Building the Subsurface Advantage in Critical Minerals

For more than 30 years, GeoMark has built one of the industry’s most comprehensive geochemical databases to support oil and gas exploration and development. Today, that same foundation is being leveraged in a new way—as the industry turns its attention toward critical minerals.

As the global landscape shifts toward resource security and energy diversification, operators are increasingly asking a new question: what additional value exists within the subsurface beyond hydrocarbons?

At GeoMark, we see this as a natural extension of what we already do.

From Hydrocarbons to Critical Minerals

Our approach is grounded in data, but more importantly, in understanding systems.

GeoMark is actively expanding its database to include analytically consistent, high-quality measurements of critical elements across North America. This effort is built on three core pillars:

• A vast global source rock database containing hundreds of thousands of samples

• A curated rock library enabling targeted reanalysis of key formations

• Integrated analytical workflows spanning both rock (ICP-MS) and water (ICP-QQQ-MS) datasets

In the first phase of this work, we have generated over 1,500 new ICP-MS measurements from black shale formations across major U.S. basins. These analyses capture major, minor, trace, and rare earth elements with a level of consistency required for meaningful basin-to-basin comparison.

In parallel, GeoMark has standardized and integrated publicly available water data, including USGS datasets, while also generating new water analyses in-house to ensure quality and comparability.

GeoMark's rock (ICP-MS) and water datasets supporting critical metal exploration across the U.S.A,

Understanding Distribution is Only the Start

The figures below provide a high-level view into lithium and vanadium variability across U.S. basins, alongside thermal maturity trends derived from our source rock dataset.

Basin-scale variability in lithium concentration and thermal maturity across U.S. black shales, based on GeoMark's proprietary dataset (1,500+ ICP-MS measurements)

Relationships between lithium (Li) concentration, thermal maturity (Tmax), organic richness (TOC), and vanadium (V) across U.S. basins, derived from GeoMark's proprietary ICP-MS rock dataset.

What is immediately clear is the significant variability in lithium and vanadium concentration between basins. This reflects a combination of factors, including:

• Original depositional conditions and seawater chemistry

• Mineralogical controls within the source rock

• Thermal evolution and element mobility during burial

One relationship that is already emerging is the link between thermal maturity (Tmax) and lithium concentration—a signal that points toward mobilization during heating.

The Real Question: Where Did It Go?

Understanding where lithium exists in the rock is only part of the story.

The more important question—and the one that mirrors decades of hydrocarbon exploration—is: 

Where has it moved, and where does it reside today?

This is where GeoMark’s integrated approach becomes critical.

By linking:

• Source rock geochemistry

• Thermal maturity

• Elemental partitioning

• And basin-scale fluid data

we begin to reconstruct the mass balance and migration pathways of critical elements through the subsurface.

In many cases, the most prospective accumulations may not sit within the source rock itself, but within associated fluid systems, including brines that have interacted with and extracted these elements over geological time.

Defining Critical Element Play Fairways

The next phase of this work—already underway—is to directly correlate rock-based observations with measured water chemistry across the same basins.

This integration will allow us to:

• Identify element transfer from rock to fluid

• Map enrichment trends at the basin scale

• Define critical mineral play fairways

• Highlight new opportunities for value creation within existing assets

Importantly, these opportunities are not always confined to traditional hydrocarbon systems.

An Open Invitation to Contribute and Access the Data

This is still early-stage work, but the direction is clear.

GeoMark is building a structured, scalable, and geologically grounded critical minerals database—designed not just to measure concentrations, but to understand systems and predict outcomes.

As this database continues to grow, we are encouraging the contribution of rock and water samples to further expand coverage and strengthen basin-level insights.

For those looking to evaluate opportunities in critical minerals, GeoMark also provides access to this evolving dataset, supported by our analytical capabilities and subsurface interpretation workflows.

If you are interested in contributing samples, accessing the data, or understanding how this work can support your portfolio, please reach out to info@geomarkresearch.com.