Methodology
Data and methodology
What MineralLink covers, where every record comes from, how it is checked, and what may be reused. The figures on this page are counted from the live data.
Coverage
| Dataset | What a record holds | Coverage today | Most recent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Production, refining and reserves | Annual figures by country and commodity, with unit, reporting standard and an estimate flag | 46,780 figures · 153 countries · 85 commodities · 1901–2026; 10,868 are a government's own national figures | By source edition |
| Critical-mineral lists | Each jurisdiction's official list, year and item | 815 entries · 25 jurisdictions | By list edition |
| Policies and trade measures | Export controls, bans, quotas, incentives, strategies and agreements, with effective date | 268 records · 81 jurisdictions | 2026-09-28 |
| Mines and projects | Location, stage, commodities, operator; plants for refining, smelting and processing | 1,509 sites in 122 countries · 1,056 producing · 367 in exploration, development or construction · 1,421 with coordinates | 2026-10-30 |
| Resource and reserve estimates | Category, tonnage, grade, contained metal, reporting code and study stage | 1,613 estimates for 343 projects | By report date |
| Ownership | Owners of each site, their share, headquarters country, ultimate parent and state ownership | 1,633 ownership records for 1,308 sites · 1,076 with a share · 320 with the ultimate parent · 1,487 with state ownership stated | 2026-10-30 |
| Deals | Offtakes, acquisitions, equity investments, joint ventures, government loans and grants | 383 deals · 79 offtakes | 2026-10-01 |
| Fiscal regimes | Royalties, export duties, state participation and taxes, with the legal instrument | 510 terms · 70 countries | By legal instrument |
| Directory | Governments, companies, investors, research bodies and associations in the value chain | 1,479 organisations · 171 countries | Continuous |
| Events, news and opportunities | Conference calendar, summarised news with a link to the original, open calls and tenders | 222 events · 211 news items · 81 opportunities | 2026-10-30 |
Coverage is uneven by design: we add records where a primary source exists, and leave gaps visible rather than fill them with estimates.
Sources and evidence
- Statistics, lists, policies, fiscal terms, ownership and deals cite primary documents: government statistics and yearbooks, laws and official gazettes, regulators, and company or stock-exchange filings and releases. News items are short summaries that link to the original article.
- Every record keeps its source link and the date it was read. Open a figure on the site to see its citation.
- Where a government reports its own production, we show that national figure next to international compilations instead of choosing one. Estimates are flagged as estimates.
- We do not publish price assessments or market forecasts, and we do not adjust any record because of who pays for membership or sponsorship (see governance).
How the data is checked
- Automated checks run on every update: each statistic, list entry and policy must point to a known source; site, organisation and deal links must resolve; country codes, element symbols and commodity names must be valid.
- Corrections are recorded field by field with their source, so a change can be traced back.
- Edits made by our editors are versioned; every change and who made it is kept in an audit log that cannot be altered.
Licences and reuse
The data cites 2,411 documents from 152 organisations: 1,978 under an open licence, 374 with no licence stated (we use facts only, with attribution), and 59 whose terms need permission for some reuse. Each document and its licence note is listed on the sources page.
Member downloads cover our compilations (policies and trade measures, critical mineral lists, directory of organisations, events calendar, opportunities, mines and projects), each row with its source link. Rows whose source needs permission for reuse are left out, and production statistics are not downloadable, because several national publishers do not allow redistribution.
Found an error?
Tell us which record and, if you can, the source that shows the right value: report a data error. We check every report against the primary source.