24 focus areas match these criteria.
| Focus area | Region | States | Mineral Systems | Deposit types | Commodities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archean gneiss terranes | North Central | Iowa; Michigan; Minnesota; Nebraska; South Dakota; Wisconsin | Magmatic REE | Peralkaline syenite/granite/rhyolite/alaskite/pegmatites | copper; thorium; uranium; yttrium |
| Archean gneiss terranes | North Central | Iowa; Michigan; Minnesota; Nebraska; South Dakota; Wisconsin | Porphyry Sn (granite-related) | Pegmatite LCT; Porphyry/skarn | (none) |
| Cretaceous weathering of Archean and Paleoproterozoic rocks | North Central | Minnesota; South Dakota | Chemical weathering | Regolith (Ion adsorption) REE | (none) |
| Graphite in black shales | North Central | Michigan; Minnesota; Wisconsin | Metamorphic | Graphite (coal or carbonaceous sed) | (none) |
| Manganese (Mn) in iron-formations | North Central | Michigan; Minnesota; Wisconsin | Marine chemocline | Iron-manganese | iron |
| Mentor Intrusive Complex | North Central | Minnesota | Mafic magmatic | Nickel-copper-PGE sulfide | copper; gold; selenium; silver |
| Midcontinent Rift conduit-type magmatic sulfide Ni-Cu-PGE | North Central | Michigan; Minnesota; Wisconsin | Mafic magmatic | Nickel-copper-PGE sulfide | copper; gold; selenium; silver |
| Midcontinent Rift large mafic intrusions | North Central | Minnesota; Wisconsin | Mafic magmatic | Nickel-copper-PGE sulfide | copper; gold; selenium; silver |
| Midcontinent Rift layered Ti-Fe in the Duluth Complex | North Central | Minnesota | Mafic magmatic | Iron-titanium oxide | iron; phosphorus |
| Midcontinent Rift oxide-ultramafic intrusions (OUIs) | North Central | Minnesota | Mafic magmatic | Iron-titanium oxide; Nickel-copper-PGE sulfide | copper; gold; iron; phosphorus; selenium; silver |
| Midcontinent Rift 'reef'-type PGE | North Central | Minnesota; Wisconsin | Mafic magmatic | PGE (low sulfide) | (none) |
| Minnesota Quetico Province | North Central | Minnesota; North Dakota | Porphyry Sn (granite-related) | Pegmatite LCT; Porphyry/skarn | (none) |
| Neoarchean Greenstone Belts of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota | North Central | Minnesota; North Dakota; South Dakota | Mafic magmatic | Nickel-copper-PGE sulfide | copper; gold; selenium; silver |
| Neoarchean Greenstone Belts of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota | North Central | Minnesota; North Dakota; South Dakota | Volcanogenic seafloor | Algoma iron; Copper-zinc sulfide; Polymetallic sulfide; Zinc-copper sulfide | copper; gold; iron; lead; silver |
| Neoarchean Greenstone Belts of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota | North Central | Minnesota; North Dakota; South Dakota | Orogenic | Gold | gold; silver |
| Neoarchean Greenstone Belts of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota | North Central | Minnesota; North Dakota; South Dakota | Magmatic REE | Peralkaline syenite/granite/rhyolite/alaskite/pegmatites | copper; thorium; uranium; yttrium |
| Neoarchean Greenstone Belts of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota | North Central | Minnesota; North Dakota; South Dakota | Porphyry Sn (granite-related) | Pegmatite LCT | (none) |
| Non-Midcontinent Rift mafic/ultramafic intrusions | North Central | Iowa; Michigan; Minnesota | Mafic magmatic | Iron-titanium oxide; Nickel-copper-PGE sulfide | copper; gold; iron; phosphorus; selenium; silver |
| Northeast Iowa intrusive complex (NEIIC) | North Central | Iowa; Minnesota; Wisconsin | Magmatic REE | Peralkaline syenite/granite/rhyolite/alaskite/pegmatites | copper; thorium; uranium; yttrium |
| Northeast Iowa intrusive complex (NEIIC) | North Central | Iowa; Minnesota; Wisconsin | Mafic magmatic | Nickel-copper-PGE sulfide | copper; gold; selenium; silver |
| Paleoproterozoic weathering beneath mature quartzites | North Central | Iowa; Minnesota; South Dakota; Wisconsin | Chemical weathering | Regolith (Ion adsorption) REE | (none) |
| Pembine-Wausau and Minnesota Paleoproterozoic | North Central | Michigan; Minnesota; Wisconsin | Volcanogenic seafloor | Barite; Manganese oxide (layers, crusts, nodules); Polymetallic sulfide; Zinc-copper sulfide | copper; gold; iron; lead; silver |
| Post-Penokean Geon 17 magmatic rocks | North Central | Iowa; Michigan; Minnesota; Wisconsin | IOA-IOCG | Iron oxide apatite; Iron oxide copper gold | copper; gold; iron; selenium; uranium |
| Upper Ordovician Phosphate (Rawtheyan and Richmondian) | North Central | Alabama; Iowa; Illinois; Indiana; Kentucky; Michigan; Minnesota; Missouri; Ohio; Oklahoma; Tennessee; Wisconsin | Marine chemocline | Black shale; Iron-manganese; Phosphate | copper; gold; iron; molybdenum; petroleum; phosphate fertilizer; stone coal; uranium |