Presented by Patty Webber
Wyoming State Geological Survey
Wyoming has an extensive history of mining and mineral exploration. Precious and base metals have been pursued for the past 170 years, while fossil fuels, uranium, and trona have played an important role in the state’s economy for the better part of the last century. Modern mineral investigations are beginning to turn towards critical minerals, which have come into the spotlight recently as global demand for greener energy sources and new technology rapidly expands.

Since critical minerals are considered essential to economic and national security, are vulnerable to supply disruptions, and are largely acquired from foreign sources, the federal government has allocated significant funding to investigate the distribution and potential for these minerals across the United States. The state of Wyoming has followed suit. For the past two years, the Wyoming State Geological Survey has been researching critical mineral potential in the Laramie Mountains through the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) program. This project has looked in depth at the central part of the Laramie Mountains, producing two new 1:24,000scale maps and accompanying geochemical and geochronological data.