A nation’s endowment of nonfuel mineral resources, relative to the world’s endowment, is a fundamental consideration in decisions related to a nation’s economic and environmental well being and security. Knowledge of the worldwide abundance, distribution, and general geologic setting of mineral commodities provides a framework within which a nation can make decisions about economic development of its own resources, and the economic and environmental consequences of those decisions, in a global perspective. The information in this report is part of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) endeavor to evaluate the global endowment of both identified and undiscovered nonfuel mineral resources.

This report on nonfuel mineral deposits and resources of the Asia and the Pacific region is one of a series of geologic regional reports produced by the U.S. Geological Survey to provide up to date summary information of known and undiscovered mineral resources around the globe (Cunningham and others, 2005; Nokleberg and others, 2005; Zientek and others, 2005). These geologic regional reports are designed to be informative with respect to the location and endowment of mineral resources for each region. Boundaries of these regions are those of the USGS Minerals Yearbooks, which monitor production and economic factors affecting the mineral industries of the regions. Additional and historic information related to mineral production statistics also can be found in the Yearbooks. The area described within each of the regional reports is shown on Figure 1 and the Yearbooks are available on line at http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/myb.html. <...>

This report summarizes the geology and nonfuel mineral resources of Greenland, Europe, Russia, and Northern Central Asia and is a preliminary part of a major U.S. Geological Survey study called the Global Mineral Resource Assessment Project. This report is one of a series of regional reports covering the world and provides basic data on the identified resources and geologic setting, together with a brief appraisal of the potential for undiscovered mineral resources. The data in the regional report are derived from published information. An important source of data on production statistics, economic factors that affect the mineral industries, and historical information, is available in U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) publications Minerals Yearbook and the annual Mineral Commodity Summaries (available at http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals).