Contribute
OpenOre is built from open sources, and it shows what is missing as missing. This page says what can be added, under which rules, and which figures the atlas still needs.
Contributing in the browser is coming soon. There is no form on this page yet. Suggesting a site or a correction, review and revision history are built and will open once the atlas has launched. Until then you can write to hello@openore.org with a public source for what is missing or wrong.
What can be contributed
- A mine, smelter or refinery the atlas does not have, with the public source that documents it.
- A figure a source publishes but the atlas has not ingested yet, for example refining output by country, with the exact table or page.
- A correction to a figure, a name or a location, with the source that shows the right value.
- An open source the atlas does not know, with a link to its terms of use.
The rules
- Never invent data. Every number, location, owner and share must trace to a source record with a link, a date and a licence.
- If a value is unknown, it stays unknown. A missing value keeps its reason and is never turned into zero.
- Contributions are licensed under the Open Database License, reviewed by a person, and never published automatically.
- No data about private individuals. Sources that forbid redistribution are not ingested.
Where the gaps are
The gaps overview lists what is missing across all materials. Each country and material profile has its own list under Risks & policy, computed from the data.
All gaps, across materialsExample: gaps for the Democratic Republic of the CongoExample: gaps for cobalt
Figures the atlas needs a person to enter
This is the project's own list (MANUAL_DATA.md), shown as it is written.
Figures we are missing
Values the atlas needs but cannot take from an open, machine-readable source. Each needs a person to open the source, read the exact table or page, and enter it as a Fact with that reference. Until then the atlas shows "No open refining data yet" (or the matching empty state). Nothing here is filled in from memory.
Refining and processing shares by country
USGS MCS 2026 gives refining-stage data for only two of the ten materials: copper (refinery production) and gallium (primary production and capacity). For the rest there is no open refining series in the pipeline.
| Material | What is missing | Where it might be found (to be opened and cited exactly) |
|---|---|---|
| Lithium | Refined lithium chemicals (carbonate, hydroxide) by country | IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026, refining tables |
| Cobalt | Refined cobalt by country | IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026; Cobalt Institute market report |
| Nickel | Refined nickel (Class 1, sulphate, NPI) by country | IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026; INSG |
| Graphite | Spherical and synthetic (anode-grade) graphite by country | IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026 |
| Rare earths | Separated oxides (NdPr, Dy, Tb) and magnet production by country | IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026 |
| Germanium | World refinery production by country (USGS publishes no world table) | USGS Minerals Yearbook germanium chapter; IEA |
| Tungsten | APT and downstream processing by country | ITIA; IEA |
| Antimony | Metal and trioxide production by country | USGS Minerals Yearbook antimony chapter |
Update 2026-11-12: the IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026 is CC BY 4.0 and its annex tables are now in the atlas, so refining by country is no longer missing for lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and rare earths (and copper has a second source). Still missing: germanium, tungsten, antimony, and the mining side of gallium. When an IEA figure differs from USGS, both are shown with their sources; they are never averaged.
Other gaps
| Topic | What is missing |
|---|---|
| Synthetic graphite | USGS MCS covers natural graphite only; no country series for synthetic graphite |
| Recycling rates | End-of-life recycling rate and recycled-content share per material (UNEP IRP, published studies) |
| EU targets | Batteries Regulation and CRMA benchmarks, each citing the legal text |
| Material intensity | Material content per product (IEA), for the product exposure cards |
| Rare-earth reserves | The revised Brazil figure (11,000,000 t, report v1.3 p. 153) is known from USGS's revision history but is not in the data release; see MANUAL_DOWNLOADS.md |