USGS MRDS — Non-USA Records

An exploration of the 38,018 non-USA mineral-deposit records in the USGS Mineral Resources Data System, spanning 164 countries and centuries of mining history.

At a glance

38,018
non-USA deposits
164
countries
38,016
with coordinates
4,281
with discovery year
1994
peak reporter year
The MRDS data was largely collected in the field 1985–1995 by USGS reporters and bulk-loaded into the database in 2002. USGS has not actively curated the dataset for over a decade. Treat what you see here as a frozen ~30-year-old snapshot, not a live mining inventory.

Geography

Deposits per country. Click a marker to jump to that country's page.

Top 25 countries by record count

Records by region

Timeline

Discovery year (decadal, 1500–2010)

Reporter filed date (annual)

Discovery year is reported for ~12% of deposits. Spikes in 1492, 1550, 1677, and 1850 are almost-certainly placeholder defaults for "old, exact year unknown" rather than real events — see e.g. Peru (1677 spike) or Bolivia (1850 spike).

Commodities

Top 25 primary commodities

Development status

Country index

All 164 countries with non-USA MRDS records, sorted by record count.

Mexico4,763 Chile4,081 Peru3,055 Argentina2,400 Brazil2,078 Bolivia1,661 Canada1,551 Russia1,395 Australia1,195 China1,053 Colombia1,016 India781 South Africa705 Venezuela637 Ecuador591 Guyana584 France481 Costa Rica452 Cuba450 Japan415 Iran411 Philippines359 Jamaica357 Panama287 Kazakhstan284 Zimbabwe262 Honduras262 Uruguay258 Turkey254 Thailand253 Laos244 Algeria225 New Zealand209 Egypt200 Guatemala191 Germany181 Spain174 Somalia165 Suriname152 Italy137 Korea, South122 Morocco119 Zambia112 Congo (Kinshasa)112 Malaysia111 Ukraine109 Indonesia107 Sweden106 Dominican Republic106 United Kingdom103 Burma92 Finland84 Papua New Guinea82 Norway80 Ghana72 Namibia72 Haiti68 Tunisia67 Nicaragua66 Tanzania65 Greece64 Madagascar62 Uzbekistan60 Poland59 Libya55 Cambodia52 Iraq49 Pakistan48 Paraguay48 Albania45 Romania43 Serbia41 Hungary40 Ethiopia40 Kyrgyzstan40 Taiwan39 Saudi Arabia39 El Salvador39 Botswana38 Austria38 Tajikistan37 Afghanistan33 Czech Republic33 Portugal33 Vietnam33 Mozambique30 Bulgaria30 Guinea30 Uganda27 Israel26 Bosnia and Herzegovina26 Sierra Leone24 Ireland24 Cote D'Ivoire23 Kenya23 Mali23 Armenia22 Belgium22 Slovakia21 Georgia21 Jordan17 Netherlands17 Liberia17 Denmark16 Sri Lanka16 Macedonia16 Gabon15 Burkina Faso15 Niger15 Korea, North15 Mongolia14 Sudan14 Nigeria14 Angola13 Senegal13 Cyprus13 Azerbaijan12 Malawi12 Congo (Brazzaville)11 Slovenia11 Mauritania11 Swaziland11 Fiji10 Cameroon10 Saint Lucia10 Burundi9 Syria9 Belize9 Saint Kitts and Nevis8 Croatia8 Togo7 Montenegro7 Antigua and Barbuda6 Bahamas, the6 Turkmenistan6 Western Sahara4 Oman4 Estonia4 Nauru4 Rwanda4 Belarus4 Solomon Islands3 Bangladesh3 Nepal3 Switzerland3 Luxembourg3 Dominica2 Lesotho2 Antarctica2 Benin2 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines1 Bahamas, The1 Barbados1 Vanuatu1 Palau1 Qatar1 Lebanon1 United Arab Emirates1 Singapore1 Lithuania1 Trinidad and Tobago1 Bahrain1 Gambia, the1 Iceland1