Critical raw materials explorer

The Critical Raw Materials Act lists 34 critical raw materials, and 17 strategic raw materials that the EU treats as priorities. This is where they sit on the periodic table.

Periodic table

Select a highlighted element to see how the Regulation lists it.

Cobalt Co · 27

Strategic and critical raw material

  • Annex I cobalt
  • Annex II cobalt

1 project in the tracker

  • Strategic and critical (Annexes I and II)
  • Critical only (Annex II)
  • Not listed

All listed materials

Read the Regulation
Raw materials listed in Annexes I and II of the Critical Raw Materials Act
Raw material Strategic (Annex I) Critical (Annex II) Elements shown
Antimony No Yes Antimony
Arsenic No Yes Arsenic
Baryte No Yes Barium A barium mineral.
Bauxite/alumina/aluminium Yes Yes Aluminium
Beryllium No Yes Beryllium
Bismuth Yes Yes Bismuth
Boron Yes: boron — metallurgy grade Yes Boron
Cobalt Yes Yes Cobalt
Coking coal No Yes Carbon
Copper Yes Yes Copper
Feldspar No Yes — A group of aluminosilicate minerals; not mapped to a single element.
Fluorspar No Yes Fluorine A fluorine mineral.
Gallium Yes Yes Gallium
Germanium Yes Yes Germanium
Graphite Yes: graphite — battery grade Yes Carbon
Hafnium No Yes Hafnium
Heavy rare earth elements No Yes Yttrium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium Group membership per the Commission’s 2023 assessment.
Helium No Yes Helium
Light rare earth elements No Yes Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Samarium Group membership per the Commission’s 2023 assessment.
Lithium Yes: lithium — battery grade Yes Lithium
Magnesium Yes: magnesium metal Yes Magnesium
Manganese Yes: manganese — battery grade Yes Manganese
Nickel — battery grade Yes Yes Nickel
Niobium No Yes Niobium
Phosphate rock No Yes Phosphorus A phosphorus mineral resource.
Phosphorus No Yes Phosphorus
Platinum group metals Yes Yes Ruthenium, Rhodium, Palladium, Iridium, Platinum Group membership per the Commission’s 2023 assessment.
Rare earth elements for permanent magnets (Nd, Pr, Tb, Dy, Gd, Sm, and Ce) Yes No Neodymium, Praseodymium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Gadolinium, Samarium, Cerium
Scandium No Yes Scandium
Silicon metal Yes Yes Silicon
Strontium No Yes Strontium
Tantalum No Yes Tantalum
Titanium metal Yes Yes Titanium
Tungsten Yes Yes Tungsten
Vanadium No Yes Vanadium

Source and method

Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 (Critical Raw Materials Act), Annexes I and II, as published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 3 May 2024. Labels are copied from the Regulation. Checked against the published text on 7 October 2026.

The Regulation lists raw materials, not elements. Placing them on the periodic table is a Cobalis simplification for orientation: minerals are shown under their key element (baryte under barium, fluorspar under fluorine, phosphate rock under phosphorus), and feldspar, a group of minerals, is not shown. The Regulation does not list the members of the heavy and light rare earth groups or of the platinum group metals; the grouping shown follows the European Commission’s Study on the critical raw materials for the EU 2023: ten heavy and five light rare earth elements, and five platinum group metals (osmium is not assessed). Checked against the study on 7 October 2026.

The Commission can amend these lists by delegated act. This page will be updated when it does.