Bioleaching Mechanisms

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

• Metallosphaera sedula

Naturally occurring polymetallic sulfide deposit material formed at or beneath the seafloor by hydrothermal mineralization. This resource includes heterogeneous sulfide-bearing ore and associated gangue, rather than a single mineral species, constituent element, finished metal commodity, or processing residue. USGS distinguishes this hydrothermal resource from polymetallic nodules and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts. The curated experiment used collected Japanese marine hydrothermal ores, not seawater alone or pure synthetic sulfides. Their compositions are sample-specific and do not define a universal resource grade. Collection, grinding and washing leave the feed a primary resource. No constituent criticality designation is inherited; the laboratory mechanism does not establish seafloor extraction or industrial deployment.

Ash from thermal treatment of sewage sludge, distinct from unburned sludge, municipal-solid-waste incineration ash and coal fly ash. It is a heterogeneous secondary resource rather than a phosphate mineral species or individual critical element. The selected ash-B feed has unresolved fly/bottom fraction and host phases. Its source also supplies the separate municipal-waste ash and niobium records; those are linked views of one study, not additional experiments.

Skutterudite is the cobalt arsenide mineral species listed as CoAs3 with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1845 in the September 2026 IMA compilation. The year is not an approval identifier. The Handbook describes cubic Im-3 symmetry and natural nickel and iron substitution. This species is distinct from nickelskutterudite, cobaltite, elemental cobalt and engineered skutterudite-type materials. Accepted microbial evidence concerns a phase-characterized, mixed Bou Azzer concentrate dominated by skutterudite; it does not establish a pure-endmember extraction rate or transfer constituent-element criticality to this mineral.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans
• Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans

End-of-life non-button alkaline and zinc-carbon batteries, represented by a mixed AA-cell powder after dismantling, electrolyte washing and drying. This secondary resource is distinct from the curated watch/button-cell powder, nickel-metal-hydride batteries and lithium-ion battery black mass. The selected experiment treats the two primary-cell chemistries together; it does not establish separate chemistry-specific performance or a universal battery composition. Constituent-element criticality is not inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Used automotive three-way catalytic-converter material, represented here by a real vehicle-treatment-centre catalyst containing a ceramic support and metal-bearing coating. This use-defined secondary resource is distinct from its constituent platinum-group elements, fresh catalyst, refinery hydrocracking or hydrodesulfurization catalysts, and automotive wastewater-treatment sludge. The selected cryomilled feed does not define every converter formulation. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Used petroleum-refinery fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst, a heterogeneous alumina/silica-rich secondary resource that may contain rare earths and accumulated metals. It is distinct from fresh catalyst, spent hydrocracking or hydrotreating catalyst, automotive catalyst, constituent elements and mineral species. The selected evidence concerns one Valero FCC feed and filtered microbial culture supernatant; it does not confer criticality on all FCC wastes.

• Gluconobacter oxydans

Used refinery catalyst from hydrocracking, which combines cracking and hydrogenation of hydrocarbon feeds. This secondary-resource class is distinct from spent fluid catalytic cracking catalyst, automotive catalyst and the broader category of all hydroprocessing catalysts. The selected Thai refinery material was decoked before laboratory leaching; its composition is not a universal catalyst formulation, and no constituent-element criticality is inherited.

• Aspergillus aculeatus

Used catalyst from hydrodesulfurization of petroleum feeds, represented here by a characterized raw catalyst from a Brazilian diesel-treatment unit. This process-defined secondary resource is distinct from spent fluid catalytic cracking and hydrocracking catalysts, from fresh catalyst formulations, and from its constituent elements. The selected material was described as CoMo on alumina, but its measured composition and microbial response do not define all spent HDS catalysts. No constituent-element criticality designation is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

End-of-life nickel-cadmium batteries, represented here by prepared active electrode powder from dismantled cells. The accepted experiment concerns the cathode fraction, not an intact battery or a pooled whole-cell metal inventory. This Ni/Cd secondary-cell resource is distinct from nickel-metal-hydride batteries, mixed alkaline/zinc-carbon primary cells, button-cell powder and lithium-ion black mass. Constituent-element criticality is not inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

End-of-life nickel-metal-hydride batteries, represented by mixed battery powder supplied by a recycler. This secondary resource is distinct from lithium-ion battery black mass, pure electrode compounds, and its constituent elements. Battery formulations and upstream recycling steps are not fully specified for the selected feed. No constituent-element criticality status is inherited by this waste resource.

• Gluconobacter oxydans
• Streptomyces pilosus

Used vanadia-tungsta/titania catalysts from coal-fired power-plant flue-gas denitrification, represented by separately characterized laboratory feeds. Niu and colleagues studied an arsenic-contaminated honeycomb catalyst from a Xinjiang plant; Su and colleagues separately studied gray and yellow regions of three spent honeycomb catalysts, S3–S5. This manufactured, heterogeneous secondary resource is distinct from refinery hydroprocessing, fluid catalytic cracking and sulfuric-acid-production catalysts, pure constituent oxides, mineral species and elemental vanadium or tungsten. V2O5-WO3/TiO2 is the sources' catalyst formulation notation, not proof of three separately quantified crystalline phases. Fresh catalysts S1–S2 in Su's study are comparators, not spent-resource observations. No criticality designation is inherited from the constituents.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans ATCC 19377

Discarded button cells identified by the primary source as silver-oxide–zinc batteries, distinct from zinc–manganese button cells, other battery chemistries, elemental silver or zinc and isolated recovered products. The accepted experiment used powder manually removed from market-collected waste cells, not intact batteries or an authenticated pure oxide feed. It supports laboratory metal mobilization with a filtered fungal culture medium, with unresolved experimental-condition and yield conflicts.

• Aspergillus niger

Used catalyst from sulfur-dioxide oxidation in sulfuric-acid production, represented here by vanadium-bearing material from a copper-smelter acid unit. This process-defined secondary resource is distinct from petroleum hydrodesulfurization catalysts, automotive converters, fresh catalyst and its constituent elements or mineral phases. The selected silica-rich feed does not define every spent acid-plant catalyst. No constituent-element criticality designation is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Discarded tantalum capacitor components separated from electronic equipment, distinct from tantalum element, whole printed circuit boards, other capacitor technologies and a recovered tantalum product. The accepted laboratory feed comprised visually identified surface-mounted capacitors manually removed from spent mobile phones and milled. One primary study supports qualified base-metal mobilization by acidophile cultures and a fungal-culture filtrate, while tantalum was not detected in the reported leachates. It does not establish industrial deployment, pure feed phases or isolated-metal recovery.

End-of-life zinc-manganese button cells, represented by mixed powder from discarded watch batteries. This secondary resource is distinct from NiMH and lithium-ion batteries, silver-oxide button cells, pure electrode phases and the constituent elements. The selected study identifies its mixed feed as Zn-Mn button cells but does not independently document the chemistry of every collected cell. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

Sphalerite is the mineral species with IMA-approved formula ZnS. The September 2026 IMA list records status A (approved) and the IMA No./Year entry 1980 s.p., denoting special procedure rather than a sequential approval identifier or the year of original discovery. This species is distinct from elemental zinc, the zinc commodity, other ZnS phases and a flotation concentrate. The curated experiments used an iron-bearing Gamsberg concentrate; they are the same studies represented under cmmmech:zinc, not additional independent replications. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Spodumene is the LiAlSi2O6 mineral species in the September 2026 IMA list. Status A denotes approval; the entry 1962 s.p. denotes a special-procedure action, not a sequential approval identifier or the mineral's original discovery year. This mineral is distinct from elemental lithium and a mixed spodumene-bearing ore. The study below, already cited by cmmmech:lithium, tests one such feed and reports no material lithium-leaching enhancement under its conditions. No lithium commodity designation is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Stannite is the mineral species Cu2FeSnS4, recorded as grandfathered (G) with original-description year 1832 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. That year is not an IMA approval identifier. It is distinct from elemental tin, tin commodities, mixed mine wastes and ferrokësterite, which shares the ideal formula but has a separate species identity. Černý and colleagues (2001) characterized natural zincian stannite and ferroan kësterite from four Peerless pegmatite nodules using electron microprobe analyses and powder-diffraction unit-cell refinement. They explicitly named the samples by composition; their work does not refine cation ordering or establish every specimen's space group. Haase and colleagues (2022) independently identified stannite by selected-area electron diffraction in selected natural grains from two Czech mine-waste sites. Their weathering textures and compositional series do not establish microbial causation or a recovery process. The laboratory leaching evidence below concerns separately prepared synthetic material and one historically identified Malaysian natural sample. No criticality designation is inherited from tin, copper or zinc.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Struvite is the (NH4)Mg(PO4)(H2O)6 mineral species, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list with original-description year 1846. It is distinct from struvite-(K), dittmarite, elemental phosphorus or magnesium, and a recovered wastewater product that may contain multiple phases. The fungal experiment used processed struvite-bearing material from a water-treatment site and reuses Kang 2022 also represented under phosphorus and cerium; it is not an independent study. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

• Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015

Talc is the Mg3Si4O10(OH)2 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 forsterite record curate different substrates in the same Cai 2013 experiment, not independent studies.

• Aspergillus niger

Chromium-bearing solids from tannery wastewater treatment, represented here by the Xiamen factory sludge tested by Wang et al. (2019). This heterogeneous secondary resource is distinct from untreated tanning liquor, leather shavings, pyrolyzed tannery residue, electroplating sludge and elemental chromium. The experiment does not establish a universal sludge composition or inherit constituent-element criticality.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

The element Ta, distinct from tantalum ions, oxides, mineral species, capacitor components and mixed electronic scrap. The United States 2025 list's Tantalum entry is mapped to this element; that designation is not inherited by every capacitor or waste feed. The curated primary study documents an unsuccessful acidophile leaching attempt for Ta under specified conditions, preserving a useful limitation rather than asserting recovery.

A mixed mineral concentrate enriched in source-labelled tennantite, represented here by the feed studied by Kondo et al. (2024). This resource is distinct from a pure mineral species, the separately described tennantite-(In), and elemental copper or arsenic. The study reports mineral liberation analysis of about 60 wt% tennantite, 23% pyrite, 8.2% sphalerite, 6.3% gangue, 1.6% galena and 0.97% chalcopyrite (rounded values). Bulk elemental composition is reported as S 31%, Cu 23%, Fe 12%, Zn 10%, Sb 7.8% and As 6.2%, with median particle size 41 micrometres. Its geographic origin and beneficiation route are not given. Generic discussion of flotation wastes does not establish that this particular feed was discarded waste. The informal tennantite phase label does not resolve a modern mineral species or establish the ideal Cu12As4S13 composition of every grain. No criticality designation is transferred from a constituent element.

• Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans

A mixed flotation concentrate enriched in source-labelled tetrahedrite, represented by the Strieborná vein feed from the Mária Mine in the Rožňava ore field, eastern Slovakia, studied by Kupka et al. (2025). This extracted geological feed is distinct from a modern tetrahedrite mineral species, elemental copper or antimony, and a waste stream. The source describes tetrahedrite as the principal sulfide, accompanied by siderite and quartz, minor pyrite, arsenopyrite and chalcopyrite, and trace other sulfides. Table 1 reports bulk Cu 25.59, Sb 19.68 and Ag 0.57 wt%. Its approximate phase-proportion prose is inconsistent with its bulk SiO2 value, so no reconciled quantitative mineral assemblage is assigned here. Modern tetrahedrite suffix species are distinct identities; the paper's generic phase label and selected microprobe analyses do not establish a species identity for this heterogeneous feed. No criticality designation is transferred from its constituent elements.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
• Acidithiobacillus ferrivorans

Tin-copper solder denotes commercially supplied soldering material described as Sn-Cu, rather than elemental tin or copper, a mineral species, or a documented waste stream. Jadhav and colleagues studied material supplied by Taiwan-Solid Enterprises Limited; their methods do not establish a prior service life or recovery from discarded equipment. They report nominal Sn-Cu composition as 63-37%, which is retained as reported rather than corrected to a conventional alloy formulation. Their surface observations suggest a tin-rich coating and a copper-containing interior, so this record does not assert homogeneous bulk alloy composition. Evidence applies to those experimental pieces, not every product sold under the Sn-Cu solder description. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

Residual solids from acid leaching in wet recovery of nickel or cobalt from waste traction-battery cathode materials and other recycled wastes. The curated study used separate nickel-line and cobalt-line residues from an unnamed Chinese enterprise; their compositions are not pooled. The source calls these residues slags, but does not establish molten-slag origin. They are downstream processing residues, distinct from mechanically prepared battery black mass, intact batteries, a pure cathode compound and isolated nickel or cobalt products. Exact incoming battery chemistries and the contribution of other wastes are unspecified. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
• Leptospirillum ferriphilum
• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans
• +2 more

Troilite is the FeS mineral species listed with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1863 in the September 2026 IMA compilation. That year is not an approval identifier. The hexagonal species is distinct from pyrrhotite, mackinawite, iron and mixed sulfide resources. The accepted laboratory study used a natural XRD-assigned troilite feed with marcasite impurity, not a demonstrated pure endmember. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

The element W, distinct from tungstate ions, scheelite and wolframite, tungsten carbides, experimental concentrates and mining wastes. The dated US designation concerns the named tungsten mineral commodity rather than every W-bearing material. A laboratory study supports enhanced tungsten release from an impure scheelite concentrate in Metallosphaera sedula cultures; it does not establish an isolated tungsten product, a specific tungsten redox pathway or industrial recovery.

• Metallosphaera sedula

Heterogeneous residual solids in uranium-mine tailings management areas, represented here by DT and RAT samples from two decommissioned Elliot Lake, Ontario sites. These are secondary mining residues, distinct from unprocessed uranium ore, individual uranium minerals, drainage water and purified elements. The original processing flowsheets and the expansions of the two sample-site abbreviations are not established by the curated study. Laboratory evidence concerns culture-associated metal solubilization and a separate resin screen; it does not establish industrial recovery or a resolved uranium extraction yield. No constituent-element criticality designation is inherited by these tailings.

Vermiculite denotes compositionally variable hydrated layer silicates, represented here at mineral-group scope rather than as a particular ideal endmember or traded exfoliated product. The Handbook of Mineralogy explicitly calls vermiculite a group name with unspecified individual minerals; the September 2026 IMA list also retains Vermiculite as a grandfathered name, dated 1824, with generalized formula Mg0.7(Mg,Fe,Al)6(Si,Al)8O20(OH)4·8H2O. These nomenclature treatments are both retained. The experiment below concerns one characterized natural specimen deliberately exchanged with potassium before fungal exposure, not all vermiculite ores or naturally potassium-rich material. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

• Paxillus involutus

Discarded liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels, a manufactured composite resource containing glass and indium-tin-oxide-bearing layers. The curated experiment used dismantled panels from spent mobile phones, not whole devices, pure indium tin oxide, a single mineral or all display technologies. Its prepared powder is a study-specific fraction of this resource. No criticality designation is inherited from indium or tin.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
• Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Waste printed circuit boards are end-of-life conductive circuit layers on insulating substrates, often retaining mounted electronic components and solders. They are a heterogeneous secondary feed generated by equipment use and disposal, distinct from whole electronic waste, individual removed tantalum capacitors, elemental copper and a mineral species. The curated studies concern waste-computer boards, recycler-supplied mixed boards and ground mobile-phone board material; their compositions and outcomes do not define every board type. No criticality designation is inherited from constituent metals.

Willemite is the zinc orthosilicate mineral Zn2SiO4, listed by IMA-CNMNC in September 2026 with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1830. It is distinct from hemimorphite, zincite, elemental zinc and mixed zinc-bearing ores or slags. The evidence concerns willemite assigned within weathered smelting slag associated with a lichen, and a separate synthetic analogue in laboratory acid leaching. The field study does not establish the lichen's necessary causal contribution, and the synthetic feed has unresolved composition inconsistencies. No inherited criticality, phase-specific recovered-product yield or industrial deployment is asserted.

• Stereocaulon exutum

Wollastonite is the calcium silicate mineral species CaSiO3, listed as approved with the literal 1962 s.p. entry in the September 2026 IMA list. It is distinct from elemental silicon or calcium, a calcium-silicate commodity, and mixed rock or waste feed. The experimental natural crystals are source-assigned wollastonite; the study does not establish an exact polytype or complete phase purity for the bacterial-assay batch. No constituent criticality is inherited.

• Pseudomonas chlororaphis subsp. aureofaciens

Heterogeneous mineral-rich residue of wood combustion, represented here by hardened wood ash supplied by Ljungbyverket, Sydkraft varme, Sweden. The tested ash was ground to 0.10-0.25 mm and used as a nutrient-bearing amendment in laboratory seedling pots. Its composition and treatment are sample-specific; the paper does not resolve a bottom-ash versus fly-ash fraction or a detailed wood-fuel blend. This resource is distinct from coal fly ash, sewage-sludge incineration ash, mixed municipal-waste ash, unburned wood and isolated phosphate minerals. No constituent criticality designation is inherited.

A mixed natural mineral concentrate represented by the laboratory feed studied by He et al. (2024), containing source-assigned xenotime, monazite, zircon, almandine and ilmenite. Its deposit, supplier and concentration history are not specified in the reviewed article and supplement. Particle counting and density conversion estimated about 82.0 wt% xenotime and 2.7 wt% monazite; these are sample-specific phase estimates, not measured product purity. The feed is distinct from the xenotime-(Y) mineral species, monazite species, elemental rare earths, a rare-earth commodity and a secondary waste resource. No criticality designation is inherited from its constituent elements.

• Bacillus thuringiensis

Zinc (Zn), atomic number 30. The zinc-atom identifier grounds this element record, not dissolved Zn(II), zinc sulfide, sphalerite, or a zinc concentrate. The United States designation maps the listed zinc commodity to this element; it does not designate every zinc-bearing mineral or waste. The curated experiments concern laboratory dissolution of a sphalerite concentrate.

• Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans