Geothermal plants and critical minerals distribution: a preliminary spatial dataset for co-production screening

Abstract

Geothermal systems have the potential to co-produce renewable energy and critical raw materials (CRMs) from mineral-rich brines; however, existing information about their potential is scattered across uncoordinated datasets. This work develops a QGIS-based global database to support the assessment of CRM co-production from geothermal systems. Five open- access datasets were analyzed within a spatial framework: the Joint Research Centre (JRC) Geothermal Power Plant dataset, the Global Geothermal Power Tracker (GGPT), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) global distribution of critical minerals, the European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI) CRMs’ occurrences, and REFLECT European Geothermal Fluid Atlas. JRC and GGPT together provide complementary information on geothermal power plants worldwide, while USGS-CRM and EGDI-CRM supply data on hard-rock mineralization settings for key critical raw materials. Moreover, the REFLECT database adds the fluid dimension by providing well-level data on fluid properties for selected European geothermal systems, allowing plant and mineralization information to be complemented with geothermal brine properties. Rather than presenting a single, fully developed case study, the paper outlines how the integrated database can be used in future analyses, including tracking temporal changes in geothermal deployment and critical mineral reports; integrating REFLECT-compatible fluid chemistry for selected fields; and assessing plant and critical mineral proximity for scaling-related problems.