The US Geological Survey is providing $2.75 million to research critical mineral potential across central Arkansas and southern Missouri via airborne surveys, Kallanish reports.

The money from President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill will enable the state-federal programme to collect the largest continuous swath of geophysical data in the United States focused on critical minerals resources. The study will be funded and conducted through the USGS Mineral Resources Program’s Earth Mapping Resources Initiative.

The project calls for extending previous magnetic and radiometric surveys conducted in the southern midcontinent while searching for 18 critical minerals including nickel, cobalt, lithium, manganese, vanadium and rare earths. Some of these commodities are being actively mined or are by-products found in mine waste, while others have a history of production or have been identified via exploration and research.

With over $320m in total funding for critical minerals mapping, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding has accelerated this mapping in areas with potential for hosting critical mineral resources both still in the ground and in mine wastes.

Says Warren Day, Earth MRI lead scientist for the USGS: “The new data will create a foundation for better understanding of mineral and geothermal resources, earthquake hazard potential, carbon storage capacity and many other geoscience opportunities.”