species here. Krivovichev et al. (1998) refined a natural KH1 crystal from manganoan ankerite carbonatite at 293(2) K in monoclinic P21/m, with R = 0.044 using 2296 observed reflections. The idealized Ba2Ce(CO3)3F structural model and fluorine-centered coordination describe that mixed-REE natural crystal; they do not constitute a mineral-formation or extraction experiment. The 1996 description reports solubility in hydrochloric acid with effervescence without specifying acid concentration, duration, temperature, solid loading or yield. No quantified leaching or isolated-product recovery is inferred. Its suggested equivalence to historical zhonghuacerite-(Ce) was tentative because original material was unavailable. Deposited observed and calculated structure factors cited by the 1998 paper were not acquired. No microbial mechanism, industrial deployment or dated criticality designation is asserted.

Kurnakovite is the Mg[B3O3(OH)5](H2O)4·H2O mineral species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1940. The year is not an approval identifier. Its triclinic P-1 structure distinguishes it from its monoclinic dimorph inderite. It is also distinct from elemental boron, the borates commodity and a mixed borate-bearing experimental precipitate. Gatta et al. characterized natural Kramer Deposit, California, material by wet chemistry and neutron diffraction at 293 and 20 K. The structural model contains Mg-bound water and an interstitial water molecule, with chains connected by hydrogen bonds. Its specimen-specific chemistry is not a resource-grade survey: the reported water content assumes furnace mass loss is entirely water, and minor measured silicon may reflect impurities rather than structural substitution. Criticality and microbial activity are not inherited from boron content.

Kutnohorite is the CaMn2+(CO3)2 mineral species listed by IMA-CNMNC in its September 2026 master list (PDF page 119). Its status is grandfathered; 1903 is the original-description year, not an IMA approval number. The Handbook of Mineralogy places it in the dolomite group and describes ordered calcium and manganese in approximately equal proportions, commonly with magnesium and ferrous-iron substitution. Its generalized formula Ca(Mn2+,Mg,Fe2+)(CO3)2 and natural-specimen analyses describe compositional variation around the IMA endmember, not an invariant manganese grade. The Handbook reports occurrence in deposits associated with manganese-bearing sediments and identifies analyzed material from Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic and Franklin, New Jersey. The spelling kutnahorite appears in a historical reference title; the accepted species name used here is kutnohorite. This mineral is distinct from the dolomite group as a whole, bulk manganese ore, elemental manganese and manganese oxalates. No microbial mechanism or criticality designation is assigned here.

Naturally occurring L-group ordinary chondritic meteorite material considered as a potential experimental feed, not a mineral species, secondary waste or established commercial ore. The curated experiment used fragments identified by its authors as Northwest Africa 869, an L3-6 regolith breccia, containing heterogeneous silicate, sulfide and metal phases. These Earth-collected fragments were transported to the International Space Station; the study did not mine an asteroid in situ. Results apply to the tested specimens and conditions, not every L-chondrite. Constituent metals do not confer a criticality designation on this resource.

• Sphingomonas desiccabilis
• Penicillium simplicissimum

Laforêtite is the silver-indium sulfide mineral species AgInS2, listed as approved by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 under 1995-006. Meisser and colleagues' original description concerns tiny natural inclusions in a single galena specimen collected from the Montgros mine dumps in Haute-Loire, France. Reflected-light observations, eight electron-microprobe analyses on two grains, and in-situ X-ray diffraction support the mineral assignment. The diffraction measurement used a roughly 20 by 30 micrometre inclusion; galena reflections were removed, and preferred orientation limits comparison of intensities with the separate synthetic reference. The natural material was assigned to the tetragonal low-temperature AgInS2 form. The authors' laboratory synthesis produced a multiphase comparator, not a pure natural specimen or microbial product; synthetic hardness measurements and preparation temperatures are not natural-specimen measurements. This species is distinct from elemental indium, bulk mine waste, and manufactured AgInS2 polymorphs considered solely by chemical formula. The sampled inclusions establish neither a bulk resource grade nor an extraction yield. No microbial mechanism, industrial recovery claim, or constituent-derived criticality designation is assigned.

Lansfordite is the hydrated magnesium carbonate mineral Mg(CO3)(H2O)5, conventionally MgCO3·5H2O, listed as grandfathered with original-description year 1888 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. The year is not an approval identifier. It is distinct from nesquehonite, other magnesium carbonates, magnesium metal and mixed mineral resources. Evidence below separates abiotic laboratory synthesis/dehydration from one natural occurrence associated with cactus decay; no constituent criticality, identified microbial producer or industrial recovery is inferred.

Lanthanite-(Ce) is the cerium-dominant lanthanite mineral, approved as IMA 1983-055, with ideal formula Ce2(CO3)3(H2O)6·2H2O, equivalently Ce2(CO3)3·8H2O. It is distinct from elemental cerium, cerianite, the lanthanite group and rare-earth ores or commodities. Bevins et al. (1985) characterized natural plates from oxidized copper ore at Britannia Mine, North Wales. Their measured mixed-REE composition gave the empirical cation terms Ce0.78La0.55Nd0.55Sm0.09Gd0.05Y0.04 on the reported 17-oxygen basis, with 7.96H2O; it is not a pure Ce end-member or an ore-grade measurement. Water was determined thermogravimetrically, carbon dioxide by CHN analysis and rare-earth composition by electron microprobe; sample deterioration limited analytical totals. Diffraction indicated orthorhombic Pbnb, a nonstandard setting of Pccn. Atencio et al. (1989) also found their historically labelled Bastnäs lanthanite specimen to be Ce-dominant. The mechanism below concerns separately synthesized Ce carbonate phases and does not establish microbial weathering of these natural specimens, industrial recovery or a dated criticality designation.

Lanthanite-(La) is the lanthanum-dominant lanthanite mineral, with ideal formula La2(CO3)3(H2O)6·2H2O, equivalently La2(CO3)3·8H2O. The September 2026 IMA list treats it as a renamed species, with year 1987 s.p.; this nomenclatural action is not a unique mineral approval number. It is distinct from elemental lanthanum, the lanthanite group, other carbonate hydrates and commercial rare-earth feeds. Historical locality labels require caution: the IMA row retains Sweden, whereas Atencio et al. (1989) found their Bastnäs specimen B10531 to be Ce-dominant. Their reassessment of published Curitiba analyses includes La-dominant and Nd-dominant specimens, so neither all Bastnäs material nor all Curitiba material can be assigned to this species solely from its locality. The experiment below concerns a separately synthesized La carbonate analogue of lanthanite, not dissolution of a natural mixed-REE specimen. No jurisdiction-specific criticality designation, microbial process or industrial deployment is established by these sources.

Lanthanite-(Nd) is the neodymium-dominant lanthanite mineral, approved as IMA 1979-074, with ideal formula Nd2(CO3)3(H2O)6·2H2O, equivalently Nd2(CO3)3·8H2O. It is distinct from elemental neodymium, the lanthanite group and other rare-earth carbonate species. Morrison et al. (2013) characterized a natural specimen from Mitsukoshi, Saga Prefecture, Japan. Electron-microprobe results averaged over 23 analysis points gave a mixed rare-earth composition with Nd0.95La0.61Pr0.17Sm0.12Gd0.08Y0.04Eu0.03 per two rare-earth cations in the reported empirical formula; water was assigned by difference. This is specimen chemistry, not a pure neodymium end-member, ore grade or recovered-metal yield. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction at 296 K resolved an orthorhombic Pccn structure containing sheets of rare-earth coordination polyhedra and carbonate groups. All rare-earth elements were modeled as Nd because of their similar X-ray scattering, so this refinement does not determine their individual site distributions. Water hydrogen positions could not be assigned reliably and were excluded from refinement; the proposed hydrogen-bond connections rely on oxygen geometry and bond-valence interpretation. The original CIF and reflection downloads remain unverified despite access to the complete article and its rendered supplementary crystallographic information. This record establishes identity and characterization without asserting microbial formation, extraction performance, industrial deployment or a jurisdiction-specific criticality designation.

The element La, distinct from dissolved La(III), lanthanum chloride, lanthanum oxalate, lanthanum oxide and La-bearing minerals or wastes. The dated US designation concerns the named lanthanum mineral commodity; it does not transfer criticality to every La-bearing material. Laboratory evidence below concerns fungal production of a precipitation medium and separate chemical conversion of a precipitate, not extraction from an ore.

• Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015

Larderellite is the ammonium borate mineral (NH4)B5O7(OH)2·H2O in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. Its grandfathered status G and year 1854 describe its nomenclatural history, not a sequential approval identifier. It is distinct from other ammonium borates, a generic experimental ammonium salt, elemental boron and the borates commodity. Fastelli and colleagues characterized natural material from Larderello, Italy, by powder diffraction, reflectance spectroscopy and thermal analysis. Figure 1b's starting-sample diffraction fit reports 94.3% larderellite, 0.4% bassanite and 5.3% polyhalite. These are fitted phase fractions in a mixed specimen, not an independent chemical-purity assay. The study does not establish biological origin or microbial activity merely because the mineral contains ammonium, and no criticality designation is inherited from boron.

Laueite is a grandfathered triclinic manganese-ferric phosphate mineral with IMA ideal formula Mn(II)Fe(III)2(PO4)2(OH)2(H2O)6·2H2O and historical year 1954 in the September 2026 list. It is distinct from stewartite and pseudolaueite, which have different framework arrangements, and from strunzite, which has a different water content. Moore (1965) determined the P-1 structure of a natural Palermo No. 1 Quarry, New Hampshire crystal; hydrogen positions were not located. Baur (1969) proposed Mn(III) substitution from earlier bond lengths, while acknowledging other substituents; this was an interpretation, not a direct oxidation-state assay or current species formula. Grey et al. (2025) demonstrated an epitaxial orientation of laueite on stewartite in a natural Hagendorf-Sud composite crystal by single-crystal diffraction and indexed faces. Its rhomb contained both minerals. The EDS-derived laueite metal composition Mn0.66Mg0.17Fe2.17, scaled to three metal atoms, differs from the simplified refined Mn/Mg site occupancy 0.93(2)/0.07; neither is the ideal species formula. The ferric assignment and adjusted hydroxyl/water proportions were inferred from bond-valence and charge-balance considerations. Deposited checks flag displacement parameters, missing hydrogen sites and formula/Z reporting differences, limiting detailed atomistic interpretation. Suggested solution changes and heterosite-assisted nucleation remain paragenetic hypotheses. No controlled transformation, microbial mechanism, recovery performance or inherited criticality designation is curated.

Partly vitrified residue generated during lead blast-furnace smelting. The curated example is granulated slag from the former lead-zinc smelter at Noyelles-Godault, northern France, containing a silicate glass matrix, crystalline phases and metallic lead droplets. It is a process-defined secondary resource, distinct from elemental lead or zinc, a pure mineral, copper-smelter slag, steelmaking slag, furnace dust or zinc-leach residue. Its composition is sample-specific. No criticality designation is inherited from constituent elements.

• Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Lead (Pb), represented as an element distinct from dissolved lead, pyromorphite mineral and lead-bearing commodities or wastes. Laboratory bacterial cultures enhanced Pb release from synthetic pyromorphite, demonstrating that microbial interactions can remobilize previously immobilized lead. The United States 2025 designation names the lead commodity; it does not designate every lead compound, mineral or secondary resource.

• Pseudomonas putida

Lepidocrocite is the Fe(III)O(OH) mineral species listed as approved (A), with 1980 special-procedure history, in the September 2026 IMA master list. The 1980 s.p. entry is not an approval-number CURIE. This species is distinct from goethite, akaganeite, iron element, iron-ore commodities, and the chemically prepared or commercial laboratory feeds discussed below. No iron criticality designation is inherited.

• Shewanella putrefaciens CN-32

Libethenite is the copper hydroxide phosphate mineral Cu2(PO4)(OH). The September 2026 IMA list records grandfathered status G and the historical year 1823, not a numbered approval proposal. It is distinct from elemental copper, unspecified copper phosphates and waste printed circuit boards. The experiment below assigned a laboratory filter-residue phase to libethenite in an uninoculated leaching comparator; no natural libethenite ore, pure product or inherited criticality is asserted.

This commodity subgroup uses the EU 2020 critical-raw-material assessment's five-member light-rare-earth convention: lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium and samarium. Promethium is excluded and scandium is assessed separately in that source. The assessment covers oxide mixtures and low-purity single oxides in its initial-processing stage, and high-purity metals or interalloys in advanced refining. These are related commodity forms, not one mineral or alloy. The EU 2024 Annex II designation names light rare earth elements without enumerating members; its mapping here uses the explicitly stated EU 2020 assessment convention. Light/heavy boundaries in other conventions are not asserted equivalent. This group overlaps individual element records and the broader rare-earth commodity family; no group-wide microbial mechanism or strategic designation is inferred from individual members.

Lindbergite is the approved manganese oxalate dihydrate mineral, Mn(C2O4)(H2O)2, IMA 2003-029. The authoritative mineral description assigns monoclinic symmetry and space group C2/c. It is distinct from elemental manganese, natural manganese nodules, the orthorhombic manganese oxalate dihydrate polymorph, and the trihydrate falottaite. No criticality designation is inherited from manganese.

• Aspergillus niger
• Serpula himantioides

Lithiophilite is the lithium manganese(II) phosphate mineral LiMn2+(PO4), listed by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 as grandfathered with original-description year 1878, not an approval identifier. It is distinct from Fe2+-dominant triphylite, synthetic battery materials of unspecified phase and oxidized lithium-deficient group members. Losey2004 measured natural Mn-rich crystals from the Bennett Quarry, Maine, and Fillow Quarry, Branchville, Connecticut, using microprobe and single-crystal diffraction in orthorhombic space group 62 (Pbnm setting; Handbook Pmnb is another setting). Natural samples contain substitutional Fe and are not pure endmembers. Lithium in that study was constrained or assumed rather than independently measured. The separate Schmid-Beurmann2013 oxidation assay used a laboratory-synthesized, diffraction-assigned LiMnPO4 powder and found no detected phase or lattice change under one specified treatment. That conditional null does not establish universal resistance to lithium dissolution. Neither source demonstrates microbial transformation, isolated lithium recovery or inherited criticality.

Naturally occurring geothermal saline water containing dissolved lithium, considered as a geological extraction feed. The resource is a variable aqueous mixture, distinct from elemental lithium, a mineral species, manufactured lithium carbonate and waste-derived secondary resources. The curated experiment used one unsterilized brine from an unnamed Cornish geothermal project; its composition and laboratory response do not define all geothermal brines. No criticality designation or external material identifier is inferred from the lithium constituent.

• Sporosarcina pasteurii

Lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) supplied as a manufactured chemical commodity. This product family is distinct from elemental lithium, lithium-bearing brines and ores, and other lithium salts. Albemarle describes separate technical, battery and pharmaceutical product grades; grade names do not make every lithium carbonate lot interchangeable. Its dated product 401125 technical sheet specifies at least 99.0% Li2CO3 and lists cathode manufacture among its applications, illustrating why a battery-related use alone does not establish a universal battery-grade threshold. That supplier-specific assay is not the definition of this whole family. SAMR separately registers YS/T 582-2023 for battery-grade lithium carbonate, but its complete technical tables were not inspected. No criticality designation, microbial production or qualified recovered-product yield is asserted here.

Manufactured lithium hydroxide monohydrate products, with nominal composition LiOH.H2O. The hydration state distinguishes this commodity from anhydrous LiOH; it is not elemental lithium or the general battery-grade lithium umbrella. Albemarle product 401106 is a crystalline monohydrate with a supplier specification of at least 55.0% LiOH by acidimetric titration, expressed as LiOH rather than as monohydrate purity. Its stated applications include lubricating greases and alkaline storage batteries. SAMR separately names a battery-grade monohydrate standard, GB/T 26008-2020; the complete qualification tables were not inspected. The supplier assay and the existence of that narrower standard do not qualify every monohydrate product for lithium-ion cathode manufacture. No criticality designation or microbial production mechanism is asserted.

Natural lithium-bearing ore containing lithium micas together with other mineral phases. The 2020 curated experiment used crushed ore from Beauvoir, France, supplied by the University of Birmingham and called lepidolite by Sedlakova-Kadukova et al. Its initial XRD pattern was assigned to polylithionite, muscovite and kaolinite in supplementary Figure S2A. These are source-qualified assignments in a heterogeneous feed, not a certified pure polylithionite specimen or quantitative phase proportions. Lepidolite is series terminology, not an unambiguous mineral-species identifier. This extracted geological feed remains a primary resource, distinct from an individual mica species, elemental lithium, a processing waste or a purified lithium product. A separate 2025 experiment used a supplier-provided mixed feed called lepidolite, with mica, albite and quartz assignments and additional celadonite labels in its initial diffraction figure; no mine provenance or quantitative species composition was supplied. The two feeds are separate experiments within this resource category. No criticality designation or industrial deployment is inferred from its lithium content.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans
• Aspergillus niger
• +1 more

The element Li, distinct from dissolved lithium ions, Li-bearing mineral species or groups, and battery materials. The US designation below concerns the named lithium commodity in the 2025 list, not every Li-containing resource.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Lizardite is the Mg3Si2O5(OH)4 mineral species, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list with original-description year 1956. It is distinct from elemental magnesium, generic serpentine minerals and ultramafic rock resources. The experimental material was designated lizardite and chemically characterized by the authors; no quantitative phase-purity result is reported in the inspected study. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Priestia aryabhattai

Löllingite, commonly written loellingite, is the orthorhombic iron arsenide mineral with ideal formula FeAs2. The September 2026 IMA list records it as grandfathered, with original-description year 1845. It is distinct from arsenopyrite, skutterudite, elemental arsenic and a mixed arsenic-bearing ore. Natural compositions need not be exact endmembers. The accepted microbial experiment concerns a quantified loellingite-arsenopyrite feed mixed with pyrite, not purified loellingite. Its flotation response does not establish dissolved-metal extraction, an isolated loellingite product or industrial deployment. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

• Leptospirillum ferrooxidans

Ludlamite is the ferrous phosphate mineral with ideal formula Fe2+3(PO4)2(H2O)4, recorded as grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list. It is a distinct mineral species from the three-water phosphoferrite and eight-water vivianite. Moore (1971) investigated natural ludlamite crystals from the Palermo number 1 mine in an abiotic heating comparison. The lower-temperature arms retained the starting powder pattern, whereas the 240 degrees C arm gave a ferric product with diffuse diffraction unrelated to the initial mineral. This observation does not identify a pure crystalline product or establish a general transformation temperature for all ludlamite specimens. The ludlamite and phosphoferrite observations curated in this corpus are different mineral arms of the same study, not independent replications. No microbial process, isolated-product recovery or constituent-derived criticality designation is asserted.

Ludwigite ore denotes a heterogeneous boron-bearing iron ore or its beneficiated boron-iron concentrate, represented here by the mixed geological feed used by Liang et al. (2024). It is not the mineral species ludwigite, elemental boron or iron, a borates commodity specification, or the secondary residue left after processing. The experimental substrate for water leaching was a soda-ash-roasted derivative of that concentrate; its altered composition must not be assigned to the original ore. The paper's Table 2 reports 5.12 wt% B2O3 and 58.23 wt% total iron in this reduced feed, and Figure 9 identifies metallic iron, sodium magnesium silicate, sodium silicate and magnesium-ferrous oxide. Its bulk-feed result cannot establish which individual original boron mineral supplied the dissolved boron. The exact mine/sample identifier and original batch mineral proportions are not established in the inspected 2024 article, which refers to earlier work for the ore characterization. No constituent's criticality designation is transferred to this resource.

Lutetium is the element Lu, represented here by its neutral-atom identity, distinct from dissolved Lu(III), chloride feed, host minerals and mixed rare-earth commodities. The United States designation refers to the named element in the Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. A laboratory mixed-chloride experiment supports lutetium biosorption associated with washed Bacillus subtilis biomass; it does not establish a purified lutetium product or industrial recovery.

• Bacillus subtilis

Mackinawite is the FeS mineral species listed as approved, with the designation 1967 s.p., in the September 2026 IMA compilation. The phase is distinct from unspecified iron monosulfide, pyrrhotite, greigite, pyrite and elemental iron. The evidence below concerns laboratory precipitation from dissolved reagents and direct crystallographic identification, not extraction from a natural mackinawite ore. No constituent-element criticality designation is inherited.

• Maridesulfovibrio hydrothermalis AM13 = DSM 14728

Maghemite is the ferric iron oxide mineral commonly written gamma-Fe2O3, distinct from hematite, magnetite, elemental iron and an unresolved magnetic iron-oxide mixture. The September 2026 IMA list gives the vacancy-bearing formula (Fe3+0.67 vacancy0.33)Fe3+2O4 and status Rd, redefined through a 2018 special procedure; this is not an IMA proposal identifier. The curated laboratory study used synthesized nanomaghemite and supports culture-associated reduction toward magnetite-like products, with sulfate-dependent differences and mixed-product limitations. No iron criticality designation, natural-ore extraction yield or industrial deployment is inherited.

• Desulfovibrio sp. J01

The industrial magnesite commodity scope used in the BGS/CMIC UK 2024 assessment. Its commodity HS-code table groups natural magnesium carbonate with magnesium oxide and dead-burned or fused magnesia. This source-defined industrial category therefore includes processed forms and is broader than the mineral species magnesite, MgCO3; it is not elemental magnesium or every magnesium compound. The criticality entry applies to that assessment category, with no transfer of a mineral-only identifier. OR/24/059 explicitly does not constitute government policy. Formation of MgCO3 in a microbial laboratory system alone does not demonstrate production of this industrial commodity or its grades, and no microbial mechanism is asserted.

Magnesium in metallic commercial forms, considered as a raw-material commodity. The USGS separates the magnesium-metal market from magnesium compounds and describes primary and secondary metal production and its use in castings, alloy manufacture and metallurgical processing. This commodity is distinct from the magnesium element as a chemical identity, dissolved magnesium ions, magnesium-bearing minerals and magnesium compounds. Alloy and scrap statistics expressed as magnesium content do not make every alloy or waste stream synonymous with this commodity. The designation below preserves the original EU 2024 strategic-list wording; no universal purity threshold or microbial production, extraction or recovery mechanism is asserted.

Magnesium (Mg), the chemical element. The named magnesium commodity in the US 2025 list is mapped to this element; its designation is not inherited by every magnesium mineral. The experiment concerns magnesium-containing mineral transformation, not production of elemental magnesium metal.

• Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015

Magnetite is the Fe(II)Fe(III)2O4 mineral species, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list with original-description year 1845. It is distinct from elemental iron, maghemite, ferrihydrite and a mixed magnetic precipitate. The experiment below forms a magnetite-rich, probably cation-deficient mixed product from synthetic ferrihydrite; it does not demonstrate pure ideal magnetite or recovery from natural magnetite ore. The Ax17 assay is also represented under iron and the paired ferrihydrite/magnetite record; these are substrate/product perspectives on one experiment, not independent replication. No iron criticality designation is inherited.

• Desulfovulcanus ferrireducens

Malachite is the grandfathered copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, Cu2(CO3)(OH)2, recognized by the IMA-CNMNC September 2026 list. It is distinct from elemental copper, azurite, copper oxalate moolooite, malachite-green dye and mixed copper ores. The experiment curated here used synthetic malachite, not a natural ore. No criticality designation is inherited from copper.

• Serpula himantioides
• Coniophora puteana
• Serpula lacrymans
• +1 more

Manganese ore here denotes natural manganese-bearing geological feed, including the mixed ore excavated from an abandoned Michigan mine in the curated study. It is a primary resource, distinct from the pyrolusite mineral species, elemental manganese, electrolytic manganese products and processing residues. The source calls its sample pyrolusite ore, but reports several manganese minerals. This record does not define a traded product grade or inherit constituent criticality.

• Aspergillus niger

Manufactured manganese sulfate monohydrate products, nominally MnSO4.H2O. The monohydrate commodity is distinct from manganese metal, other sulfate hydration states, dissolved manganese in a leachate, and a mineral specimen. Pan Chem supplies monohydrate powder for feed and fertilizer applications, and Ihumate publishes the monohydrate formula and an agricultural product specification. These sources establish a manufactured product family rather than one battery qualification. Walsun separately describes high-purity manganese sulfate for lithium-ion cathode precursors, while SAMR registers HG/T 4823-2023 for manganese sulfate for batteries; the complete standard tables were not inspected. Neither that end use nor this one salt exhausts the broader battery-grade manganese family. No universal purity cutoff, criticality designation or microbial production of qualified crystals is asserted.

The element Mn, distinct from its dissolved oxidation states, ligand complexes, oxide minerals, and Mn-bearing commodities. The US designation below maps to the explicitly named manganese commodity in the 2025 list; it does not assign criticality to every Mn-bearing compound or resource.

• Pseudomonas putida GB-1

Manganite is the manganese(III) oxide hydroxide mineral MnO(OH), listed as grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. The year 1826 is its historical date, not an IMA approval accession. It is distinct from elemental manganese, manganese ore, the MnO2 minerals pyrolusite and ramsdellite, and other MnOOH polymorphs. The experiment below used laboratory-prepared material assigned to manganite by the source, not natural ore or a certified phase-pure mineral reference. No criticality designation is inherited from manganese.

• Shewanella sp. MR-4

Marcasite is the orthorhombic FeS2 mineral species, distinct from cubic pyrite, other iron sulfides, elemental iron and mixed sulfide ores. The September 2026 IMA list records grandfathered status and original-description year 1845; the year is not an approval accession. The accepted experiment used powder characterized as marcasite by composition and diffraction, without a reported refined phase fraction or specific surface area. No constituent criticality is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Mcallisterite is the Mg2[B6O7(OH)6]2·9H2O mineral species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, approved as 1963-012. The original 1965 description used the spelling Macallisterite and the equivalent oxide formula 2MgO·6B2O3·15H2O. Natural material from the Mott prospect, Furnace Creek Wash, California was intimately mixed with ginorite, sassolite and other impurities. Its powder pattern matched separately synthesized mcallisterite, with residual impurity peaks; the authors did not obtain an impurity-free natural powder pattern. Larger synthetic crystals supplied the single-crystal and accurate physical-property measurements. Natural chemical compositions were calculated after subtracting assumed impurity contributions, rather than measured on pure mineral. This boron-bearing species is distinct from elemental boron and the borates commodity. Criticality, microbial activity and industrial recovery are not inferred.

Melanterite is the monoclinic ferrous sulfate heptahydrate mineral, FeSO4·7H2O, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from dissolved ferrous sulfate, other sulfate hydrates and ferric oxides. The accepted primary study assigns minor melanterite in a mixed solid from a nitrate/Fe(II) microcosm containing Comamonas strain HJ-2. This is a qualified culture-associated phase observation, not proof of metabolically necessary crystallization, pure-mineral production or iron recovery. The strain's species identification is unresolved.

Meta-ankoleite is an IMA-approved potassium uranyl phosphate mineral, K(UO2)(PO4)·3H2O, approval 1963-013. The doubled formula K2(UO2)2(PO4)2·6H2O describes the same ideal composition. It is distinct from calcium meta-autunite, hydronium chernikovite, ammonium uramphite, dissolved uranium salts and elemental uranium. The laboratory evidence below is a source-assigned meta-ankoleite component of yeast-associated uranyl phosphate precipitates; overlapping diffraction matches and incomplete cation/hydration characterization prevent an unequivocal pure-species assignment. No uranium criticality designation is inherited.

• Kluyveromyces lactis

Metacinnabar is the cubic mercury sulfide mineral beta-HgS, distinct from trigonal cinnabar, hypercinnabar, elemental mercury and unspecified Hg-S precipitates. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1870, not a unique approval accession. The curated experiment concerns mercury mobilization and reduction from mineral feed, not microbial formation of this species or a purified recovery product. No mercury or selenium criticality designation is inherited.

• Thiobacillus thioparus

Sludge generated during grinding of metal workpieces with cooling fluids, represented by an iron-rich sample from Tatra Koprivnice. Material collected from grinding-fluid traps contains metal particles and other phases; it is distinct from elemental iron, a specified alloy and coal-combustion cinder or slag. The evidence concerns the sampled processing residue, not every grinding sludge or an industrial bioleaching operation. No criticality designation is inferred from the metals it contains.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Metal-rich solid burrs generated by machining, represented here by an industrial sample obtained in Mexico City and mechanically reduced before laboratory testing. This resource denotes machining offcuts rather than a particular alloy, elemental metal, smelting slag or coolant-trap grinding sludge. The sampled batch was iron-rich but its alloy and phase identities, facility, collection date and machining operation were not specified. Industrial origin does not establish industrial bioleaching deployment, and no criticality designation is inferred from its constituents.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Metal-bearing, organic-matter-containing sedimentary shale considered as a geological resource. This heterogeneous rock is distinct from its constituent elements, individual mineral species, a standardized traded concentrate and processing-generated waste. The cited Pakistani, Polish and incompletely localized experimental feeds are not interchangeable. The Polish neutral-stage experiment used a previously acid-bioleached and washed derivative of the ore; its remaining-metal denominator is not the original geological feed inventory. No constituent's criticality designation or industrial recovery performance is inherited by this resource family.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Coal products used in steelmaking, scoped here to the broader commodity family recognized by the EIA glossary and the IEA Coal 2020 report. EIA includes coking coal and pulverized coal consumed in steelmaking; IEA includes coking, semi-soft blending coal and pulverised coal injection (PCI) coal. This family explicitly overlaps cmmmech:coking-coal as a narrower coke-making subset; it is not a second disjoint coking-coal identity. IEA excludes anthracite from its metallurgical category even when used in metallurgy. In contrast, USGS Fact Sheet 2026-3061 uses metallurgical coal and coking coal interchangeably within its coke-production scope. These source-dependent boundaries are retained rather than asserted to be a universal coal classification. The record denotes an end-use commodity, not elemental carbon, a mineral species, manufactured coke or every coal burned industrially. No numerical grade threshold, criticality designation or microbial mechanism is generalized across this family.

Metaschoepite is a uranyl oxide hydroxide hydrate mineral, distinct from schoepite, elemental uranium and the products historically called dehydrated schoepite. The September 2026 IMA list gives (UO2)8O2(OH)12·10H2O and grandfathered status G; 1960 is the original description year, not an approval accession. Historical schoepite II terminology is retained only as context. Natural crystals undergoing alteration and synthetic metaschoepite exposed to controlled humidity are separate evidence populations. The synthetic formula [(UO2)4O(OH)6]·5H2O is the same ideal stoichiometry on a four-uranium basis. No criticality, microbial activity or industrial recovery is inferred from these laboratory mineral transformations.

Metastudtite is the uranyl peroxide dihydrate mineral UO4·2H2O, equivalent in composition to (UO2)(O2)(H2O)2. The September 2026 IMA list gives approved status A and approval accession 1981-055. It is distinct from studtite, other uranium hydrates, elemental uranium and uranium commodities. The original description concerns natural Shinkolobwe material and a separate heated natural-studtite mixture; modern thermal and aqueous experiments used synthetic substrates. A particular historical structure model is not asserted as the unique current structure. No criticality, microbial activity, isolated uranium recovery or industrial deployment is inferred.

Metatorbernite is the copper uranyl phosphate mineral Cu(UO2)2(PO4)2(H2O)4·4H2O in the September 2026 IMA list, with grandfathered status G. The year 1916 is a historical description year, not a numbered IMA approval. Its ideal eight-water composition is distinct from twelve-water torbernite, arsenate metazeunerite, calcium meta-autunite, uranyl ions and elemental uranium or copper. Locock and Burns grew synthetic metatorbernite in copper-bearing silica gel at room temperature over three weeks and refined an epoxy-coated, merohedrally twinned crystal in P4/n. Its 88.3(6)% fitted copper-site occupancy and constrained hydrogen model are specimen-specific; proposed oxonium charge compensation was not directly established. The 2023 natural Cornwall crystal instead gave the preferred P4/nmm model with a smaller c repeat. These are source-specific structural models, not grounds to replace all specimens with one symmetry or transfer occupancy between them. Thermal behavior below is abiotic laboratory evidence; neither criticality nor microbial extraction, isolated-product recovery or industrial deployment is inferred.

Metatyuyamunite is the calcium uranyl vanadate mineral Ca(UO2)2(VO4)2·3H2O. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list recognizes it with grandfathered status G; 1954 is the original-description year, not an IMA approval accession. This mineral-species owner is distinct from tyuyamunite, carnotite, the broader carnotite group, elemental uranium or vanadium and the mixed sandstone used experimentally. Glasauer et al. (2022) identified metatyuyamunite, written meta- tyuyamunite in the paper, together with fritzscheite in the starting natural uranium-vanadium sandstone. After incubation with living Shewanella putrefaciens CN32, metatyuyamunite was still identified by X-ray diffraction in the final fine fraction together with K-carnotite. Figure 1b and sections 3.1 and 3.3 support presence in both assemblages; they do not quantify its surviving mass or prove that the same crystals persisted. Section 4.1 explicitly states that the two starting minerals could not be observed separately during incubation. Thus the mixed-ore vanadium reduction cannot be assigned specifically to metatyuyamunite, and residual detection does not demonstrate complete resistance to transformation. Section 3.2 names tyuyamunite as a carnotite precursor while the conclusion instead names fritzscheite; neither statement establishes a resolved phase-specific pathway. The shared laboratory experiment used 1.6 g of mixed sandstone in 80 mL defined medium with 10 mM sodium lactate and 1 mM phosphate, nitrogen degassing and autoclaving before inoculation, followed by an anoxic glovebox incubation extending to ten months. Treatments were in triplicate. These three mineral records refer to the same experiment, not independent replications. Bacteria-free solution controls were included, but do not isolate each phase's fate. The mixed-ore spectra support partial V reduction while U remained predominantly U(VI); results from the separate soluble-salt arm must not be transferred to this mineral. Dissolved U was low, rather than established to be exactly zero. Section 3.2 gives a V plateau time of 120 days while Figure 2 labels the time axes in hours, so no exact kinetic endpoint is adopted. The species identity and bounded mixed-assemblage occurrence are curated without a mineral-specific mechanism assertion. There is no supported pure-metatyuyamunite rate, recovered-product yield or industrial- deployment claim here. No criticality designation is inherited from its constituent elements.

Metavivianite is the approved mixed-valence iron phosphate mineral species Fe2+Fe3+2(PO4)2(OH)2(H2O)6, IMA 1973-049. It is distinct from vivianite, elemental iron or phosphorus, and an unidentified oxidized iron-phosphate mixture. Laboratory abiotic precipitation provides diffraction-supported formation in a mixed product. A separate bacterial enrichment study proposed a metavivianite-like intermediate without diffraction confirmation; that observation is retained as provisional and does not establish formation of the accepted mineral species. No constituent criticality designation or industrial recovery claim is inherited.

Metazeunerite is the copper uranyl arsenate mineral Cu(UO2)2(AsO4)2(H2O)4·4H2O in the September 2026 IMA list, with grandfathered status G. The year 1937 is a historical description year, not a numbered IMA approval. Its ideal eight-water composition is distinct from twelve-water zeunerite, phosphate metatorbernite, calcium meta-autunite and elemental uranium, arsenic or copper. Locock and Burns synthesized its analogue hydrothermally at 220(1) degrees C for 24 h after controlled heating, then refined an epoxy-coated, twinned crystal in P4/n at room temperature. The hydrogen model was constrained; metatorbernite copper deficiency is not a metazeunerite result. A later natural German specimen gave a preferred P4/nmm model with a smaller c repeat, while synthetic low-temperature powder data were indexed orthorhombically. These specimen- and condition-specific models are preserved rather than merged. The thermal evidence is laboratory and abiotic; no criticality, microbial mechanism, isolated-product recovery or industrial deployment is inherited from composition.

Meyerhofferite is the CaB3O3(OH)5·H2O mineral species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1914. The year is not an approval identifier. It is distinct from the more hydrated species inyoite, elemental boron and the borates commodity. Gatta et al. studied Bigadiç, Turkey, museum specimen MM5990 by chemical analysis, synchrotron X-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction. The ambient P-1 structure comprises borate rings and eight-coordinate calcium polyhedra in chains connected by hydrogen bonds. The reported chemical analysis has unresolved internal discrepancies: B2O3 is 46.3(2) wt% in the methods but 44.30 plus or minus 0.20 wt% in Table 3, whose listed entries sum to 97.95 wt% rather than the printed 100.05 wt% total. These values are not silently normalized or corrected. No criticality designation or microbial activity is inferred from boron content.

Microcline is a triclinic potassium feldspar mineral with ideal formula KAlSi3O8, distinct from orthoclase, the potassium-feldspar family and traded feldspar. The September 2026 IMA list records grandfathered status. Curated field specimens differ in accessory minerals: the South Dakota material contains albite intergrowths with apatite inclusions, whereas the Ontario comparison was homogeneous and phosphorus-poor. Their behavior is not a chemically pure microcline endmember response. No criticality designation is inherited from feldspar commodity or constituent elements.

Millerite is the trigonal NiS mineral species, distinct from hexagonal alpha-NiS, hydrated or unresolved nickel-sulfide precursors, elemental nickel and mixed ores. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1845; that year is not a unique approval accession. The curated mechanism concerns a synthetic mineral-assigned component of laboratory precipitates. No nickel criticality designation or industrial deployment is inherited.

• Nitratidesulfovibrio vulgaris str. Hildenborough

Mimetite is the Pb5(AsO4)3Cl mineral species, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list with original-description year 1832. It is distinct from elemental lead or arsenic, dissolved arsenate, the phosphate mineral pyromorphite and an unspecified lead-bearing ore. The curated experiment used a characterized but impure natural mimetite specimen. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

• Aspergillus niger

Molybdenite is the MoS2 mineral species, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list with original-description year 1796. It is distinct from elemental molybdenum, dissolved molybdate, manufactured MoS2 and mixed ores or concentrates. The experiment below concerns molybdenite within a heterogeneous commercial ore-grade specimen, not a purified mineral. No criticality designation is inherited from molybdenum.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

The element Mo, distinct from molybdate ions, experimental sodium molybdate, molybdenum-blue products, molybdenite and other Mo-bearing resources. The Canadian designation is the named molybdenum material in its 2024 list; it does not assign criticality to every compound or ore. A laboratory DRY1 culture study supports molybdenum-blue formation consistent with molybdate transformation, without an isolated-metal recovery yield or a chemically resolved product phase.

• gamma proteobacterium DR.Y1

Monazite-(Ce) is the cerium-dominant phosphate mineral species with ideal formula Ce(PO4), distinct from elemental cerium, other monazite species and mixed monazite-bearing ores. Ni, Hughes and Mariano (1995) characterized a natural crystal from the Kangankunde carbonatite, Malawi, using chemical analysis and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Its monoclinic P2_1/n structure has nine-coordinate rare-earth sites. The natural crystal contains other rare-earth elements; the separately studied synthetic CePO4 crystal is not that specimen. This structural study establishes neither microbial transformation nor metal recovery. No dated criticality designation or industrial deployment is assigned.

Monazite-(Gd) is the gadolinium-dominant monazite species with ideal formula Gd(PO4), approved as IMA 2022-055. It is distinct from elemental gadolinium, mixed rare-earth ores and tetragonal xenotime-(Gd), which shares its ideal formula. Ondrejka et al. (2023) characterized natural microscopic domains from the Zimna Voda quartz vein near Prakovce, Slovakia, using wavelength-dispersive electron-microprobe analysis, Raman spectroscopy and selected-area electron diffraction of a focused ion-beam lamella. These observations support monoclinic P21/n symmetry. The six analyses in Table 2 average 22.84 wt% Gd2O3 and contain substantial Sm and Nd; this is mixed mineral composition, not pure GdPO4, a bulk ore grade or a recovered gadolinium yield. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction was not performed because of crystal size. The unit-cell dimensions emphasized in the abstract and Table 3 are estimates from weighted synthetic end-members; they differ from the less precise electron-diffraction measurements. Density was calculated, while hardness and several other physical properties could not be determined. The proposed hydrothermal enrichment explanation is a geological interpretation, not a controlled formation or extraction experiment. This characterization does not establish microbial production, recovery performance, industrial deployment or a jurisdiction-specific criticality designation.

Monazite-(La) is the lanthanum-dominant anhydrous phosphate mineral with ideal formula La(PO4), distinct from monazite-(Ce), the monazite group, hydrated rhabdophane-(La), elemental lanthanum and mixed monazite ores. The September 2026 IMA list records renamed status and a 1966 special procedure, not a numbered approval accession. Ni et al. (1995) resolved a synthetic LaPO4 crystal in monoclinic P21/n monazite with nine-coordinate rare-earth sites. Their natural monazite comparator was Ce-dominant, not natural monazite-(La). Zhoujin et al. (2025) separately produced synthetic La monazite by abiotic microwave-assisted hydrothermal treatment. Characterization of synthetic analogues does not demonstrate microbial formation, recovery from an ore or waste, or industrial operation. Criticality is not inherited from the lanthanum constituent.

Monazite-(Nd) is the Nd(PO4) mineral species listed by IMA-CNMNC in its September 2026 master list (PDF page 146), with approved status and approval number 1986-052. This species is distinct from the neodymium element, unspecified monazite-group material, and mixed synthetic experimental feeds. No microbial mechanism or criticality designation is assigned here.

A heterogeneous geological rare-earth phosphate feed represented by the high-grade monazite ore supplied by Lynas Rare Earths, Australia, to van Alin et al. (2023). The reviewed study does not establish its precise mine or deposit of origin. XRD, TIMA and elemental analyses characterize a mixed feed rather than a pure monazite species: the supplement reports monazite-group and other phosphate phases with additional gangue. This resource is distinct from monazite-(Ce), monazite-(Nd), elemental rare earths, a rare-earth commodity and secondary processing waste. The source's high-grade description is not an independently certified commercial grade. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Klebsiella aerogenes

Monazite-(Sm) is the samarium-dominant monazite mineral species with ideal formula Sm(PO4), distinct from elemental samarium, hydrated samarium phosphates, other monazite species and mixed rare-earth ores. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list assigns approved status and number 2001-001. The original description instead prints 2000-001; the current authority is followed here while retaining that source discrepancy. Masau et al. (2002) characterized natural crystals from the Annie Claim #3 granitic pegmatite in southeastern Manitoba, Canada, by wavelength-dispersive electron-microprobe analysis, optical examination, single-crystal diffraction and Gandolfi powder diffraction. The diffraction data support monoclinic P21/n symmetry. The analyzed natural material contains substantial Gd, Ce, Th and Ca and is not a pure SmPO4 end-member. Table 1 reports 13.02 wt% Sm2O3 for the average of three grains used for physical, optical and crystal data; its 14.29 wt% maximum belongs to a different analysis, not one of those extracted grains. These are mineral oxide compositions, not a bulk ore grade or recovered samarium yield. Density and hardness could not be measured; the reported densities are calculated. Selective rare-earth complexation during pegmatite crystallization is a proposed geological explanation, not an experimentally demonstrated extraction or formation mechanism. This natural characterization does not establish microbial biomineralization, recovery performance, industrial deployment or a jurisdiction-specific criticality designation.

Monetite is the anhydrous calcium hydrogen-phosphate mineral CaHPO4, written Ca(PO3OH) in the September 2026 IMA list. It is triclinic and distinct from brushite, CaHPO4.2H2O, and from a whole dental resin composite. The IMA entry has grandfathered status G and original-description year 1882, not a unique approval accession. The curated laboratory evidence concerns source-assigned monetite on synthetic brushite-containing composite surfaces following live biofilm or cell-free spent-broth exposure; it does not establish natural occurrence in those specimens or pure-mineral recovery. No criticality designation is inherited from calcium or phosphorus.

• Streptococcus mutans

Hydrated calcium carbonate mineral with ideal formula CaCO3·H2O, distinct from anhydrous calcite, vaterite and aragonite, magnesium carbonate minerals, calcium as an element and carbonate-bearing resources. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1964, not a new-mineral approval accession. Laboratory phase-selective formation is curated without inheriting criticality from another material or asserting a critical-metal recovery application.

• Halomonas

Montebrasite is the hydroxyl-dominant lithium aluminium phosphate mineral with ideal formula LiAl(PO4)(OH), distinct from fluorine-dominant amblygonite. The September 2026 IMA list records grandfathered status and original-description year 1871. Groat2003 Methods (pages 197-199), Table 2 (page 198), Table 11 (page 206) and neutron/NMR figures establish the natural substituted series: the Dunton specimen has neutron-derived F/(F+OH)=0.04, whereas estimates for the near-boundary Tanco specimen differ by technique and are not treated as a pure endmember. Triclinic primitive P-1 and centered C-1 are alternative settings, not evidence for separate polymorphs. In the Shirose thesis, Figures 13-16 (printed pages 29-31, PDF pages 36-38) show co-oriented lacroixite patches and low-fluorine montebrasite in a natural host; Figure 12 (page 25, PDF page 32) shows secondary montebrasite veins without lacroixite. Section 5.3 and Figure 19 (pages 34-36) interpret an exsolution sequence, but do not reproduce that sequence by controlled synthesis. Figure 21 and Table 5 (pages 38 and 39) include gem-quality XS110 with no observed lacroixite, so the patch texture is not universal. Lithium and water in the thesis microprobe tables were calculated stoichiometrically. These are primary identity and natural-texture observations; no microbial mechanism, measured lithium extraction, isolated recovery yield or mineral criticality is asserted. The studies are also used in cmmmech:amblygonite and are not independent experiments for each owner; the ambiguous XN163 heating arm is not transferred here as a montebrasite-specific threshold.

Montmorillonite is a hydrated smectite mineral with generalized formula (Na,Ca)0.3(Al,Mg)2Si4O10(OH)2·nH2O, distinct from nontronite, generic smectite, mixed-layer illite-smectite and bentonite clay resources. The September 2026 IMA list retains the name as grandfathered, dated 1847; this date is not a numbered approval accession. The curated experiment used processed natural Source Clays SWy-2 rather than an ideal pure endmember. No criticality designation is inherited from aluminium, magnesium or other constituents.

• Shewanella oneidensis MR-1

Montroseite is the vanadium oxyhydroxide mineral with ideal formula V3+O(OH), listed as grandfathered (G), original-description year 1953, in the September 2026 IMA list. That year is not a numbered IMA approval. The original Colorado Plateau specimens were iron-bearing, commonly altered and incompletely separated from associated minerals. Single-crystal diffraction assigned the sharp orthorhombic Pbnm lattice to montroseite; the diffuse lattices and much of the original bulk powder pattern represent altered material, subsequently distinguished as paramontroseite or unresolved diffuse A. The historical Fe2+/V4+ compensation model is a chemical interpretation, not a modern site-specific valence measurement. Montroseite is distinct from paramontroseite, elemental vanadium and mixed uranium-vanadium ore. The cited natural evidence does not establish microbial formation, extraction, isolated-product recovery or industrial deployment; criticality is not inherited from vanadium.

Moolooite is an approved copper oxalate mineral, IMA 1980-082, listed as Cu(C2O4).nH2O in the September 2026 IMA compilation. The variable hydration is retained rather than treating every specimen as a measured monohydrate. It is distinct from elemental copper, other copper oxalates such as wheatleyite, and the heterogeneous ore used in the experiment below. No criticality designation is inherited from copper.

• Aspergillus niger

Unincinerated sludge generated by municipal wastewater treatment, represented here by partially dewatered sludge from Kuopio, Finland, and sludge from a municipal treatment plant in Tianjin, China. These heterogeneous processed residues contain organic matter, nutrients and metals; their precise upstream treatment histories and mineral hosts are not fully resolved. This secondary resource is distinct from sewage-sludge incineration ash, untreated wastewater, factory-specific treatment sludge and purified phosphorus or metal products. The selected specimens do not define every municipal sludge.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Ash resulting from municipal-waste thermal treatment, a heterogeneous secondary resource distinct from coal fly ash and sewage-sludge incineration ash. The curated study calls its feed ash A without identifying whether it is fly ash, bottom ash, or a mixture; this record does not resolve that fraction by inference. Criticality of individual constituents does not designate the whole ash. The selected experiment is shared with the niobium element record, not an independent replication.

Muscovite is a mica mineral species with ideal formula KAl2(Si3Al)O10(OH)2, distinct from generic mica, biotite, phlogopite, traded potash and potassium-bearing feldspars. The September 2026 IMA list records approval by a 1998 special procedure, not a numbered mineral accession. The curated laboratory specimen is a chemically characterized natural museum muscovite flake; its composition is not an ideal pure endmember. No criticality designation is inferred from its potassium or aluminium content.

• Paxillus involutus

Natroboltwoodite is a sodium-bearing uranyl silicate hydrate mineral, distinct from potassium-bearing boltwoodite and elemental uranium. The September 2026 IMA list gives Na(UO2)(SiO3OH)(H2O), status Rn and the special-procedure entry 2007 s.p.; that entry records renaming, not an ordinary approval accession. Historical sodium boltwoodite and Na-boltwoodite terminology is retained for the experimental material below. Ilton and colleagues used synthetic material represented as Na(UO2)(SiO3OH)·1.5H2O. Its measured bulk U/Si and U/Na ratios were approximately one, but minor impurities could not be excluded and its hydration was not reconciled with the current IMA one-water formula. The laboratory dissolution results therefore describe that characterized synthetic preparation, not a universal composition or behavior of natural natroboltwoodite. No criticality, microbial mechanism or industrial recovery claim is inferred.

Natrojarosite is the sodium ferric hydroxysulfate mineral with ideal formula NaFe3(SO4)2(OH)6, all iron ferric. The September 2026 IMA list records the species as redefined, 1987 s.p. It is distinct from potassium jarosite, ammoniojarosite, hydroniumjarosite and a mixed industrial jarosite residue. Natural compositions can contain substitutions; the ideal formula is not an assay of every specimen. Gómez et al. (2024), sampling in May 2010, identified natrojarosite and quartz in an inner crust associated with a cyanobacteria-containing mixed microbial mat beneath a gypsum-rich outer layer at Río Tinto, Spain. Their field deposit measurements averaged pH 0.8, but pH across the thin cyanobacterial layer could not be measured. This is an association, without controlled evidence that the organisms precipitated or dissolved natrojarosite, without a verified cyanobacterial species or strain, and without an extraction or recovery measurement. No constituent-element criticality or industrial deployment is inferred.

Graphite of natural mineral origin considered as a commercial raw-material commodity. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 distinguishes flake and high-purity, amorphous, and lump and chip forms in its natural-graphite chapter, and identifies synthetic graphite among competing materials. This record covers the natural-origin commodity rather than the carbon element, a mineral specimen or species identifier, synthetic graphite, or a particular battery product specification. Natural origin alone does not establish battery-grade suitability. The criticality entry records the named BGS/CMIC assessment; the report explicitly states that it does not constitute government policy. No microbial extraction, purification or recovery mechanism is asserted here.

Navajoite is a hydrated vanadium-iron oxide mineral with formula (V5+,Fe3+)10O24·12H2O in the September 2026 IMA list, which assigns grandfathered status G and original-description year 1954. That year is not a numbered IMA approval. The complete 1955 description characterized selected natural material from the Monument No. 2 mine, Apache County, Arizona, with residual impurities and uncertain partitioning of iron and reduced vanadium; its tentative V2O5·3H2O formula and indexing are historical interpretations. Evans and Hughes later reindexed powder/fiber diffraction from USNM 106900, whose type status they marked uncertain, using a C-centered cell with C2/m indexing. They attributed two extra lines to probable bokite and found that some other specimens labeled navajoite were bokite or mixtures. Their revised empirical formula was fitted to Sherwood's original 1955 chemical analysis, not a new independent assay, and the diffraction work did not solve the atomic structure. The earlier proposed natural oxidation of corvusite and storage-related water loss do not establish controlled transformation kinetics or a microbial mechanism. Navajoite is distinct from associated corvusite, bokite, elemental vanadium and mixed uranium-vanadium ore. These sources establish no isolated-product recovery or industrial deployment, and the mineral does not inherit vanadium's criticality designations.

The element Nd. The identifier grounds the element, not an Nd(III) ion, mineral species, magnet alloy, or discarded magnet. The US designation below concerns the named neodymium mineral commodity in the separate 2022 and 2025 lists; these dated designations do not assign criticality to every Nd-bearing resource. The mechanisms distinguish biosorption from microbial production of a lixiviant that releases Nd from a synthetic phosphate substrate.

• Chlorella vulgaris
• Gluconobacter oxydans

Nepheline is a feldspathoid mineral species, listed with formula Na3K(Al4Si4O16) and redefined status in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from feldspar minerals, nepheline syenite and phonolite rocks, traded feldspar commodity, and its constituent elements. The curated fungal experiment used a characterized nepheline-rich Bancroft specimen containing other minerals, not a pure endmember. No constituent or commodity criticality designation is inherited.

• Aspergillus niger

Nesquehonite is the hydrated magnesium carbonate mineral species Mg(CO3)(H2O)2·H2O, listed as grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list with original-description year 1890. That year is not an approval identifier. It is distinct from dypingite, hydromagnesite, elemental magnesium and the magnesite commodity. The evidence below concerns nesquehonite within laboratory precipitates, not magnesium metal or an industrially recovered product; no constituent criticality is inherited.

• Desemzia incerta

Newberyite is the hydrated magnesium hydrogen-phosphate mineral species Mg(PO3OH)(H2O)3. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1879, not a new-mineral approval identifier. It is distinct from elemental phosphorus or magnesium, struvite, other phosphate mineral species and mixed culture precipitates. Constituent criticality is not inherited. The culture evidence below is a bounded assignment of a minor recovered phase, not a purified product or established direct metabolic pathway.

Source-designated industrial superalloy residue powders considered as secondary metal feeds, distinct from nickel or cobalt elements, certified alloy grades and recovered metal products. The accepted primary study tested three supplied stocks SAR-Ni 30167, SAR-In 32083 and SAR-Re 30168 within one resource family. Their feed compositions and leaching responses remain separate; no one stock represents all superalloys. Laboratory culture-filtrate experiments do not establish post-consumer provenance, industrial deployment or complete feed recovery.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Residual mixed solids from flotation in nickel-ore beneficiation, distinct from the recovered flotation concentrate, unprocessed ore, a pure sulfide mineral and downstream smelter slag. The curated case is the material called lama in a 2010 UNESP thesis, supplied by Votorantim Metais from flotation at its Serra de Fortaleza-MG nickel extraction operation in Brazil. Original particles were reported as 50-100 micrometres. XRD indicated a heterogeneous silicate/carbonate assemblage with pyrrhotite; no pure-pyrrhotite feed or quantitatively established sulfide-hosted nickel fraction is assigned. Table 7 gives total Ni 0.30%, Cu 0.03% and Co 0.01%, versus aqua-regia-soluble Ni 0.25%, Cu 0.03% and Co 0.01%. The digestion-defined soluble fraction is not water-soluble metal. These are feed-specific measurements, not a universal tailings composition or an inherited criticality claim.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Naturally occurring heterogeneous nickel-bearing regolith formed by intense weathering of ultramafic parent rocks, including oxide-rich limonitic, clay-rich and hydrous magnesium-silicate-rich horizons. The USGS deposit model grounds this geological resource identity; excavated or stockpiled unprocessed ore remains within its scope. It is distinct from nickel metal, a mineral species such as goethite, a product-grade commodity and processing-generated laterite tailings. Individual ore samples differ in mineralogy and nickel, cobalt and chromium distribution; their laboratory leaching outcomes do not apply to every laterite or establish extraction from a pure host mineral.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Mixed solid residue from pyrometallurgical smelting in nickel extraction, distinct from nickel ore, flotation concentrate, flotation tailings and an individual constituent mineral. The curated case is the flash-furnace slag supplied by Votorantim Metais from its Serra de Fortaleza-MG nickel extraction operation in Brazil for a 2010 doctoral thesis. The source reports original particles of 100-500 micrometres and a dominant fayalite/forsterite-type iron-magnesium silicate diffraction pattern; that assignment does not make the bulk slag a pure mineral. Table 7 reports total Ni 0.26%, Cu 0.27% and Co 0.06%, versus aqua-regia-soluble Ni 0.07%, Cu 0.06% and Co 0.06%. The latter is an operational digestion fraction, not water solubility. These feed-specific assays do not define every nickel slag. No constituent criticality status or industrial microbial deployment is inferred.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Manufactured crystalline nickel sulfate hexahydrate products with nominal formula NiSO4.6H2O. This commodity is distinct from nickel metal, other sulfate hydrates, aqueous nickel-bearing leachates and a naturally occurring mineral specimen. Primobius identifies a hexahydrate product for lithium-ion cathode precursors and publishes a minimum nickel content of 22.0 wt%; Coremax version 8 specifies more than 22.3 wt% Ni for its battery-labelled product and permits customer-specific requirements. These examples establish a traded product form, not one universal battery-grade composition or evidence that every nickel sulfate product meets cathode requirements. Coremax also lists electroplating use. No criticality designation or microbial production of qualified sulfate crystals is asserted here.

Nickel (Ni), atomic number 28. The ChEBI nickel-atom identifier grounds this element-level record; nickel ions, alloys, mineral species and heterogeneous laterite ores are different entities. The US designation maps the listed nickel commodity to this element and does not designate every nickel-bearing ore or waste. The curated experiment concerns nickel mobilization from particular laterite samples, not dissolution of elemental nickel.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Natural heterogeneous nickel-arsenide-bearing ore containing nickeline with carbonate and quartz gangue. The present evidence concerns a low-grade sample collected approximately 2.5 km northwest of Patang village in eastern Iran and a high-grade sample from Talmesi mine in central Iran. These are distinct feed arms within one geological resource class, not processing wastes, pure nickeline, nickel metal or a standardized concentrate grade. Boroumand et al.'s supplementary Table S1 reports nickel and arsenic contents of 4.93% and 5% for the low-grade feed, and 33.4% and 50% for the high-grade feed. Those are source-reported bulk sample compositions, not mineral formulas or general specifications. XRD and reflected-light observations identify nickeline with carbonate/quartz phases; whole-ore results cannot establish pure-phase selectivity. No criticality-list status is inferred from nickel.

Ningyoite is an approved mineral species listed as (U,Ca,Ce)2(PO4)2·1-2H2O in the September 2026 IMA compilation, with status A and special-procedure entry 1962 s.p. Experimental papers use the calcium U(IV)-phosphate formulations CaU(PO4)2·H2O or CaU(PO4)2 for their assigned products; those formulas do not establish every natural specimen's composition. The mineral is distinct from elemental uranium, uramphite, uraninite and molecular U(IV)-phosphate complexes. The observations below concern laboratory products, not a natural ore feed or an industrial recovery process. No criticality designation is inherited from uranium.

• Carboxydothermus ferrireducens
• Desulforamulus reducens MI-1

The element Nb, also called columbium, distinct from niobium ions, oxides, host minerals, alloys and niobium-bearing furnace wastes. The United States 2025 list's Niobium entry is mapped to this element; it does not automatically designate a waste feed as critical. The curated experiment reports condition-dependent niobium release in an activated-sludge-derived culture, with unresolved controls and analytical preparation limiting causal inference.

Nobleite is the CaB6O9(OH)2(H2O)3 mineral species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with approved status A and special-procedure notation 1967 s.p.; this notation is not a unique approval identifier. It is distinct from gowerite, elemental boron and the borates commodity. Erd, McAllister and Vlisidis characterized natural nobleite from the Death Valley region, California, and compared its diffraction pattern with a separately synthesized product. Their older oxide formula CaO·3B2O3·4H2O has the same elemental stoichiometry as the current IMA formula. Natural single-crystal data in Table 1 give monoclinic P21/a symmetry, with P21/n as an alternative setting. This record does not infer criticality, microbial formation or commercial recovery from mineral identity.

Nontronite is an iron(III)-rich smectite mineral, distinct from the broader smectite group, montmorillonite and clay commodities. The September 2026 IMA list gives Na0.3Fe3+2(Si,Al)4O10(OH)2·nH2O and approval by a 1962 special procedure; natural interlayer cations and composition vary. The curated material is the source-characterized CMS NAu-2 specimen and its separated size fraction, not every nontronite or a chemically pure ideal endmember. No criticality designation is inherited from constituent iron or other elements.

• Shewanella oneidensis MR-1

Water brought to the surface as a byproduct of hydrocarbon production and considered here as a secondary feed for constituent recovery. It can contain formation water, returned injected fluids, condensed water and mixtures of these; its composition and salinity vary by reservoir and operation. This record concerns the generated oil-and-gas production stream, not an untouched geological brine resource, geothermal extraction feed, individual dissolved element or mineral species. Some produced waters are investigated as sources of lithium and other constituents, without implying that every sample contains economically recoverable quantities. USGS resource research supplies context, not a criticality-list designation for this mixture. Microbial treatment and recovery mechanisms remain unasserted pending verification of full experimental methods, controls and outcomes; no deployment or product yield is claimed.

Mineral-bearing residue from bitumen froth treatment, represented here by naphtha-process tailings from Plant 6 at the Mildred Lake Settling Basin, Alberta, Canada. The heterogeneous solids include quartz, titanium-bearing minerals, zircon, sulfides and carbonates, with residual hydrocarbons. This processing waste is distinct from its constituent elements or mineral species, underlying straight coarse tailings, fluid fine tailings and petroleum coke. These site-specific studies do not define all froth-treatment processes or establish an economic reserve, a criticality designation or industrial metal recovery.

Olivine denotes a mineral group, identified as GROUP in the CNMNC-hosted Compendium of IMA-approved Mineral Nomenclature. The forsterite-fayalite solid-solution series lies within this group; a magnesium-rich experimental olivine is not necessarily the chemically pure forsterite endmember. This record keeps group scope distinct from the existing forsterite species record, elemental constituents and bulk ultramafic resources. No group-wide criticality or uniform microbial response is inferred. The enstatite companion record uses a different feed arm of the same Klug study.

• Gluconobacter oxydans

Orpiment is the monoclinic As2S3 mineral species, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list, whose original-description year is unspecified. It is distinct from elemental arsenic, realgar and amorphous As2S3. The observation below concerns an XRD-assigned secondary component of arsenopyrite leaching residues, not an isolated orpiment feed or recovered product. No criticality designation is inherited from arsenic.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Orthoclase is a monoclinic potassium feldspar mineral with ideal formula KAlSi3O8, distinct from microcline, the broader potassium-feldspar family, traded feldspar and potash. The September 2026 IMA list marks it approved by a 1962 special procedure; this is not a numbered approval accession. The curated experiment concerns a source-identified natural sodium-bearing orthoclase crystal, not an ideal chemically pure endmember. Only abiotic hydrothermal dissolution is accepted here; mineral composition does not establish criticality or microbial activity.

Osmium (Os), distinct from osmium chlorides, oxides, coordination complexes and platinum-group ores or commodities. Australia's 20 February 2024 critical-minerals list includes osmium through its explicitly enumerated platinum-group-elements entry; this grouped designation is not a separate unqualified listing of every osmium-bearing material. Curated microbial evidence is a historical cell-extract experiment with qualified product assignments, not a demonstrated industrial recovery process.

Otavite is the cadmium carbonate mineral CdCO3 in the calcite group, distinct from elemental cadmium, dissolved Cd ions, cadmium sulfides and unspecified cadmium-bearing precipitates. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1906, not a unique approval accession. The curated laboratory study tentatively assigns a cell-associated synthetic precipitate to otavite; it does not establish a pure mineral product or the origin of natural otavite. No cadmium criticality designation is inherited.

• Serratia marcescens

Natural oxidized zinc ore, represented here by a mixed, Fe-rich sample from Kozan-Horzum, Adana, Türkiye. The study calls it smithsonite ore, but its XRD pattern assigns smithsonite, hemimorphite and several gangue phases. This heterogeneous geological feed is distinct from pure smithsonite, sphalerite concentrate, elemental zinc, a specified traded product and a processing waste. Its composition and experimental results do not characterize all oxidized zinc ores. No constituent-element criticality or mineral-species identifier is inherited.

Palladium (Pd), chemical element with atomic number 46. This record concerns laboratory reduction of dissolved Pd(II) to cell-associated elemental Pd(0), not extraction from a palladium mineral or an industrial recovery operation.

• Desulfovibrio desulfuricans

Palygorskite is the fibrous hydrated magnesium-aluminium silicate listed by IMA as (Mg,Al)2Si4O10(OH).4H2O, grandfathered status G, original-description year 1862. That year is not an approval accession. This mineral owner is distinct from a commercial attapulgite clay commodity, the smectite group and other clay specimens in the same experiment. The accepted primary evidence concerns size-separated, chemically cleaned PFl-1 material, not an untreated natural assemblage or an industrial recovery feed. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Shewanella putrefaciens CN-32

Paracoquimbite is a trigonal ferric sulfate mineral, ideally Fe(III)4(SO4)6(H2O)12·6H2O. The September 2026 IMA list retains the 2019 redefinition; the reduced formula Fe2(SO4)3·9H2O used in older studies describes the same ideal composition. It is compositionally distinct from aluminium-essential coquimbite. Their related structures form the coquimbite group; older claims that they are simple dimorphs do not express the current species definitions. The accepted experiment prepared synthetic paracoquimbite from acidified ferric-sulfate solution and identified it by powder diffraction. It does not demonstrate microbial formation, ore treatment or an isolated iron recovery yield.

Paramontroseite is the orthorhombic vanadium dioxide mineral, ideal VO2, listed as grandfathered (G), original-description year 1955, in the September 2026 IMA list. The year is not a numbered IMA approval. It is structurally distinct from generic VO2 and rutile-type or monoclinic VO2 phases, and chemically distinct from montroseite VO(OH). Evans and Mrose established the natural diffuse-B phase in altered Bitter Creek montroseite crystals using a Pbnm model. The inferred natural weathering relation is distinct from the later laboratory heating of Fe-rich Prachovice paramontroseite. The 2023 specimen is zoned, Al-bearing and nonideal; its refinement favors Fe in a separate tetrahedral site and cannot be substituted for a pure-VO2 endmember or a measurement on the 1950s Colorado specimen. Criticality is not inherited from vanadium, and the curated studies establish no microbial mechanism or industrial recovery.

Parasymplesite is the monoclinic ferrous arsenate mineral Fe(II)3(AsO4)2·8H2O, a vivianite-group species dimorphous with symplesite. The September 2026 IMA list records grandfathered status G and historical year 1954, not a numbered approval proposal. It is distinct from ferric arsenate scorodite, phosphate vivianite, dissolved arsenic and the arsenate-bearing ferrihydrite precursor. The laboratory observation below assigns parasymplesite to mixed solids after bacterial reduction; it does not establish a pure natural-mineral product or an arsenic recovery yield. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Citrobacter sp.

Parauranophane is the calcium uranyl silicate hydrate mineral Ca(UO2)2(SiO3OH)2(H2O)4·H2O listed by IMA in September 2026. It is the historical beta-uranophane or uranophane-beta, renamed by CNMNC in August 2022. Rn, 2022 s.p. denotes that nomenclature action, not a unique approval accession. The alpha polymorph is the separate species uranophane; identical ideal composition does not make their experiments interchangeable. Cesbron and colleagues characterized natural beta material from Nopal I, Sierra Peña Blanca, Chihuahua, Mexico, by morphology and powder X-ray diffraction, including a refined monoclinic cell with space group P21/a in the reported setting. Their synthesis campaign produced uranophane but no beta polymorph under the tested conditions; its stability field remained unresolved. No criticality, microbial activity, extraction yield or industrial deployment is inferred from these mineralogical studies.

Pascoite is a calcium decavanadate mineral with formula [Ca3(H2O)17]V5+10O28 in the September 2026 IMA list, which assigns grandfathered status G and original-description year 1914. That year is not a numbered IMA approval. Hughes and colleagues characterized a natural crystal from Harvard specimen 91449, Minasragra, Peru, and refined a disordered monoclinic C2/m structure containing [V10O28]6- units and hydrated calcium complexes. Disorder gives the Ca1 site possible local coordination by six, seven or eight oxygen atoms, averaging seven; hydrogen positions were located in difference maps but subsequently restrained, with residual disorder and partial occupancy. The 2005 paper supports this model over its tested ordered C2 alternative; it does not provide an unconstrained determination of every local hydrogen configuration. The 1966 predecessor's publisher title specifies 16H2O whereas the 2005 reference list prints 17H2O; the current identity follows the IMA formula and inspected 2005 original. The 1966 full text remains unavailable. The inspected 2005 depository files contain thermal parameters and observed/calculated diffraction intensities, but their Table 5/6 labels differ from the article's Table 4/5 deposit references; they belong to the same experiment. Pascoite is distinct from the decavanadate ion, the broader mineral group and elemental vanadium. These structural observations establish neither microbial extraction nor isolated-product recovery or industrial deployment; criticality is not inherited from vanadium.

Pentagonite is a hydrated calcium vanadyl silicate mineral, CaV4+OSi4O10(H2O)3·H2O, approved as IMA 1971-039 and retained in the September 2026 IMA list. It is a distinct mineral species from cavansite, with a six-membered-ring silicate-sheet topology and an ambient orthorhombic Ccm21 structure in the inspected primary studies. The historical Oregon description and later Wagholi studies concern different natural specimens. Laboratory heating and pressure experiments support abiotic structural changes, with protocol-dependent hydration and reversibility. These experiments do not establish a natural formation temperature, microbial activity, vanadium extraction, an isolated recovered product or industrial deployment. No criticality designation is inherited from vanadium or other constituents.

Pentlandite is the (Ni,Fe)9S8 mineral species in the September 2026 IMA list. Status G denotes grandfathering and 1856 is an original-description year, not a sequential approval identifier. The species is distinct from elemental nickel, the nickel commodity, and impure sulfide ore or concentrate. The experiment below concerns an enriched pentlandite feed rather than an ideal single-phase solid. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

Perovskite is the calcium titanate mineral species with ideal formula CaTiO3. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list gives grandfathered status G and original description year 1839, not an IMA approval number. This owner identifies the mineral species, not the broader perovskite structure class, halide photovoltaic materials, elemental titanium, or a perovskite-bearing concentrate. Keller and Buseck (1994) independently characterized natural perovskite grains from Ca-Al-rich inclusions in the Allende and Vigarano carbonaceous chondrites by transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction, using the orthorhombic Pnma setting. Their energy-dispersive analyses detected Ca and Ti without other reported detectable elements; this is detection-limited cation evidence, not proof of absolute purity or a measured oxygen balance. The paper examined over 50 grains from six extracted regions. Its separately synthesized CaTiO3 cooling experiments are not natural-feed extraction or recovery studies. Twinning observations and inferred meteorite thermal histories are kept distinct; no universal high-temperature transition sequence or cooling-rate thermometer is asserted here. No microbial mechanism, processing performance, industrial deployment or criticality designation is inferred.

Pertlikite is an approved tetragonal mineral of the voltaite group, IMA 2005-055, represented in the September 2026 IMA list as K2(Fe(II),Mg)2(Mg,Fe(III))4Fe(III)2Al(SO4)12(H2O)18. It is distinct from cubic voltaite and magnesiovoltaite, rather than a synonym for any magnesium-bearing voltaite-group material. Ertl et al. (2008) characterized natural type material from Madeni Zakh, Iran, using portions of a single crystal for diffraction, optical examination and electron-microprobe analysis, with additional grains for bulk hydrogen analysis. Tetragonal I41/acd symmetry and unequal Fe/Mg site occupancies distinguish the studied crystal from the cubic structural model. The formula combines microprobe chemistry, fitted Mossbauer spectral areas and structure refinement; it is not a direct assay of every site or oxidation state. Spectral areas were not corrected for different recoil-free fractions. Measured water was 15.3 wt.% with estimated 10% relative uncertainty, whereas 16.73 wt.% in the composition table was estimated from the structure. Powder and single-crystal cell dimensions differ beyond their stated precision, and hydrogen positions around disordered Al-bound waters were not located. A proposed origin through pyrite decomposition is geological interpretation, not an observed reaction or microbial mechanism. No extraction, recovery yield or criticality designation is curated.

Petalite is the lithium aluminium silicate mineral species LiAlSi4O10, listed by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 as grandfathered, with 1800 as the year of its original description (PDF page 170). This year is not an IMA approval-number identifier. The Handbook of Mineralogy describes monoclinic petalite occurring in granite pegmatites, where it can locally constitute lithium ore. This is geological resource context from the 2001 entry, not a claim about present production, universal ore grade or extractability. Its listed associations include spodumene and lepidolite; their occurrence together does not make those minerals or the lepidolite series synonyms for petalite. The species is distinct from elemental lithium, a bulk pegmatite feed, and a manufactured lithium product. No microbial mechanism or criticality designation is assigned here.

Carbon-rich solid produced from heavy petroleum-processing residues, treated here as a residual material resource rather than coal-derived coke, coking coal, the carbon element, graphite, combustion ash or oil-sands tailings. The accepted experiment uses material described by its authors as petroleum coke from Navanagar Metcoke Limited, Jamnagar, Gujarat. The paper also calls the sample metcoke; its precise manufacturing route and green, calcined or needle-coke grade are not established. This record retains that source-assigned feed identity without creating a grade-specific owner. Laboratory sulfur-content reduction does not establish recovered sulfur, metal recovery, retained fuel quality or industrial deployment.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Heterogeneous oil-, water- and solid-bearing residues generated in petroleum handling and processing, with feed-dependent metals and metalloids. This resource context includes the characterized crude-oil tank-bottom sludge from Karoon Oil and Gas Company in Iran studied by Nejad et al. (2020), and the distinct weathering-pit refinery sludge collected in Bahrain in March 2020 studied by Hentati et al. (2022). It is not raw crude oil, produced water, petroleum coke, combustion ash, or oil-sands froth-treatment tailings. Neither constituent criticality nor economic recoverability is assigned to the mixed residue. Lower reported residual metal concentrations in one laboratory treatment do not establish metal extraction, biomass capture, or recovery.

• Stutzerimonas balearica

Discarded multilayer pharmaceutical blister packaging containing aluminium, polymers and adhesives, represented by hospital-collected transparent, white and silver-coloured fractions. This manufactured waste resource is distinct from aluminium as an element, beverage cans, beverage-carton hydropulping reject and the sulfur feed used to produce its leaching acid. Its composition varies with packaging construction; no element-level criticality is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans
• Acidithiobacillus caldus

Phlogopite is a magnesium-rich mica mineral species with ideal formula KMg3(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 in the September 2026 IMA list, distinct from generic mica, the biotite grouping, muscovite, potassium and traded potash. The IMA row gives grandfathered status and the historical date 1841, not a numbered approval accession. The experiment curated here used a chemically characterized natural phlogopite specimen containing iron and titanium, not an ideal pure endmember. No criticality designation is inferred from its constituent elements.

• Paxillus involutus

Residual material from phosphate-ore processing, distinct from phosphate rock as a commodity, a phosphate concentrate, phosphogypsum and a pure phosphate mineral. The curated example is the Florida phosphate tailings specimen studied by Somasundaran and colleagues, described as predominantly clay-bearing and supplied by Florida University, USA. The paper does not identify its mine or processing plant. Composition and leaching behavior are specimen-specific; constituent rare earth elements do not confer a criticality designation on this resource.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
• Aspergillus niger

Phosphate-bearing rock considered as a mined and beneficiated industrial raw material for phosphorus products, including phosphoric acid and fertilizers. The USGS marketable-product definition concerns beneficiated phosphate rock suitable for acid or elemental-phosphorus production; it does not identify one apatite species or a pure phosphate ion. The original EU 2024 list names phosphate rock separately from phosphorus. The US 2025 list names phosphate; its mapping here follows the USGS 2026 phosphate-rock chapter, which explicitly describes phosphate rock as the addition to that list. This mapping does not equate all chemical phosphates with phosphate rock. The microbial evidence concerns one characterized Araxa rock feed and does not establish a commodity-wide extraction yield.

Phosphoferrite is the ferrous phosphate mineral with ideal formula Fe2+3(PO4)2(H2O)3. The September 2026 IMA list records redefined status under the 1980 special procedure. It is distinct from the more hydrated species vivianite and ludlamite, the Mn-dominant related mineral reddingite, and ferric kryzhanovskite. The historical Hagendorf Sud specimen studied by Moore (1971) contained Mn and Ca and was not a pure synthetic Fe endmember. Laboratory heating produced a source-reported ferric crystalline product with diffraction similarities to the starting material. Later structural work by Moore, Araki and Kampf (1980) corrected substantial indexing and unit-cell errors in the earlier natural kryzhanovskite comparison; this record therefore retains the limited heating observation without treating the earlier cell dimensions, exact structural model or pure-product identity as established. These are abiotic laboratory observations, not microbial extraction or demonstrated industrial recovery. No criticality designation is inherited from iron or phosphorus.

A heterogeneous calcium-sulfate-rich residue generated during wet-process phosphoric acid manufacture from phosphate rock. It is distinct from natural gypsum mineral, phosphate-rock commodity and individual rare-earth elements. Curated laboratory evidence separates synthetic single-REE-doped model powders from an industrial residue sample. Neither experiment establishes industrial recovery, and constituent-element criticality is not inherited by the residue.

• Gluconobacter oxydans

Phosphophyllite is a grandfathered monoclinic zinc-ferrous phosphate mineral, represented in the September 2026 IMA list as Zn2Fe(II)(PO4)2(H2O)4 with historical year 1920. It is a mineral species, distinct from elemental zinc, a zinc commodity and the related minerals hopeite and parahopeite. Hill (1977) refined the structure of a natural Potosi, Bolivia crystal in P21/c using three-dimensional X-ray data, resolving competing earlier structural models. Zinc/phosphate tetrahedral sheets are linked through Fe-bearing octahedra; the Potosi result is not a universal assay of every locality. Dunn and Norberg (1977) partially analyzed eleven Hagendorf and three Potosi specimens, finding variable Mn substitution for Fe in the Hagendorf material and very little Mn in the Potosi material. One borderline Hagendorf Mn:Fe weight ratio of 51:49 was explicitly insufficient, given analytical uncertainty, to establish a separate Mn-dominant species. Their unpublished specimen-by-specimen analytical table was not acquired. These natural-crystal studies support identity and composition variability, without establishing microbial extraction, a recovery yield or industrial deployment. No criticality designation is inherited from zinc, iron or phosphorus.

Phosphorus (P), the chemical element. Canada's named phosphorus material designation is mapped to this element; it is not a designation of every phosphate salt or mineral. The experiment concerns phosphate mobilization from a mixed struvite/dittmarite feed, not elemental phosphorus production.

• Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015

Unincinerated manure generated by pig husbandry, represented here by fresh material collected from a pig farm in Tianjin, China, and studied as a diluted slurry. This heterogeneous agricultural residue contains nutrients and metals. Its origin is distinct from municipal sewage sludge, poultry litter, manure incineration ash and isolated fertilizer or metal products. The selected farm sample does not characterize all pig manure, and its liquid and solid fractions are not separate resource owners.

Pinnoite is the magnesium hydroxyborate mineral MgB2O(OH)6 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. Its grandfathered status G and year 1884 describe its nomenclatural history, not a sequential approval identifier. It is distinct from chloropinnoite, other magnesium borate species, elemental boron and the borates commodity. Frost and Xi (2014) examined natural material supplied as pinnoite from the Inder boron deposit and salt dome, Kazakhstan. Their institutional author manuscript reports Raman spectra from at least ten crystals using 633-nm excitation and nominal 2 cm-1 resolution, and diamond ATR-FTIR spectra from 128 scans at 4 cm-1 resolution. Figures 2a, 3a and 4a show prominent Raman bands at 900 and 745 cm-1 and OH-region bands at 3179, 3399, 3554 and 3579 cm-1. These are specimen-level spectroscopic observations, not extraction yields or a new chemical-purity assay. The manuscript does not establish a complete bulk composition or report a new diffraction refinement for these crystals. Interpretation is limited by internal inconsistencies: manuscript page 5 says the OH-stretching region provides no water-band evidence, whereas page 7 assigns bands at 1629, 1665 and 1696 cm-1 to water bending and considers strongly adsorbed surface water. These passages do not establish occupied structural-water sites or justify changing the accepted ideal formula. The 745 cm-1 assignment differs between the results and conclusion; the infrared 3543 cm-1 value in the results differs from 3513 cm-1 in Figure 4b, abstract and conclusion. Hydrogen-bond distances are estimates from an empirical spectral correlation, not directly measured interatomic distances. Proposed nanomaterial uses were not tested as material performance. This characterization does not establish a microbial mechanism, recovered boron product, industrial deployment or jurisdiction-specific criticality designation.

This collective commodity family comprises ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium and platinum. The USGS platinum-group-elements category identifies these six related metals; Australia's 20 February 2024 Critical Minerals List explicitly includes the same six in its platinum-group-elements entry. This is a grouped commodity scope, overlapping the individual element records, rather than a single element, mineral species, fixed-composition alloy or waste feedstock. The dated designation below applies to Australia's explicitly enumerated six-member group. Identity and designation are curated here; no shared microbial recovery performance is asserted for all six metals.

Platinum (Pt). The element is distinct from its experimental dissolved chloro-complexes, the potassium salts used to prepare them, and platinum-bearing minerals or wastes. The US 2025 designation names the platinum commodity individually; it is mapped here to the element without designating every platinum compound or secondary resource as critical. Curated evidence concerns laboratory transformation in the presence of bacterial biomass, with substantial abiotic reduction and no demonstrated isolated-metal yield or industrial use.

• Cupriavidus metallidurans CH34

Plumbojarosite is a lead ferric hydroxysulfate mineral with ideal formula Pb0.5Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6, equivalently PbFe6(SO4)4(OH)12, with ferric iron. The September 2026 IMA list marks the species redefined (1987 s.p.). It is distinct from potassium jarosite, natrojarosite and mixed industrial jarosite residues. The curated experiment used an X-ray-diffraction-characterized synthetic analogue, not a natural ore or industrial waste. No constituent-element criticality or industrial deployment is inferred.

• Shewanella putrefaciens CN-32

Polydymite is the cubic nickel thiospinel mineral species, with IMA formula Ni2+Ni3+2S4 (Ni3S4), distinct from Fe-bearing violarite, other nickel sulfides, elemental nickel and mixed ores. The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1876; that year is not a unique approval accession. The curated mechanism concerns a synthetic mineral-assigned component of laboratory precipitates. No nickel criticality designation or industrial deployment is inherited.

• Nitratidesulfovibrio vulgaris str. Hildenborough

Polylithionite is the lithium-bearing mica mineral species listed by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 with formula KLi2AlSi4O10F2 and approved status (PDF page 175). Its 1998 s.p. entry denotes a special-procedure action, not a modern approval-number CURIE. The Handbook of Mineralogy describes monoclinic material and uses the generalized formula KLi2AlSi4O10(F,OH)2; its natural specimen analyses and hydroxyl substitution are not substituted for the current IMA formula. Documented geological occurrence includes late-stage segregations, veinlets and metasomatic replacement in syenite pegmatites of the Lovozero alkalic massif. This establishes a lithium-bearing geological host, not a universal ore grade, present mining status or recovery process. The IMA-approved mica nomenclature report defines lepidolite as a series name for trioctahedral micas on or near the trilithionite-polylithionite join. Lepidolite is therefore not used as an exact synonym for this endmember; a lepidolite-labelled mixed feed needs specimen-specific characterization before its behavior can be assigned to polylithionite. This species is distinct from elemental lithium and a bulk lithium concentrate. No microbial mechanism or criticality designation is assigned here.

Naturally occurring marine iron-manganese oxide and hydroxide concretions, commonly occurring on abyssal sediments and containing variable nickel, copper, cobalt and other constituents. This resource identity denotes the nodules, not a pure mineral species, constituent element, processing residue or defined traded metal grade. It is distinguished from rock-surface ferromanganese crusts and the terrestrial mixed manganese ore curated separately. Collection, drying and grinding do not make this geological feed a secondary resource. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

Mixed fly and bottom ash deposited in coal-combustion ash ponds, represented here by a sample from a Philippine circulating-fluidized-bed power plant burning local and imported coal. The mixture is a distinct secondary resource from separately collected coal fly ash, pure coal bottom ash and coal-gasification slag. Its fly-to-bottom ratio, residence time and plant identity are unreported. A laboratory mixed-culture study supports qualified metal mobilization from the mixed feed; it does not resolve either ash component's individual response or establish an isolated metal product, criticality designation or industrial deployment.

• Acidithiobacillus albertensis
• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

The commodity category of mined and manufactured salts containing potassium in water-soluble form. USGS distinguishes potassium chloride (muriate of potash), potassium sulfate (sulfate of potash), and potassium magnesium sulfate products in agricultural use, while also describing industrial uses. This is not elemental potassium, potassium oxide despite K2O-equivalent statistical reporting, a single potash-bearing mineral species, or all potassium-bearing rocks. In particular, potassium feldspar is not equated with a potash product. The named US 2025 designation applies to potash as a commodity. No microbial production or recovery mechanism is asserted.

Potassium feldspar (K-feldspar) is an informal family of potassium-rich alkali feldspars, including the microcline, orthoclase and sanidine structural forms; it is represented by the mineral_group kind without claiming an IMA-approved group name or a single mineral species. Whitney and Evans (2010), reproduced in the IMA-hosted nomenclature compendium, explicitly labels K-feldspar informal. Freeman et al. (2008) distinguishes these structural forms and the compositional end-member notation from an individual orthoclase phase. This family is distinct from the traded feldspar commodity and potash. The experimental feed below is only author-designated potassium feldspar; bulk oxide composition does not resolve its member species or phase proportions. No criticality designation is inherited.

• Priestia megaterium

Phosphorus-bearing poultry-bone residues investigated as a secondary feed for nutrient reuse, represented by cooked or boiled poultry bones ground and sieved to below 1 mm in the selected laboratory studies. The organic-mineral feed is distinct from elemental phosphorus, purified hydroxyapatite, phosphate rock, manure and bone-incineration ash. The animal species, supplier and exact cooking procedure are not reported; poultry is not silently narrowed to chicken. Material composition and treatment effects remain specimen-specific; no constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Priestia megaterium
• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Powellite is the calcium molybdate mineral species Ca(MoO4), listed as grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. It is distinct from elemental molybdenum, wulfenite and an uncharacterized calcium molybdate precipitate. Sidorenko and colleagues (2008) examined black Ca-Mo-rich grains from the Bota-Burum Mo-U deposit, South Kazakhstan. Powder diffraction and infrared spectroscopy supported crystalline powellite in the uranophane-beta-associated material. Chemically similar grains from the uramarsite-associated material were optically isotropic and X-ray amorphous, with no characteristic powellite infrared bands; the authors interpreted these as metamict powellite. That interpretation is kept distinct from the directly characterized crystalline material. Radiation-induced alteration and the origin of the black colour were inferred, without a controlled irradiation test. The article's page 29 discussion is internally inconsistent about retention versus loss of anisotropy and diffraction in the silicate assemblage; the explicit characterization on pages 23-27 anchors this limited record. These observations establish neither a microbial transformation nor a mineral recovery yield. Criticality is unrecorded.

The element Pr, distinct from dissolved Pr(III), its salts and oxides, Pr-containing magnet alloys and ore or waste resources. The US2025 designation applies to the named praseodymium mineral commodity. Evidence below concerns cell-free protein chromatography of a synthetic binary solution, not microbial growth on an ore or industrial recovery.

• Methylobacterium sp. 13MFTsu3.1M2

Preobrazhenskite is the grandfathered magnesium borate species Mg3B11O15(OH)9 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. Its 1956 entry is an original-description year, not an approval identifier. Burns and Hawthorne refined a natural crystal from the Inder borate deposit, Kazakhstan, in orthorhombic Pbcn symmetry, with a = 16.291(4), b = 9.181(2) and c = 10.571(2) angstrom. Complex borate sheets parallel to (010) are linked through two octahedrally coordinated magnesium sites. Hydrogen positions were located from difference-Fourier maps; a crystallographically symmetric H site is an average structural model whose true local symmetry the authors explicitly left uncertain. Possible off-centre disorder and a high-temperature transition were suggestions, not experimentally demonstrated transformations. The study reported no new bulk chemical analysis or microbial experiment. This magnesium borate is distinct from potassium-bearing kaliborite, elemental boron and the borates commodity. No criticality designation, extraction mechanism or industrial recovery is inferred.

Priceite is the Ca2B5O7(OH)5(H2O) mineral species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with grandfathered status G and original- description year 1873, not an approval number. Pandermite is a historical name for the same species. It is distinct from colemanite, gowerite, elemental boron and the borates commodity. Wallwork et al. determined a monoclinic P21/c structure from synchrotron powder diffraction of natural Sultancayir material, South Australian Museum specimen G3769. The model has four tetrahedral and one triangular boron sites per formula unit; boron positions were assigned geometrically and not refined, and hydrogen positions were not located. Hydroxyl and water assignments were supported by bond-valence analysis. The paper's abstract and body disagree on the borate-chain direction, so no direction is selected here. A separate Fuka, Japan, study reports eight electron-probe analyses averaging 49.95 wt% B2O3 and 32.35 wt% CaO. Its 17.56 wt% H2O was calculated by difference because pure material was insufficient for direct determination; its 2.486 g/cm3 density was calculated, not measured. The proposed natural alteration of shimazakiite and its inferred temperature range are geological interpretations, not a controlled synthesis experiment. No criticality, microbial mechanism or industrial extraction performance is inferred from these observations.

Probertite is the NaCaB5O7(OH)4(H2O)3 mineral species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1929, not a sequential approval identifier. It is distinct from ulexite, elemental boron, the borates commodity and mixed ores containing probertite. Gatta et al. studied natural Kramer Deposit material from collection specimen 11717, using separate crystals for X-ray diffraction at 293 K and neutron diffraction at 20 K. Both refinements used monoclinic P21/c; the model contains pentaborate chains with three tetrahedral and two triangular boron sites, four hydroxyl groups and three water molecules per formula unit. Ten hydrogen sites were first located using neutron data and then incorporated into the X-ray refinement. Chemical analyses are specimen-specific: electron-probe results give CaO 15.8(2) and Na2O 8.6(3) wt%, while the separate trace-element table reports a mean lithium concentration of 0.392 wt ppm from ten analyses. Near-ideal major-cation composition does not mean zero trace elements or establish purity for every deposit. The paper reports limitations of its neutron extinction correction; the deposited CIFs and final publisher version were not acquired. This identity and characterization record makes no criticality, microbial extraction, isolated-product recovery or demonstrated radiation-shielding deployment claim.

Promethium is the element Pm, represented here by its neutral-atom identity, distinct from individual isotopes, dissolved ions, mineral species and rare-earth commodity mixtures. Australia's Critical Minerals List, updated on 20 February 2024, includes a rare-earth-elements group whose footnote 17 explicitly names promethium. The designation below is that source's group-member mapping, not a separate individually scored promethium entry or a claim about other jurisdictions. This record contains verified identity and dated criticality; no microbial mechanism or recovery performance is asserted.

Solid residue generated by roasting or calcining pyrite-bearing feed, also described as pyrite ash. The curated experiments concern calcined waste supplied by the Eti Mining Bandırma Borax Plant, Turkey, and a separately characterized, weathered pyrite-ash sample from São Domingos, Portugal. This processing residue is distinct from natural pyrite, unroasted mine tailings, smelting slag and spent sulfuric-acid-production catalyst. Its composition varies with feed, processing and weathering; neither study establishes a uniform mineral formula or commercial product specification. No criticality-list designation is inferred from constituent elements.

• Saccharomyces cerevisiae
• Acetobacter aceti
• Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans
• +2 more

Pyrite is the FeS2 mineral species listed with grandfathered status G in the September 2026 IMA compilation. Its row does not provide an approval identifier or a known original-description year. The species is distinct from iron, sulfur, marcasite, pyrrhotite, nickel-bearing substituted experimental phases and mixed ores. Natural specimen material and synthesized FeS2 used in the experiment below are separate assay substrates. No constituent-element criticality designation is inherited.

• Methanococcus voltae A3

Pyroaurite is the magnesium-ferric-iron carbonate hydroxide hydrate mineral Mg6Fe3+2(OH)16(CO3)·4H2O. The IMA-CNMNC September 2026 list records redefined status Rd and the historical year 1865; that year is not a numbered approval identifier. It is distinct from hydrotalcite, the hydrotalcite mineral group, unspecified layered double hydroxides, elemental magnesium or iron, and mixed asbestos-mine tailings. The curated field trial identifies source-assigned pyroaurite in both inoculated and uninoculated acid-treated tailings and in the untreated baseline; it does not establish a microbial increase in pyroaurite production. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

Pyrochroite is the manganese(II) hydroxide mineral Mn2+(OH)2, listed as grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. The historical year 1864 is not an approval accession. This mineral is distinct from manganese metal, manganese ore and manganese(III) oxide hydroxide species. The experiment below concerns source-assigned pyrochroite in a mixed laboratory product; it does not certify a phase-pure natural mineral or establish criticality by inheritance from manganese.

• Geobacter sulfurreducens

Pyrolusite is the MnO2 mineral species in the September 2026 IMA list (status A, 1982 s.p.). The special-procedure entry is not a sequential approval accession. The species is distinct from elemental manganese, unspecified MnO2 polymorphs and source-labelled pyrolusite ores. The accepted experiment below is an explicitly abiotic reaction of characterized commercial beta-MnO2. A microbial ore study was inspected but cannot establish phase-specific microbial causality. No manganese-commodity criticality is inherited.

Pyromorphite is the Pb5(PO4)3Cl mineral species, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list with original-description year 1813. It differs from elemental lead, aqueous Pb and lead-bearing soil or ore. The dissolution assay used a characterized synthetic analogue; it is not a field test of long-term remediation. This record reuses the Topolska experiment also represented under lead and does not count it as independent replication. No lead-commodity criticality is inherited.

• Pseudomonas putida

Pyrrhotite is the Fe7S8 mineral species listed in the September 2026 IMA compilation, with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1835. That year is not an IMA approval identifier. Experimental literature also uses the nonstoichiometric notation Fe1-xS; the principal study below characterized a monoclinic 4C specimen containing minor pyrite and marcasite. The species is distinct from iron, troilite, pentlandite and mixed sulfide ores or processing residues. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

Quenstedtite is a triclinic ferric sulfate mineral, represented in the September 2026 IMA list as Fe(III)2(SO4)3(H2O)9·2H2O. It is distinct from other ferric-sulfate hydrates and from mixed-valence romerite. Thomas et al. (1974) refined a natural Chilean crystal of unknown exact locality in P-1, locating nine iron-coordinated water sites and two additional interlayer water sites. Eleven waters fit that specimen; earlier analyses indicating less water were retained as possible occupancy variability, with the lower limit untested. A separate 2012 MSc thesis refined a natural Alcaparrosa specimen and modeled hydrogen positions at 180 K. Its calcium-bearing surface grains were attributed to gypsum, rather than accepted as calcium intrinsic to quenstedtite. The thesis contains inconsistent comparison table angles, instrument descriptions and water-bonding prose; its CIF records mixed hydrogen treatment and geometrical H-site location. These qualifications prevent treating all hydrogen positions as direct unconstrained measurements or its proposed romerite conversion as an observed reaction. This is an identity and structure record, without a curated extraction, microbial mechanism, recovery yield or criticality designation.

Ramsdellite is the orthorhombic MnO2 mineral species listed as grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list, with original-description year 1943. That year is not an approval accession. It is distinct from pyrolusite, elemental manganese, unspecified manganese dioxide and fungal birnessite. The experiment below used a chemically synthesized powder assigned to ramsdellite by XRD; it does not establish microbial production of ramsdellite. No manganese or cobalt commodity criticality designation is inherited by this mineral.

This collective commodity family follows Australia's 20 February 2024 rare-earth-elements entry: yttrium and all fifteen lanthanides, including promethium. Scandium has a separate entry in that list. This sixteen-member economic grouping differs from the broader seventeen-element chemical definition, which also includes scandium, and from the EU 2020 assessment's fifteen-member light/heavy split, which excludes both scandium and promethium. Inclusion of promethium preserves the Australian source's stated membership and does not assert an ordinary mined promethium supply. This family overlaps individual element records and narrower rare-earth commodity groups; it is not one mineral, alloy or fixed mixture. The mechanism below concerns only a synthetic neodymium/dysprosium solution and does not establish recovery of every family member or treatment of ore, magnets or industrial waste.

• Hansschlegelia quercus

This end-use commodity family follows the seven-member entry in EU 2024 Annex I: neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, dysprosium, gadolinium, samarium and cerium for permanent magnets. The qualification for permanent magnets is part of the identity and designation. This record does not identify a finished magnet, a single alloy composition, a numeric purity grade, or every use of those elements. It overlaps the broader rare-earth commodity family and both EU light and heavy rare-earth subgroups, while remaining distinct from each individual element and from magnet-bearing waste. No microbial recovery mechanism or performance for a magnet feedstock is inferred from an assay of synthetic dissolved rare-earth ions.

Naturally occurring deep-ocean sediment enriched in rare-earth elements and yttrium, commonly termed REY-rich mud. This record denotes the heterogeneous geological sediment resource, including pelagic clay with REY-bearing biogenic calcium phosphate grains documented in western North Pacific samples. It is distinct from individual rare-earth elements, a purified rare-earth commodity, an isolated apatite mineral, phosphorite, ferromanganese nodules and rock-surface ferromanganese crusts. Host phases and composition vary among deposits; no single mineral formula or universal grade defines this resource. Collection or physical concentration alone does not make the natural feed a secondary resource. No constituent criticality designation is inherited. A field-proxy study provides qualified evidence for an inferred microbial contribution to natural diagenetic iron transformations and REY redistribution; it does not demonstrate a controlled microbial extraction process, a recovered-metal yield, economic reserves or industrial deployment.

Realgar is the monoclinic arsenic sulfide mineral, given as AsS in the September 2026 IMA list and represented molecularly as As4S4 in the selected primary study. The IMA entry is grandfathered, with original-description year 1747. It is distinct from elemental arsenic, orpiment, amorphous arsenic sulfides and other As4S4 polymorphs. No criticality designation is inherited from arsenic.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Regerite is a hydrated potassium ferric phosphate mineral with ideal formula KFe6(PO4)4(OH)7(H2O)6·4H2O, approved as IMA 2023-028 and retained in the September 2026 IMA list. Rewitzer et al. (2023) characterized crystals from a historical Kreuzberg pegmatite specimen from Pleystein, Germany. The natural material contains titanium; wavelength-dispersive analyses of 15 crystals are not independent occurrences or a synthesis experiment. Water was calculated from the structural model and an assumed charge-compensating substitution, rather than directly measured. Single-crystal synchrotron diffraction at 100 K supports monoclinic P21/c symmetry and a framework of iron-centred octahedra and phosphate tetrahedra with potassium and water in channels. Bond-valence sums support the ferric assignment, rather than a separate direct iron-valence assay. Twenty-five of the 27 ideal hydrogen positions were located and refined with restraints; H22 and H30b remained unresolved. The deposited all-Fe model and ideal formula do not represent the full measured titanium-bearing composition. The proposed titanium distribution, displacement and charge-compensation scheme remain interpretations, with displaced Ti not unambiguously confirmed. The text's O18-to-O33 water-site range overlaps its hydroxyl assignment; Table 4 and the deposited hydrogen model instead distinguish O17-to-O23 hydroxyl sites from O24-to-O33 water sites. Natural occurrence and crystal structure do not establish a formation, microbial extraction or recovery mechanism. No criticality designation is inherited from constituent elements.

Renierite is the mineral species listed by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 with formula (Cu1+,Zn)11Fe4(Ge4+,As5+)2S16 and renamed status, 2007 s.p. The special-procedure date is not an IMA approval-number identifier. The older Handbook uses the spelling Renierite with an acute accent on the second e and describes a tetragonal, pseudocubic sulfide occurring in germanium-bearing hydrothermal polymetallic deposits, including Kipushi and Tsumeb. Bernstein's 1986 electron-microprobe study supports coupled compositional variation between zincian Cu10ZnGe2Fe4S16 and arsenian Cu11GeAsFe4S16 within renierite; these compositional endmembers are not assigned separate accepted-species records here. Table 3 combines newly measured analyses, earlier literature values and ideal formulas, and Figure 4 distinguishes those origins. Microscopy shows intergrowths with other sulfides, including germanite, rather than identical material identity. This record concerns the mineral, not a bulk copper ore, germanium element or a traded metal. No microbial extraction mechanism, isolated recovery yield, present production or inherited criticality is asserted from these mineralogical observations.

Concentrated aqueous reject stream generated during reverse-osmosis water treatment, considered here as a secondary feed for constituent separation and recovery. Its salts, nutrients, contaminants and treatment additives depend on the source water and process. The curated experiment used concentrate produced in the laboratory from Arkansas River water, not natural geothermal brine or oil-and-gas produced water. This process-generated mixture is distinct from its dissolved elements, precipitated mineral phases and traded products. No criticality designation is inherited from a constituent.

Rhabdophane-(Ce) is the cerium-dominant hydrated phosphate mineral listed by IMA-CNMNC with ideal formula Ce(PO4)·H2O and renamed status Rn, 1966 s.p., in September 2026. That nomenclature entry is not a numbered approval identifier. It is distinct from elemental cerium, an unspecified mixed rare-earth phosphate and anhydrous monazite-(Ce). Synthetic Ce-rich rhabdophane prepared by replacement of Durango fluorapatite was identified by powder diffraction and thermal characterization in Bamforth et al. (2024). The fitted monoclinic structural model is study-specific; the Sm reference structure used in refinement is not a Ce-specimen accession. Ideal hydration is not an assay of every synthetic powder: Shelyug et al. (2018) reported CePO4·0.732H2O from thermogravimetry including adsorbed and structural water. Porous monazite and rhabdophane can have overlapping low electron-microprobe totals, so elemental composition or totals alone do not distinguish these phases. The curated transformation is an abiotic laboratory result. No microbial mechanism, isolated cerium recovery, industrial deployment or inherited criticality is asserted.

Rhabdophane-(La) is the lanthanum-dominant hydrated phosphate mineral listed by IMA-CNMNC with ideal formula La(PO4)·H2O and renamed status Rn, 1987 s.p., in September 2026. This entry does not provide a numbered IMA approval identifier. It is distinct from elemental lanthanum, mixed rare-earth phosphate material, rhabdophane-(Ce) and anhydrous monazite-(La). Ondrejka et al. (2018) characterized natural La-dominant members within mixed, compositionally zoned rhabdophane-group grains from the Velence Hills, Hungary, using electron microprobe and Raman spectroscopy. Their analyses include substitutions and mixed end-member contributions; neither every grain nor every La-Nd-rich zone is pure rhabdophane-(La). Natural-grain hydration is not measured by oxide totals alone. The 2019 erratum requires inclusion of Fe in formula calculations without recognizing an Fe end-member. Shelyug et al. (2018) separately characterized synthetic La rhabdophane and its thermal conversion to monazite. Their fitted monoclinic model and total-water coefficient 0.804 describe that preparation, not a universal species assay or revised IMA formula. No microbial mechanism, isolated lanthanum recovery, industrial deployment or inherited criticality designation is curated.

Rhenium (Re), represented as an element distinct from its ions, compounds, isotopes, host minerals, alloys and commodity streams. The US 2025 designation names the rhenium commodity and does not designate every compound or host material. A laboratory batch study tested inactive brewer's yeast biomass for rhenium association from synthetic perrhenate solutions. This biosorption record does not assert microbial rhenium reduction or isolated-metal recovery.

• Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Rhodium (Rh). The element is distinct from the Rh(III) chloride hydrate used as experimental feed, monometallic biomass-supported particles and mixed PdRh nanoparticles. The US 2025 list names the rhodium commodity individually; that designation is mapped to the element without extending it to every Rh-bearing compound, mineral or secondary resource. Curated evidence concerns laboratory transformation in synthetic solutions, not extraction from ore, purified-metal recovery or industrial deployment.

• Geobacter sulfurreducens

Rhodochrosite is the manganese carbonate mineral Mn(CO3). The September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list gives status A and the entry '1962 s.p.'; this special procedure notation is not a numbered new-mineral accession. The Handbook of Mineralogy places it in the calcite group and describes hydrothermal, metamorphic, carbonatite and sedimentary occurrences. This species owner is distinct from elemental manganese, dissolved Mn(II), mixed manganese ore, kutnohorite and the synthetic colloidal Mn(IV) oxide used in the experiment below. The curated mechanism concerns laboratory formation of rhodochrosite during bacterial reduction of that oxide, not extraction from a natural rhodochrosite feed. No manganese criticality designation, isolated mineral recovery yield or industrial deployment is inherited.

• Shewanella oneidensis MR-1

Rhomboclase is an orthorhombic acidic ferric sulfate hydrate mineral, (H5O2)Fe(III)(SO4)2·2H2O, recognized as a grandfathered species in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from generic ferric sulfate solutions and other sulfate hydrates. The accepted original supports abiotic evaporative preparation and acid-solution calorimetry of a structurally characterized synthetic sample with excess sulfate and protons relative to ideal stoichiometry. No microbial mechanism or isolated metal-recovery yield is established.

Riebeckite is the sodium-iron amphibole species with IMA formula vacancy-Na2(Fe(II)3Fe(III)2)Si8O22(OH)2, redefined under the 2012 special procedure in the September 2026 IMA list. Crocidolite denotes its asbestiform variety; this record does not equate every riebeckite specimen with an asbestos feed, elemental iron, or an asbestos-containing waste. The reviewed laboratory assay used UICC crocidolite reference material as supplied. No criticality designation is inherited from its constituents.

• Deferrisoma palaeochoriense

Romanèchite is a barium-bearing manganese oxide mineral with the IMA formula (Ba,H2O)2(Mn4+,Mn3+)5O10. The September 2026 list marks it approved (A), with "1982 s.p." in the number/year column; special-procedure notation is not a YYYY-NNN accession. The Handbook describes its monoclinic crystal structure. Romanèchite is a mineral species, distinct from barium or manganese elements, cryptomelane, and mixed manganese ores. The historical collective term psilomelane is not treated as an exact synonym for a pure mineral species. No constituent commodity's criticality is inherited. Pracejus's September 1989 thesis supplies mixed-ore experimental context rather than an accepted romanèchite-specific microbial mechanism. Section 5.5 correlates calculated normative mineral proportions of Groote Eylandt cemented pisolites with results from an Enterobacter-species leaching series. Appendix I.3.2 describes 1.89 g heat-sterilized ore, 8 mL 1% w/v molasses, incubation at 32 degrees C, and weekly concentrated H2SO4 addition before centrifugation and supernatant AAS, followed by fresh molasses and bacteria for a 21-week series. The normative romanèchite calculation allocates barium to this phase and neglects its variable potassium, intergrowths and other potential hosts; it is not a direct time-resolved phase abundance measurement. Figures 5.12-5.13 therefore cannot establish a pure-romanèchite bacterial dissolution yield. Matched uninoculated and acid-only results are not presented in the inspected leaching methods, figures or Appendix V.2. The record retains this experimental relevance without assigning a species/strain CURIE, microbial necessity, mineral-specific rate, isolated recovery, or industrial use.

Roquesite is the copper-indium sulfide mineral species CuInS2, listed by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 with renamed status (Rn) and IMA number 1962-001. Picot and Pierrot's original description concerns natural material from Charrier, Allier, France, observed as inclusions in bornite. Powder diffraction, reflected-light microscopy and electron-microprobe observations support its distinction from the associated host minerals. The paper compares this natural material with a separately supplied synthetic CuInS2 specimen; that comparator is not the natural mineral specimen or a microbial product. The synthetic powder pattern contains additional broad central lines whose origin the authors could not test because material was scarce. The natural specimen has reported traces of iron and zinc, so qualitative element-map contrast is not evidence of absolute chemical purity. Both natural and synthetic microprobe analyses total above 100 percent; the authors attribute the excess mainly to sulfur-standard and correction difficulties and also discuss possible reference-metal surface oxidation. Those analyses support the mineral assignment without establishing a closed recovery balance. This record identifies the mineral species, not elemental indium, the entire polymetallic ore or every manufactured material of nominal CuInS2 composition. No microbial mechanism, isolated-metal yield, industrial recovery or constituent-derived criticality is asserted.

Roscoelite is a vanadium-bearing mica mineral with the ideal formula KV3+2(Si3Al)O10(OH)2 in the September 2026 IMA list. The list records status A and the special-procedure entry 1998 s.p.; that entry is not an original discovery year or a conventional numbered approval. Blake's 1876 description concerns natural mica from Granite Creek, El Dorado County, California, and explicitly corrects his initial chromium identification to vanadium. The species is distinct from vanadium as an element, generic vanadium-bearing mica, and mixed shale or ore feeds. Ito's synthetic material was assigned to roscoelite by powder diffraction indexed as a 1M mica; its mixed-valence, nonideal bulk chemistry and microscopic oxide inclusions must not be replaced by the ideal all-V3+ formula. No criticality designation is inherited from vanadium, and neither the natural occurrence nor abiotic synthesis establishes microbial extraction or industrial recovery.

Rozenite is the monoclinic ferrous sulfate tetrahydrate mineral, Fe(II)(SO4)·4H2O, distinct from heptahydrate melanterite and monohydrate szomolnokite. The September 2026 IMA list recognizes it as a redefined species. The accepted primary experiment follows rozenite as a transient phase during laboratory heating of a natural melanterite sample. Phase fractions are diffraction-refinement results, not isolated-product recoveries or universal environmental stability limits. No microbial transformation is established by this experiment.

Rubidium (Rb), represented as an element distinct from its ions, compounds, isotopes, host minerals, alloys and commodity streams. The US 2025 designation names the rubidium commodity and does not designate every compound or host material. A laboratory experiment tracked light-dependent uptake of rubidium-86 ions by intact phototrophic bacteria as a probe of potassium transport. This does not establish rubidium recovery from ore, brine or waste.

• Cereibacter sphaeroides

Ruthenium (Ru). This element record is distinct from the dissolved Ru(III) chloride feed, cell-associated oxidized ruthenium material, and Pd/Ru catalyst preparations in the curated laboratory study. The US 2025 list names the ruthenium commodity individually; this maps to the element without extending criticality to every ruthenium compound, mineral or waste. The evidence supports biomass-associated deposition, without demonstrating elemental Ru recovery, a microbial enzyme requirement or industrial operation.

• Bacillus benzoevorans

Rutherfordine is the uranyl carbonate mineral with the ideal formula (UO2)(CO3), distinct from elemental uranium, aqueous uranyl-carbonate complexes and uranium commodities. The September 2026 IMA list gives approved status A and the special procedure token 1962 s.p.; it is not listed as grandfathered. A natural Shinkolobwe crystal was refined in orthorhombic Imm2 in 1999, with neutral uranyl-carbonate sheets. That specimen's carbonate-sheet orientation is not assigned automatically to synthetic products. The structural paper discusses possible OH/H2O variability and absorption-correction limitations, so the ideal formula is not proof that every preparation is chemically identical. No criticality designation, microbial mechanism or industrial deployment is inferred.

Rutile is the mineral species with IMA-approved formula TiO2. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status G and original description year 1803; the year is not an IMA approval identifier. This mineral is distinct from elemental titanium, traded titanium products, rutile-bearing concentrates and other TiO2 polymorphs or manufactured TiO2 nanoparticles. The curated primary experiment calls its electrode coating natural rutile and reports an average mineral diameter of 40 micrometres, but does not supply a specimen locality, bulk chemical purity or diffraction-based phase-purity determination for that coating. Its observed role is light-assisted electron transfer supporting microbial iron cycling in a laboratory reactor, not demonstrated transformation of rutile or recovery of titanium. No criticality designation is inherited from a constituent element.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Sabugalite is the aluminium uranyl phosphate hydrate mineral H0.5Al0.5(UO2)2(PO4)2·8H2O in the September 2026 IMA list, with grandfathered status G. The year 1951 denotes the original description, not a numbered IMA approval. Frondel's original HAl(UO2)4(PO4)4·16H2O formula uses twice this formula unit. The mineral is distinct from magnesium saléeite, calcium autunite or meta-autunite, and elemental aluminium or uranium. The original study distinguished natural Portuguese material by chemical analysis, optics and powder diffraction, while documenting mixed specimens and uncertainty in the historical symmetry assignment. Its thermal experiments support laboratory dehydration of a particular natural specimen, not an industrial uranium recovery process. No criticality or microbial mechanism is inferred from composition or mineral occurrence.

Saléeite is the magnesium uranyl phosphate decahydrate mineral Mg(UO2)2(PO4)2(H2O)10 in the September 2026 IMA list, with grandfathered status G. The year 1932 denotes its original description, not a numbered IMA approval. It is distinct from lower-hydration metasaléeite, arsenate-bearing nováčekite, aluminium-bearing sabugalite, and elemental magnesium or uranium. Dal Bo and colleagues examined natural saléeite from Shinkolobwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, with associated torbernite. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction at 293(2) K supports a monoclinic P21/n structure with uranyl-phosphate sheets and hydrated interlayer magnesium. The refined saléeite cell is a = 6.9516(3), b = 19.942(1), c = 6.9667(3) angstrom and beta = 90.586(4) degrees; R1 is 0.0307 for 1990 observed reflections after the reported twin treatment. Qualitative EDS detected U, P, Mg and O but no Fe or As, whereas the crystallographic occupancy model refined 0.97(1) Mg and 0.03(1) Fe at the interlayer cation site. These are different analytical results, not proof of a chemically pure endmember. Hydrogen positions used restrained O-H distances and constrained displacement parameters. This identity and structure evidence does not establish a microbial transformation, an extraction yield, an industrial process or a universal dehydration threshold. No criticality claim is inferred from the mineral's constituents. Deposited reflection data CSD-430599 were not acquired or independently re-refined, and the separate bassetite oxidation discussion is not a saléeite experiment.

Source-labelled samarium-cobalt magnet scrap supplied by the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad, India. Its preceding service history and manufacturing-waste category were not disclosed, so the feed is not asserted to be end-of-life devices. It is distinct from NdFeB magnet waste, the broad rare-earth permanent-magnet commodity grouping, pure Sm2Co17 and its constituent elements. The characterized preparation includes oxide phases as well as a Sm2Co17 assignment. No criticality designation or microbial recovery is inherited from the feed's constituents.

The element Sm, distinct from Sm(III), samarium nitrate, mineral species, alloys and waste streams. The dated US designation concerns the named samarium mineral commodity, without assigning that designation to every Sm-bearing material. The mechanism concerns laboratory culture-associated depletion from a synthetic solution and qualitative biomass enrichment, not a purified samarium product or industrial process.

• Anabaena cylindrica PCC 7122

Saponite is an IMA-listed smectite-group mineral with variable Mg-Fe-Al composition, written (Ca,Na)0.3(Mg,Fe)3(Si,Al)4O10(OH)2.4H2O in the September 2026 list. It has grandfathered status G and original-description year 1840, not a unique approval accession. The laboratory material below is the authors' saponite assignment for poorly ordered Mg-Al silicate associated with mixed microbial cultures. Its diffuse electron diffraction and lack of resolved bulk XRD peaks do not independently establish a well-crystallized, phase-pure saponite product. This owner is distinct from the smectite group and from co-precipitated carbonates; no constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Bacillariophyta

Sauconite is a Zn-rich smectite-group mineral with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1875 in the September 2026 IMA list, whose formula is Na0.3Zn3(Si,Al)4O10(OH)2·4H2O. The experimental material below is a synthetic Zn-rich trioctahedral smectite assigned to sauconite by combined diffraction and chemical characterization. It is distinct from generic saponite, zinc as an element, and mixed higher-temperature products. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

The element Sc, distinct from dissolved Sc(III), scandium chloride, scandium oxide, Sc-bearing minerals and waste feedstocks. The US2025 designation concerns the named scandium mineral commodity. Laboratory evidence below uses an immobilized bacterial protein and synthetic dissolved-metal mixtures; it does not demonstrate living-cell extraction.

• Methylorubrum extorquens

Scheelite is the Ca(WO4) mineral species in the September 2026 IMA list, with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1821. It is distinct from elemental tungsten, tungstate ions, wolframite and impure tungsten concentrates. The experiment below reuses the Blazevic 2019 study also represented under tungsten, with a scheelite-bearing mixed feed; it is not an independent replicate or evidence for a pure-mineral yield. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.