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The gold and silver prices were down on Monday to start the week, with silver logging the bigger decline this time. However, as you're about to see, one of the more favorable legislative actions for the silver industry was released by the U.S. government today.

The gold futures are down $8 to $3,410.
 

Despite the news, which many traders may still have yet to find out about, the silver futures were down 51 cents to $38.54.
 

On the other hand, the dollar index had a big day on Monday, rising 73 basis points to 98.32, which had a fair amount to do with silver's decline.
 

However, the big news today was that the U.S. Department of the Interior (through the U.S. Geological Survey) released the 2025 draft list of critical minerals, and silver has been added to the list.

According to the press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior:

The draft list will guide federal strategy, investment, and permitting decisions designed to secure the minerals needed to drive the U.S. economy and protect national security.

The List of Critical Minerals informs direct investments in mining and resource recovery from mine waste, stockpiles, tax incentives for U.S. mineral processing, and streamlined mining permitting.

They also posted another document that had more detail, as well as the actual list. It's an 8-page PDF that was written in that riveting legal-speak that only a true government lawyer could author, but here are the key sections.
 

I've written before about how it's not inconceivable to imagine a scenario where, especially given the role of silver in electrical and military applications, it could theoretically be used strategically during wartime. And in the excerpt above, the Department of the Interior basically confirms as much.

Next you can see the section where silver is listed as one of the commodities on the list for inclusion as critical minerals.
 

In case you’re wondering how the U.S. actually defines a critical mineral, you can see their definition here
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Of note, particularly to precious metals investors, is that the USGS, who performs the analysis on behalf of the Department of the Interior, analyzed gold but did not include it on the list. Although they did mention that the Secretary has the authority to still add gold, as well as these other minerals, to the final list.
 

Please note however, that silver and the other minerals that are scheduled for inclusion represent the draft list, and not the final list.
 

In terms of the timeline, their press release mentions the following:

On August 26, 2025, the draft List of Critical Minerals will be posted in the Federal Register for public comment for the next 30 days. Public comment is specifically welcomed on inclusion of metallurgical coal and uranium, whether other minerals should be added, and moving to an annual update for USGS technical input to the List of Critical Minerals.

So while the price of silver may have been down 50 cents today, it's now taken a step closer to being listed as a critical mineral. And assuming that the USGS also relayed the supply and demand dynamics that have resulted in the silver market being in a deficit for the past few years to the Trump administration, it will be fascinating to see how they respond over the next 3.5 years.

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