Safe and efficient energy storage is important for American prosperity and security. With the adoption of both renewable energy sources and electric vehicles on the rise around the world, it is no surprise that research into a new generation of batteries is a major focus. Researchers have been developing batteries with higher energy storage density and, thus, longer driving range. Other goals include shorter charging times, greater tolerance to low temperatures and safer operation.
One of the more promising such batteries has a lithium-containing cathode supplemented with nickel, manganese and cobalt (NMC). At the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, a team of scientists has recently developed a new coating method for NMC cathodes with high nickel content, which boosts the energy density substantially. The cathode is the positively charged battery component that supplies lithium ions that shuffle between it and the battery’s negatively charged electrode, called the anode, during cycling.
The repeated charging of batteries under conditions of high voltage and rapid recharge leads to structural instability and breakdown over time. To overcome the problem, Argonne scientists developed a new coating that allows the cathode particles to withstand the fracturing in their crystalline structure that had previously occurred upon cycling. They call this material “epitaxial entropy-assisted coating,” or EEC for short. According to Xu, “entropy assistance” ensures that the coating helps to prevent the breakdown of the material beneath it due to a thermodynamic effect, which leads materials to naturally become destabilized over time.
Chilean state miner Codelco and the world’s No. 2 lithium producer SQM struck a pivotal deal on Friday over a joint venture that will reshape the Andean country’s lithium sector and give the state a front-line role in developing the key electric vehicle battery metal.
The new entity will let SQM boost output through 2060 in the Salar de Atacama, one of the world’s most prized areas for extracting lithium.
President Joe Biden speaks at Prince William Forest Park on Earth Day, Monday, April 22, 2024, in Triangle, Va. Biden is announcing $7 billion in federal grants to provide residential solar projects serving low- and middle-income communities and expanding his American Climate Corps green jobs training program. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden-Harris Administration celebrated Earth Day on Monday. They announced $7 billion in solar grants that could make the upfront cost of installing residential rooftop solar panels low-cost or free for low-income neighborhoods. The money will be distributed to 60 different nonprofit, state, city, and Tribal agencies.
India is in talks with several countries seeking partnerships for technical help on lithium processing, said four sources familiar with the matter, to bolster its nascent lithium mining and electric vehicle industries and avoid relying on China.
India’s Ministry of Mines began discussions with Australia and the United States last year, said the four sources, two from India’s government and two industry participants. The Indian government and some private companies have also sought help from Bolivia, Britain, Japan, and South Korea, said the sources, who did not wish to be identified as the discussions were not public.
TMC the metals company Inc. announced on April 23 that the world’s first nickel sulphate derived exclusively from seafloor polymetallic nodules has been recovered. The sulphate was generated during bench-scale testing of a hydrometallurgical flowsheet in partnership with SGS Canada.
Undertaken on samples of nickel-cobalt-copper matte produced by TMC in 2021, the extractive metallurgy team at SGS tested TMC’s flowsheet that processes high-grade nickel matte directly to nickel sulphate without making nickel metal. The process produces fertilizer by-products instead of solid waste or tailings.
NEW DELHI: India has reached out to key critical mineral producers to bring in processing technology into the country, officials said. The move comes close on the back of the government rolling out auctions of critical mineral mines.
“Talks are on with the United States (US), Australia, and United Kingdom (UK), South Korea, and Japan for processing technology. Brazil and Argentina are also positive about collaborating with India,” a senior mines ministry official told ET. According to another official aware of the plan, agreements with countries are being lined up and will soon be signed.
While India is going ahead with auction of mines holding critical minerals, there are no facilities for their beneficiation.
“We want to target India’s first critical mineral beneficiation and processing plant in the next 3-5 years,” the official quoted above said. “We want to ensure that development of critical mineral processing and extraction happen in parallel.”
India is taking another step in its quest to find valuable minerals hidden in the depths of the ocean which could hold the key to a cleaner future.
The country, which already has two deep-sea exploration licences in the Indian Ocean, has applied for two more amid increasing competition between major global powers to secure critical minerals.
Countries including China, Russia and India are vying to reach the huge deposits of mineral resources – cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese – that lie thousands of metres below the surface of oceans. These are used to produce renewable energy such as solar and wind power, electric vehicles and battery technology needed to battle against climate change.
The UN-affiliated International Seabed Authority (ISA) has issued 31 exploration licences so far, of which 30 are active. Its member countries are meeting in Jamaica this week to discuss regulations around giving out mining licences.
Canada, citing the need to shun Russian energy, on Monday signed an agreement with Germany that it said would accelerate work towards the commercial-scale trade of clean hydrogen fuel.
The two nations inked a memorandum of understanding that commits them to backing transactions between Canadian
hydrogen producers and Germany’s industrial manufacturing and energy distribution sectors.
“Canada is working with European allies to displace imports of Russian oil and gas and fight climate change with clean Canadian hydrogen. Canada can be a world-leading producer and exporter of clean hydrogen,” the federal natural resources ministry said in a statement.
Nickel miner PT Vale Indonesia (INCO.JK), opens new tab is exploring a potential investment in a high-pressure acid leaching plant in Sulawesi island, with an estimated cost of 30 trillion rupiah ($1.91 billion), its investment ministry said on Monday.
The plant, named “SOA HPAL”, will be the company’s third such project to turn nickel ore into mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) – a material used to make electric vehicle batteries, according to presentation material shown by Indonesia’s Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia.
WASHINGTON—The Biden administration is providing a shot of energy into America’s flagging electric-vehicle industry.
The Biden administration is offering a $2.26 billion loan to help Lithium Americas Corp. develop a Nevada lithium deposit that’s the country’s largest.
The conditional loan from the US Department of Energy will provide the vast majority of the capital needed to fund the first phase of development, the Vancouver-based company said in a statement Thursday.
America had no nickel-cobalt refineries of its own.
The promise of the largesse doled out by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Joe Biden’s signature bill to catalyse America’s clean-energy transition. Subsidies for electric cars attracted $110bn in investments in green manufacturing and battery-making within a year of the IRA’s passage in 2022. But as firms boosted production it became clear that China’s grip on the world’s mineral mines and refineries could prove perilous for its political foes. If China decides not to export refined metals tomorrow, as it has threatened to do, dozens of brand-new American gigafactories could soon sit idle.
Even with subsidies, mining and refining in America are not for the faint of heart. Regulations can make both activities uncompetitive. But the maths flipped in refiners’ favour in December 2023 when the tax agencies charged with implementing the IRA made it more protectionist. Their new rules clarified that companies selling electric cars made with materials processed by firms with at least 25% Chinese ownership are ineligible for subsidies. For makers of batteries and cars this was bad news—their inputs got pricier overnight.
Australia’s richest person, Andrew Forrest, has called on the London Metal Exchange to differentiate between “dirty” and “clean” nickel, after his privately-held metals business announced it would be forced to shut mines.
The LME should classify nickel based on its carbon emissions so customers are “able to make a choice” on the sustainability of their products, the mining tycoon told reporters in Canberra on Monday. Some companies are using batteries from cheap nickel mined in Indonesia, known for their higher emissions footprint and questionable environmental standards, Forrest added.
Australia classified nickel as a “critical mineral” on Friday, opening the way for the crisis-hit industry to access billions of dollars in cheap government loans, as its prime minister prepared wider policy support for the green energy industry.
Australia wants to build a battery chemicals industry to reap more value from its mineral wealth, but the nickel sector is facing thousands of job cuts after a jump in Indonesian supply saw prices plunge 40% in a year.
Mining firm Canada Nickel Co. Inc. plans to develop a nickel processing plant in Ontario that would cost US$1 billion and be North America’s largest once completed.
The plans aim to fill a gap in North America’s electric vehicle supply chain, which broadly lacks the infrastructure to process and refine key materials like nickel, copper and lithium. The vast majority of metals that are extracted from mines in the region are shipped to China for processing, before returning to North America for domestic auto manufacturers.
The US Department of Defense plans to develop a program to estimate prices and predict supplies of nickel, cobalt and other critical minerals, a move aimed at boosting market transparency but one that throws a new, uncertain variable into global metals markets.
The program, which received little attention after it was announced on a Pentagon website in October, is part of Washington’s broader efforts to jumpstart US production of critical minerals used in weapons manufacturing and the energy transition.
US output lags market leader China partly because attempts to build new American mines can be heavily influenced by commodity price swings.
The Pentagon’s work is being run by its Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) division, which was formed in response to the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite and helped develop the Internet and the mRNA vaccine for Covid-19.
DARPA and the US Geological Survey plan to hire one or more private contractors to develop an artificial intelligence-backed model that would construct a metal’s “structural price” based on where and when it is produced, as well as labor, supply and other costs, according to documents seen by Reuters that describe the program, including a slide deck that DARPA presented last November to prospective contractors.
In an effort to counter China’s dominance over critical minerals, a bipartisan group of US senators introduced legislation to address “information gaps” and establish a divestment process for American companies.
The Critical Minerals Security Act of 2024 would require federal agencies to submit to Congress a report on all critical mineral and rare earth element resources around the world. The report would be due within a year of the bill’s enactment and every two years thereafter.
The assessment must include which resources are under the control of a “foreign entity of concern” – China, Iran, North Korea or Russia – and which are under the control of the United States or its allies and partners.
While the US dollar reigns supreme in global finance, especially in commodities markets, China sees an opening to elevate the yuan: the shift to renewable energy.
That’s according to Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a China scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations, who pointed to developments in key resources that are critical for green technologies like EV batteries and wind turbines.
“These policymakers and scholars see the ongoing energy transition as an opportunity for the nation to raise the global standing of the renminbi in commodities markets; to them, there’s no guarantee that the US dollar’s dominance in our current fossil fuel-powered global economy will persist in a decarbonized world,” Liu.
Canada on Thursday formally gave the giant Arctic territory of Nunavut control over its reserves of gold, diamonds, iron, cobalt and rare earth metals, a move that could boost exploration and development.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed a devolution agreement in the Nunavut capital Iqaluit with Premier P.J. Akeeagok, granting the territory the right to collect royalties that would otherwise go to the federal government.
Nunavut is home to some of the minerals critical for battery production. Canada has pledged billions in incentives to woo companies involved in all levels of the electric vehicle supply chain as the world seeks to cut carbon emissions.
Vale Base Metals chairman Mark Cutifani is undertaking a unit-wide asset review that will likely find more potential at the company’s operations in Sudbury, Ontario; Thompson, Manitoba; and Voisey’s Bay and Long Harbour, Newfoundland; Olson said.
Vale also may have an announcement soon on the Bécancour nickel sulphide processing project it’s advancing to supply 25,000 tonnes of nickel a year to General Motors, she said. That deal, announced just over one year ago could be worth about C$762 million per year.
“There’s just a clarity and a certainty in regulation and Canada is a mining country and with that comes a lower risk, and equally you have the wonderful benefit of renewable and clean power,” Olson said. “Canada has a great opportunity to further establish itself as a leader in our industry with community and Indigenous rights leaders.”
Under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed into law on Jan. 3, US President Joe Biden has directed the House Armed Services Committee to submit a report on the domestic processing of seafloor polymetallic nodules.
The Pentagon will deliver a report assessing deep-sea mining by March 1.
Last month, 31 members of Congress wrote a letter to the Secretary of Defense and the Pentagon urging the Department of Defense to “explore every avenue to strengthen our rare earth and critical mineral supply chains”, emphasizing “the importance of evaluating and planning for seabed mining as a new vector of competition…”
In November 2023, a bipartisan coalition led by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) reintroduced a resolution urging the US Senate to ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). They argued that sitting out risks letting the rest of the world dictate maritime agendas, from seabed mining to critical subsea infrastructure.
China, the world’s top processor of rare earths, on Thursday banned the export of technology to extract and separate the strategic metals, in a further step towards protecting its dominance in several strategic metals.
The commerce ministry sought public opinion last December on the potential move to add the technology to its “Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export”.
It also banned the export of production technology for rare earth metals and alloy materials as well as technology to prepare some rare earth magnets.
Voters in the Democratic Republic of Congo are to decide the fate of a nation that could drive the global energy transition and help shape the fight against climate change.
Congo will soon be the world’s second-biggest copper producer and accounts for about 70% of cobalt production, two metals key to the electric vehicle and renewable-energy industries. There are rich seams of gold, and largely untouched oil and gas.
It’s also home to about two-thirds of the second-biggest tropical rainforest, which sucks in hundreds of million of tons of climate-warming carbon dioxide every year.
The European Union has set targets to dig up, recycle and refine lithium, cobalt and other metals it needs for its green transition, but a shortage of new money, crippling energy costs and local opposition could put them beyond reach.
The bloc will likely need to find ways to trim demand, find substitute materials and forge partnerships that break China’s stranglehold on mineral supplies.
The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), due to enter force in early 2024, says the bloc should mine 10%, recycle 25% and process 40% of its annual needs of 17 key raw materials by 2030.
China is the most likely candidate to first meet its entire demand for the three most important raw materials for batteries – lithium, cobalt and nickel – through recycling, new research has found.
According to a study by a team at the University of Münster, the race to achieve a complete circular economy for key battery metals will see Europe arriving in second and the US in third place.
In detail, the results show that China is expected to be able to employ recycling to meet its own demand for primary lithium for electric vehicles from 2059 onwards; in Europe and the US, this will not happen until after 2070.
When it comes to cobalt, recycling is expected to ensure that China will be able to meet its needs after 2045, at the earliest; in Europe, this will happen in 2052 and in the US not until 2056.
Finally, for nickel, China can probably meet demand through recycling in 2046 at the earliest, with Europe following in 2058 and the US from 2064 onwards, according to the report.
Chinese firms producing and processing battery materials see new US rules aimed at limiting Beijing’s grip on the electric-vehicle industry as less stringent than feared, allowing them to preserve a key role in the global supply chain.
Washington’s move, which seeks to cut China out of US tax credits and curb the country’s control over joint ventures, created uncertainty at the end of last week, with questions swirling around the status of Chinese-owned battery-material operations outside the mainland, and over the impact on the wider car and battery industry.
Norway has secured a parliamentary majority to go ahead with plans to open the Arctic Ocean to seabed mineral exploration, despite environmental groups and the fishing industry’s warnings that the move would risk the biodiversity of vulnerable ecosystems.
The country’s minority centre-left government and two large opposition parties backed on Tuesday a government’s proposal announced in June to position the country as a frontrunner in commercial-scale deep-sea mining.
The move by the European country, where vast oil and gas reserves have made it one of the world’s wealthiest nations, has as goal to diversify its economy away from fossil fuels.
Congo’s state mining group Gecamines said it will push to secure the rights to buy copper and cobalt at mines it has holdings in, as it attempts to build its own stocks and trade the metals.
To do so, Gecamines needs to amend some terms of its joint venture agreements in Democratic Republic of Congo, which is the world’s top supplier of battery-grade cobalt and the third largest copper producer after Peru and Chile.
The Department of Defense announced today a $3.2 million agreement with South Star Battery Metals Corporation (South Star) to support domestic production of Coated, Spheronized, Purified Graphite (CSPG) at their BamaStar Graphite Project (BGP) in Coosa County, Alabama.
“This is another example of the critical importance of the Defense Production Act investment authorities,” said Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, ASD(IBP). “As one of our first awards to a Canadian company in the battery materials sector, this award exemplifies our combined commitment to strengthening our battery material supply chains and global approach to industrial base resilience.”
The agreement with South Star, entered into under Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III authorities and utilizing funds appropriated by the Inflation Reduction Act, will enable the company to perform a bankable feasibility study. The study will cover the entire process from mining to final production of CSPG, exploring both economic and environmental, social, and governance criteria. Upon successful completion of the bankable feasibility study, South Star plans to construct a downstream battery-grade processing facility in the southeast United States that would take concentrates from the BamaStar mine site and transform it into CSPG. This will be used as feedstock for domestic lithium-ion battery anode production, contributing to a more complete U.S.-based graphite anode supply chain.
Indonesia plans to introduce nickel tracing and push local producers to reach global mining standards to help the country move closer to securing a critical minerals deal with the US.
Each ton of nickel ore sales will be tracked using the SIMBARA portal starting next quarter, Septian Hario Seto, a deputy at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, said in an interview. Top producers will also be encouraged to get certifications from global entities like The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, he added.
International certification will ensure the companies’ environmental, social and governance practices are recognized, said Seto, who oversees investment coordination and mining at the ministry. “It is for our own interest, regardless of the deal with the US,” he added.
Indonesia is seeking a critical minerals agreement with the US to help realize President Joko Widodo’s goal of building an entire electric-vehicle supply chain onshore by taking advantage of the country’s nickel riches. Jokowi, as the leader is known, met with US President Joe Biden earlier this week and agreed to continue efforts to potentially reach such a deal.
WASHINGTON, Nov 12 (Reuters) – The United States and Indonesia on Monday will discuss how to advance a potential minerals partnership aimed a stimulating trade of the electric vehicle (EV) battery metal nickel, according to three people with direct knowledge of the conversations.
Next steps that could move the countries toward formal negotiations on the partnership will be discussed when Indonesian President Joko Widodo visits the White House for a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday, according to one of the people.
JAKARTA, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Mining company Vale will sell a 14% stake in its Indonesian nickel miner Vale Indonesia to bring the holding by overseas firms below the maximum limit, Indonesia’s mining minister said on Friday.
Share divestment is a condition Indonesia requires to extend the operation permit for Vale Indonesia. Vale’s current contract is due to end in 2025.
Under Indonesian rules, foreign investors are required to divest 51% of their stake to local buyers after a certain period of operation.
Supply shortages caused by Indonesia’s crackdown on illegal nickel mining have forced the country to import large quantities of ore from the Philippines to keep smelters operating. Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer, has in recent months pursued a corruption investigation across the government that has led to delays in the issuance of quotas for nickel mining.
More than 53,000 tonnes of nickel ore and concentrates were shipped in May and June from the Philippines to Indonesia’s Morowali region, where Tsingshan, the world’s largest stainless steel producer, runs a large nickel smelting complex, official Indonesian customs data shows.
The Australian government will double the amount of money on offer to support critical minerals projects, aiming to attract American miners and processing companies to establish operations in Australia.
The A$2 billion ($1.3 billion) boost will increase the capacity of Australia’s Critical Minerals Facility to finance mining and processing projects for materials.
Part of the appeal for Australia of expanding its critical minerals footprint is to plug an anticipated fiscal shortfall amid waning demand for fossil fuel exports in a decarbonizing world. Australia’s lithium shipments were worth A$20 billion ($12 billion) in the 12 months through June, with government forecasts showing the sector’s earnings could rival that of thermal coal exports by 2028.
China is upping the critical minerals stakes by curbing exports of graphite, a key raw material in electric vehicle batteries.
The West can’t say it wasn’t warned.
When China announced restrictions on exports of gallium and germanium in July, former Vice Commerce Minister Wei Jianguo was quoted in the China Daily as saying it was “just the start” if the West continued to target China’s high-technology sector.
Restricting the flow of two metals used in the manufacture of silicon chips was “a well-thought-out heavy punch” in reaction to the US Chips Act, Wei said.
The Biden administration has since tightened restrictions on the flow of advanced artificial intelligence chips to China, announcing on Friday a new raft of measures aimed at closing previous loopholes.
China is responding in kind, this time taking aim at the West’s electric vehicle (EV) ambitions.
Tesla’s decision to set up its electric-vehicle facilities in neighbouring Malaysia was a blow to Indonesia’s efforts to lure investments for building an end-to-end EV supply chain ecosystem.
Indonesia’s nickel “downstreaming” policies aim to use the country’s vast nickel reserves and ore production to add value to the EV industry by processing raw ore into higher-grade nickel intermediates. These higher-grade nickel intermediates are essential components used in the production of stainless steel and nickel cobalt manganese-based (NCM) EV batteries.
In terms of attracting investment, Indonesia’s nickel downstreaming policies have produced results. In 2020, the Indonesian government banned the export of raw nickel ore to attract investment, largely in nickel smelters. A year later, the country received downstream investments and commitments from Chinese companies totalling some US$30 billion. As of July 2023, there were already 43 nickel smelters operating, 28 under construction and 24 in the planning stage.
There’s been no shortage of metals industry turmoil in the early years of the electric-car age, from ups in lithium prices that Elon Musk described as insane, to downs for cobalt springing from battery-chemistry shifts.
One of the world leaders in battery materials that will be supplying the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Stellantis sees potential for more tumult ahead, unless a serious CO2 problem is resolved in the country home to far and away the most mined and refined nickel.
Indonesia’s nickel industry is highly carbon-intensive, with one of its major industrial parks alone relying on roughly as much coal-fire energy capacity as all of Mexico. Mathias Miedreich, chief executive officer of Belgium’s Umicore, believes Chinese companies that are active in the space still lack sensitivity as to how much polluting is taking place within this part of the supply chain.
Mark Selby, CEO of Canada Nickel Company, joins BNN Bloomberg to updates on his plan to build a sizeable nickel mine in Ontario. He says the nature of the rock means the mine can act as a carbon sink while strategic-mineral tax subsidies will boost the economics of the project.
If Canada Nickel Company’s Crawford Mine Project becomes a reality by 2027, Timmins will have the second largest nickel mine in the world.
“Crawford is the world’s largest sulphide discovery in many, many decades,” said Selby, in an Oct. 12 conference call with mining analysts.
“We are unlocking, what we think is, a world-class, potentially the largest nickel sulphide district, globally.
With an average grade of 0.22 per cent nickel, Crawford will be a low-grade, big tonnage open-pit operation that will ramp up production in three phases and physically expand twice over four decades.
The company is a third of the way through the regulatory permitting process and a financing plan to be put in place for the US$1.7-billion project.
Selby said they are less than 21 months away from making a final construction decision.
Qatar Chamber hosted the Qatar-Burundi Business Forum recently to explore ways to enhance commercial and economic co-operation between the private sectors of both countries.
Qatar Chamber first vice-chairman Mr. Al-Kuwari said Qatari businessmen are keen to explore Burundi’s investment climate and opportunities. He said Burundi is rich in natural resources, such as nickel, uranium, copper, gold, and platinum, among others. Additionally, the country offers arable land.
The North American lithium industry is likely about to get a $1 billion injection. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is currently in talks with Canadian mining company Lithium Americas over a massive round of funding for its Nevada project. If the deal – the terms of which are currently being finalized – is inked, it would fund over half and as much as 75% of construction costs for the massive Thacker Pass project, thereby kickstarting the United States’ lithium era in earnest.
The latest buzzword in battery materials sounds like a concept borrowed from astrophysics.
But “black mass” is just a very literal description of the intermediate product from recycling either spent electric-vehicle batteries or scrap from battery plants. It’s a dark, powdery cocktail of metals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel that’s emerging as a commodity in its own right.
There’s growing interest in battery recycling as the global electric-vehicle industry expands, and as carmakers and Western governments aim to build supply chains that bypass China.
Mentions of black mass in company earnings have grown — including recent instances from commodities trader Glencore and chemicals giant BASF. Three market researchers — Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Fastmarkets and S&P Global — have launched regular price assessments of the material since April.
Aug 15 (Reuters) – The mining industry faces “considerable challenges” meeting larger-than-expected demand for copper, nickel and other electric vehicle metals fueled by a U.S. climate law, S&P Global said in a report on Tuesday, ahead of the legislation’s one-year anniversary.
The landmark U.S. Inflation Reduction Act offers tax breaks for EVs, solar panels and other renewable energy products made from metals extracted in the United States or countries with U.S. free trade deals. Metals from “foreign entities of concern” including China, Russia, North Korea and Iran will be banned in 2025. That has sparked a race among manufacturers to lock down supply.
Demand forecasts for various EV metals have increased 12% to 15% since U.S. President Joe Biden signed the IRA last August, the report said.
“The energy transition is really heating up the pressures on mineral supplies, and the IRA is adding a lot to those challenges,” Dan Yergin, S&P Global’s vice chairman and a co-author of the report, said in an interview.
Analysts are saying the deal is part of a larger strategy by Vale Base Metals to grow the value of its nickel and copper holdings in anticipation of the growing demand for battery electric vehicles.
Vale has confirmed it is selling off part of its newly formed Vale Base Metals unit in two separate agreements; 10 per cent of the company going to Saudi Arabia’s Mining Co (Ma’aden) and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), and three per cent being sold to U.S. investment firm Engine No. 1. The entire deal is valued at $3.4 billion according to a report from Reuters.
It may not be too late for Washington. Reinvesting in Congo should be a bipartisan no-brainer. It insulates American supply chains on critical components.
Congolese, like many Africans, are frustrated with China. When Beijing invests, it brings its own labor, builds exclusionary compounds that deny trickle-down benefit to the local market, and ships the profits back to China.
The parent company of Tata Steel UK told Fastmarkets that it will produce nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) batteries and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries at the site in Somerset in southwest England.
The gigafactory will provide UK-produced batteries for its Jaguar Land Rover subsidiary in Birmingham, central England, and for other vehicle manufacturers in the UK and across Europe, Fastmarkets understands.
The company said that production is expected to start in 2026 and the gigafactory will maximize its use of renewable energy.
In southeastern Norway lies Europe’s biggest plant for recycling used or defective electric car batteries, turning them into a powder, or “black mass”, made up of nickel, manganese, cobalt, lithium and graphite.
These so-called critical minerals — essential components in many clean energy technologies — will be reused to make new batteries, key cogs in the transition to a decarbonised economy.
“The higher the quality of the components, the easier it is to use them for recycling,” said Gronvold, a laboratory technician at Hydrovolt, a joint venture between Norwegian aluminium giant Norsk Hydro and Swedish electric battery maker Northvolt.
The Hydrovolt plant opened last year in the port city of Fredrikstad.
Within the next few months, the site is expected to be able to process 12,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery packs per year, the equivalent of 25,000 electric car batteries.
Bolivia has signed lithium agreements with Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom and China’s Citic Guoan Group, the South American country’s government has said, as it looks to develop its huge but largely untapped resources of the battery metal.
The deals, which were announced on Thursday, envisaged a total investment of $1.4bn and followed a similar agreement in January with giant Chinese battery maker CATL, another potential win for Beijing in its efforts to lock in a supply of the metal used in electric vehicles.
FILE PHOTO: A logo of the Exxon Mobil Corp is seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil September 24, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes/File Photo
Exxon Mobil has agreed to develop more than 6,100 lithium-rich acres in Arkansas with Tetra Technologies Inc, the second move this year by the oil giant for control of assets needed to produce the electric vehicle battery metal.
Exxon’s rapid expansion into the lithium sector comes amid growing interest by traditional energy companies and others into emerging technologies that aim to boost global supply of the ultralight metal.
Tetra, which produces chemicals for water treatment and recycling, earlier this week said it had signed an agreement with a company known as Saltwerx to develop 6,138 acres of salty brine deposits in Arkansas that are filled with lithium and bromine, although it provided few additional details.
Saltwerx is a subsidiary of Exxon, according to two people familiar with the matter. Exxon acquired it earlier this year when it bought a neighboring Arkansas parcel of 100,000 acres from Galvanic Energy. Galvanic remains an independent, privately held company and is not affiliated with Tetra or Exxon.
“LFP is less expensive than cobalt and nickel, and all the minerals can be obtained here in North America (which means) much lower transportation costs and a more secure supply chain,” said Stanley Whittingham, professor at Binghamton University in New York and a 2019 Nobel laureate for his work on lithium ion batteries.
The addition of manganese, a staple ingredient in rival nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) battery cells, has enabled lithium iron phosphate cells to hold more energy than previously, providing EVs with more range — up to 450 miles (724 km) on a single charge, Toyota said recently.
A Chinese consortium led by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. plans to spend $1.4 billion to build lithium extraction plants in Bolivia, according to the country’s government, adding to a global rush to secure supplies of the battery material.
The group will build two facilities to make lithium chemicals with a combined production capacity of about 200,000 tons a year, Bolivia’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Energy said on Sunday. The investment could eventually grow to $9.92 billion, according to the statement.
SANTIAGO, June 14 (Reuters) – Chile and the European Union will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) soon to develop value-added lithium projects in Chile, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters in a joint press conference with Chilean President Gabriel Boric, von der Leyen said the two parties reached an agreement to develop a strategic association to develop lithium and strengthen supply chains.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how companies approach engineering, manufacturing and industrial innovation.
AI systems can analyze enormous datasets, identify patterns, generate design alternatives, assist with troubleshooting and help engineers evaluate ideas faster than traditional methods. In modern manufacturing, AI is increasingly being connected with sensors, digital twins, robotics, process-control systems and industrial data platforms.
But there is an important distinction between accelerating innovation and creating innovation.
Recent research highlighted by Harvard Business Review raises an important question: if companies increasingly have access to similar generative AI models, why do some organizations achieve significantly better innovation outcomes than others?
Part of the answer may be that AI does not automatically eliminate the human limitations within an innovation process. In some circumstances, it can reinforce them.
For industrial companies, this leads to a more practical question:
Where should we trust AI—and where do experienced engineers, scientists and operators remain indispensable?
AI Is Becoming Part of Modern Manufacturing
Artificial intelligence is no longer limited to chatbots and office productivity.
Industrial AI is increasingly being applied to areas such as:
Predictive maintenance
Process optimization
Automated quality inspection
Production scheduling
Supply-chain optimization
Robotics and autonomous systems
Digital twins
Advanced sensing
Engineering data analysis
Generative design
Energy and resource optimization
NIST’s 2026 roadmap for artificial intelligence and machine learning in smart manufacturing identifies industrial data analytics, sensing, autonomous systems, digital twins, robotics, supply chains, generative AI and large language models among important areas of development.
The potential is substantial.
But the same NIST roadmap identifies continuing challenges involving industrial data, integration, explainability, reliability, availability, maintainability and safety.
That is particularly important in heavy industry, chemical processing, metallurgy and advanced materials manufacturing.
AI Can Find Patterns—but It Does Not Automatically Understand the Process
Consider a metallurgical plant.
Thousands of operating variables may influence production:
Temperature → Pressure → Gas composition → Reaction kinetics → Particle characteristics → Product quality
An AI system can potentially analyze historical relationships among all these variables much faster than a person.
For example, it might discover that a particular combination of reactor temperature, pressure and feed composition frequently precedes an off-specification product.
That information can be extremely valuable.
However, correlation is not necessarily causation.
An experienced process engineer may recognize that the apparent relationship is actually caused by another variable that wasn’t adequately represented in the dataset.
This is where domain expertise becomes critical.
AI can tell an engineer:
“Something unusual is happening here.”
The engineer still needs to determine:
“Why is it happening?”
The Quality of Industrial AI Depends on the Quality of Industrial Data
Industrial AI has another fundamental limitation: its conclusions depend heavily on its data.
NIST has specifically highlighted the importance of understanding the data, assumptions and rules feeding industrial AI systems. It notes potential problems including incomplete data, inadequate variation and gaps in datasets.
Imagine training an AI system using five years of plant operating data.
That sounds impressive.
But suppose the plant has never operated under a particular combination of feed composition, temperature and pressure.
The historical database may contain no reliable information about that operating condition.
The AI model can still produce an answer.
That does not necessarily mean the answer is physically correct.
For industrial applications, therefore:
A confident AI prediction should never be confused with a validated engineering result.
AI Cannot Replace Physical Experimentation
Engineering ultimately operates in the physical world.
A proposed process must actually work.
A material must actually possess the required properties.
A reactor must actually remain stable.
A product must actually meet specification.
This is why laboratories, pilot plants and industrial trials remain essential.
AI might predict that changing a process variable will improve yield.
But the hypothesis still needs to be tested.
The real process may reveal effects that were absent from the model:
Unexpected reaction kinetics
Contamination
Corrosion
Equipment limitations
Heat-transfer constraints
Mass-transfer limitations
Particle agglomeration
Instrumentation errors
Previously unidentified side reactions
Industrial innovation has always progressed through the interaction between theory, experimentation and experience.
AI adds a powerful new tool to that process.
It does not eliminate the process.
AI Can Generate Ideas—but Novelty Is More Complicated
Generative AI is exceptionally good at producing ideas quickly.
Ask an AI system for 50 possible solutions to an engineering problem and it may produce them within seconds.
That represents a significant productivity improvement.
But generating more ideas is not necessarily the same as generating better ideas.
The recent Harvard Business Review research highlights this problem. When innovation teams use similar AI systems, AI can sometimes steer ideation toward familiar concepts rather than truly differentiated solutions.
This creates an interesting paradox.
AI dramatically increases the speed of idea generation while potentially making it easier for organizations to converge on similar ideas.
For companies pursuing genuine technological differentiation, human creativity therefore becomes more important, not less important.
Experienced Engineers Possess Something Difficult to Digitize
An engineer who has spent 20 years operating a process possesses knowledge that may never appear in a database.
They may know that:
A certain sound indicates a mechanical problem.
A small pressure fluctuation precedes an unstable operating condition.
A laboratory result looks technically acceptable but is inconsistent with experience.
A particular raw material behaves differently despite meeting specification.
An instrument reading is technically possible but probably incorrect.
A proposed modification works theoretically but will create maintenance problems.
Much of this is tacit knowledge.
It develops through observation, mistakes, troubleshooting and years of interaction with physical equipment.
AI can help capture and organize some of this knowledge.
But replacing it entirely is far more difficult.
The Future Is Human + AI
The most productive question may therefore not be:
“Will AI replace engineers?”
A better question is:
“How can engineers equipped with AI outperform engineers without it?”
NIST is actively researching human-AI teaming in manufacturing, including applications involving digital twins and production scheduling. Its work reflects a broader shift toward combining computational capabilities with human expertise rather than treating them as competitors.
The division of responsibilities could increasingly look like this:
AI Strengths
Human Strengths
Processing enormous datasets
Engineering judgment
Pattern recognition
Understanding physical context
Rapid calculations
Evaluating causality
Generating alternatives
Challenging assumptions
Monitoring thousands of variables
Managing unusual situations
Searching technical information
Experimental validation
Detecting anomalies
Safety responsibility
Repetitive optimization
Creative problem solving
The strongest industrial organizations will likely combine both.
AI Could Make Experienced Engineers More Valuable
There is another consequence that receives less attention.
If AI automates routine engineering work, the value of experienced technical judgment may actually increase.
Junior engineers traditionally develop expertise partly by performing calculations, analyzing failures, reviewing drawings, examining operating data and troubleshooting equipment.
If AI performs increasingly large portions of those tasks, companies will need to think carefully about how the next generation develops deep engineering judgment.
Human oversight only works when the person overseeing the technology understands the underlying process.
Industrial companies therefore need to invest simultaneously in AI capability and technical capability.
Five Principles for Using AI in Industrial Innovation
Companies implementing AI in engineering and manufacturing should consider five basic principles.
1. Use AI to augment expertise—not blindly replace it.
AI should help engineers analyze information faster while leaving critical technical decisions subject to qualified review.
2. Validate AI recommendations against physical reality.
Simulation, laboratory testing, pilot trials and operating data remain essential.
3. Protect engineering knowledge.
Companies should capture the experience of senior engineers, operators and scientists rather than assuming an AI model already contains that knowledge.
4. Understand the data.
Before trusting an AI prediction, engineers should understand where the training and operating data came from and whether it adequately represents the situation being analyzed.
5. Maintain human accountability.
For safety-critical processes, responsibility cannot simply be transferred to an algorithm.
AI Is a Powerful Engineering Tool—not a Substitute for Engineering
Artificial intelligence may become one of the most important industrial technologies of this generation.
It can help manufacturers analyze more information, identify problems sooner, optimize complex systems and explore potential solutions faster.
But industrial innovation ultimately has to survive contact with physical reality.
Reactors, furnaces, pumps, materials, chemical reactions and production lines do not respond to persuasive language. They respond to physics and chemistry.
That is why the future of industrial innovation is unlikely to be AI versus engineers.
It will be AI combined with engineers, scientists and operators who know how to question its conclusions, validate its recommendations and turn computational insights into technologies that actually work.
And that combination may prove far more powerful than either one alone.
Artificial intelligence is moving beyond the office and into some of the world’s largest industrial operations.
Brazilian mining giant Vale and global technology company ABB are expanding their partnership to deploy artificial intelligence, automation and digital technologies across Vale’s iron ore processing operations in Brazil.
The initiative follows promising results at Vale’s Conceição II Model Plant in Itabira, Minas Gerais, where advanced automation and AI-assisted operations have helped increase productivity while improving safety and production efficiency.
The project could offer a glimpse of what the next generation of large-scale mining operations will look like: fewer manual interventions, thousands of connected sensors, continuous data analysis and increasingly intelligent industrial processes.
Vale and ABB Deepen Their Mining Technology Partnership
Vale and ABB have entered a strategic alliance designed to expand automation, digitalization and integrated information technology and operational technology—or IT/OT—across multiple Vale iron ore operations in Brazil.
Rather than treating Conceição II as a standalone technology experiment, the companies plan to use the operation as a model that can be progressively replicated at other processing plants.
The objectives extend beyond simply producing more iron ore.
The partnership is designed to improve:
operational safety;
productivity;
energy efficiency;
production quality;
equipment reliability;
process optimization; and
sustainability.
The approach represents an important development in the broader digital transformation of the global mining industry.
Conceição II Becomes Vale’s Model Plant
At the center of the initiative is Vale’s Conceição II Model Plant, located in Itabira in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.
The facility has become a testing ground for Vale’s vision of increasingly automated and data-driven mineral processing.
The complex has a planned capacity of approximately 11.2 million tonnes of iron ore per year.
But its significance isn’t simply its size.
Conceição II combines extensive industrial instrumentation, cameras, automation and artificial intelligence to provide operators with significantly greater visibility into the processing operation.
More than 100 monitoring cameras have been installed across the complex, while over 7,000 instruments and devices have been automated.
The systems generate enormous quantities of operational information that can be analyzed to identify problems and optimize plant performance.
AI Helps Deliver a 25% Productivity Increase
The numbers emerging from the project are particularly significant.
Vale says the modernization of Conceição II has contributed to a 25% increase in productivity.
That result demonstrates why mining companies around the world are investing heavily in automation and artificial intelligence.
Even relatively small efficiency improvements can have substantial financial consequences when applied to operations processing millions of tonnes of material annually.
AI gives operators the ability to analyze far more information than humans could reasonably monitor manually.
Instead of waiting for an obvious equipment failure or production problem, intelligent systems can identify unusual operating patterns earlier.
That can allow operators to intervene before a minor issue becomes a costly shutdown.
More Than 400 Variables Can Be Continuously Optimized
One of the most impressive aspects of the Conceição II project is the scale of its data-driven process management.
Data intelligence is being used to control, manage and optimize more than 400 variables across different stages of iron ore processing.
Changes in crushing, grinding, separation, material flow or equipment performance can affect production further downstream.
Traditionally, operators have relied heavily on experience, alarms and periodic measurements to manage these processes.
AI and advanced automation create another layer of intelligence.
Thousands of sensors can continuously generate data while software analyzes operating conditions and identifies patterns that could indicate opportunities for optimization—or potential problems.
AI Could Help Prevent Unplanned Mining Shutdowns
Unplanned downtime is one of the biggest operational challenges facing large mining companies.
When critical equipment fails unexpectedly, production can stop while maintenance teams diagnose and repair the problem.
At enormous mining operations, those interruptions can become extremely expensive.
Vale and ABB have therefore reviewed operating processes at Conceição II with the goal of anticipating failures and avoiding unplanned shutdowns.
This is one of the areas where industrial AI could have its greatest impact.
Instead of relying exclusively on scheduled maintenance, mining companies can increasingly move toward predictive maintenance.
Sensors monitor equipment behavior, while analytical systems search for abnormal patterns involving variables such as temperature, vibration, pressure or performance.
Maintenance can potentially be scheduled before equipment reaches the point of failure.
Automation Could Make Iron Ore Mining Safer
Productivity isn’t the only motivation behind Vale’s digital transformation.
Safety is another major objective.
Mining and mineral processing involve heavy machinery, conveyors, crushers and other industrial equipment that can expose employees to hazardous environments.
Automation allows some tasks to be performed remotely or with significantly less direct human intervention.
Monitoring cameras, sensors and automated equipment can also give operators better visibility into areas of a plant without requiring workers to physically inspect every condition.
As automation advances, the role of mine workers could therefore gradually shift.
Instead of directly performing certain repetitive or hazardous tasks, employees may increasingly supervise automated systems, interpret information and intervene when human judgment is required.
What Is IT/OT Integration in Mining?
An important part of the Vale-ABB partnership involves integrating IT and OT systems.
IT refers broadly to the computing infrastructure used to store, analyze and communicate information.
OT—or operational technology—includes the systems controlling physical industrial equipment and processes.
Historically, these two environments were often separated.
Digital mining increasingly connects them.
For example, information generated by sensors attached to processing equipment can flow into analytical platforms where software evaluates plant performance.
The resulting insights can then help operators adjust industrial processes.
When properly implemented, this creates a continuous feedback loop between physical equipment and digital intelligence.
Why Conceição II Matters Beyond One Mine
The most important aspect of Vale’s strategy may not be what happens at Conceição II itself.
It is what happens next.
Vale intends to use the plant as a reference model for technological upgrades at additional iron ore operations.
Scaling technology across multiple sites is considerably more difficult than proving that it works at a single facility.
Different mines have different equipment, ore characteristics, operating environments and legacy systems.
ABB’s role includes helping develop solutions that are interoperable and scalable so that technologies proven at Conceição II can be adapted to other operations.
If that strategy succeeds, the productivity benefits could extend across a much larger portion of Vale’s Brazilian iron ore business.
AI Is Becoming a Competitive Advantage in Mining
Mining companies have traditionally competed through factors such as resource quality, production costs, logistics and scale.
Technology is becoming another increasingly important competitive advantage.
Modern mines generate enormous quantities of information.
Every conveyor, crusher, pump, motor and processing circuit can potentially become a source of operational data.
The challenge is turning that information into useful decisions.
Artificial intelligence can help companies identify relationships within those datasets that might otherwise be difficult to detect.
That could lead to:
better equipment utilization;
fewer unexpected failures;
improved ore recovery;
lower energy consumption;
more consistent product quality; and
safer working environments.
The result could be mines that produce more material using the same—or potentially fewer—physical resources.
AI Could Also Improve Energy Efficiency
Energy is one of the largest operating costs in mineral processing.
Crushing, grinding, pumping and moving millions of tonnes of material requires enormous amounts of electricity.
That makes energy optimization an attractive target for artificial intelligence.
Instead of operating every piece of equipment at fixed parameters, intelligent systems can potentially adjust processes according to changing production conditions.
ABB says its broader industrial automation strategy combines AI-driven analytics with process control to improve efficiency, reliability and energy performance.
For mining companies, even modest reductions in energy consumption per tonne could translate into significant savings when applied across large operations.
Brazil Could Become a Showcase for Digital Mining
Brazil is already one of the world’s most important iron ore producing countries.
Vale’s decision to deploy advanced automation and artificial intelligence across its Brazilian operations could also make the country an important proving ground for next-generation mining technology.
The industry is moving toward operations where physical equipment, sensors, cameras, industrial control systems and AI increasingly work together.
That doesn’t necessarily mean completely autonomous mines are around the corner.
Instead, automation is likely to advance incrementally.
More decisions will become data-driven. More equipment will be monitored remotely. More failures will potentially be predicted before they occur.
And human operators will increasingly work alongside intelligent industrial systems.
What the Vale-ABB Partnership Means for the Future of Mining
The Vale and ABB partnership demonstrates an important change taking place throughout the resources industry.
Artificial intelligence is becoming operational infrastructure.
For years, much of the discussion around AI in mining focused on future possibilities.
Projects such as Conceição II are beginning to provide measurable evidence of what digital transformation can achieve at industrial scale.
A reported 25% productivity improvement is difficult for mining executives to ignore.
If similar results can be replicated across other Vale facilities, competitors will inevitably pay attention.
The mining companies of the future may therefore compete not only over who controls the best mineral deposits.
They may also compete over who can extract and process those resources most intelligently.
The United States wants to dramatically expand domestic lithium production as it tries to secure the minerals needed for electric vehicles, batteries and advanced technology.
But there is a growing obstacle that could complicate America’s lithium ambitions: water.
Many of the country’s proposed lithium projects are located in the western United States, where water supplies are already under pressure. As mining companies push forward with new projects, competition for water between mines, agriculture, communities and other users is becoming an increasingly important economic and political issue.
That could make America’s effort to reduce its dependence on foreign lithium—particularly supply chains dominated by China—more difficult than policymakers anticipated.
Lithium is a critical ingredient in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, smartphones, energy storage systems and countless electronic devices.
As battery demand has increased, governments have become increasingly concerned about where critical minerals are mined, processed and refined.
For Washington, the issue isn’t simply about electric vehicles. Critical mineral supply chains have become a matter of industrial policy, economic security and geopolitical competition with China.
The result has been a surge of interest in developing lithium resources inside the United States.
According to the Financial Times, roughly 115 lithium mines have been proposed across the country as developers attempt to build a larger domestic industry.
Yet announcing a lithium project and actually bringing one into production are very different things.
Water Could Become a Major Constraint on US Lithium Mining.
Lithium production can require substantial amounts of water.
That is particularly significant because many American lithium deposits are located in parts of the western US where water is already scarce.
Mining companies therefore aren’t necessarily competing only with other industrial projects for water.
They can also find themselves competing with:
farmers and ranchers;
nearby communities;
municipalities;
ecosystems and environmental requirements; and
other industrial users.
As drought and long-term water scarcity put additional pressure on supplies, obtaining sufficient water rights could become an increasingly important part of whether a lithium project is economically viable.
One of America’s most closely watched lithium developments is the Thacker Pass project in Nevada, backed by Lithium Americas.
The approximately $3 billion project has attracted US government support and is viewed as an important potential source of domestically produced lithium.
But water has also become part of the controversy surrounding the development.
The project previously faced opposition from a Nevada rancher over water usage, with the dispute eventually being settled.
Water could remain important as the mine expands. According to the Financial Times, future phases of Thacker Pass would depend partly on obtaining additional water rights.
That illustrates a broader challenge facing the industry.
A company can identify a lithium deposit, raise billions of dollars and receive government support—and still face practical constraints involving something as fundamental as access to water.
Nevada isn’t the only place where lithium development and water rights are colliding.
The proposed Green River lithium project in Utah has also faced litigation connected with water concerns.
These disputes could become more common as additional projects move from exploration into development.
For investors and mining companies, that means water availability may need to be evaluated alongside more traditional factors such as lithium grades, extraction costs, infrastructure and commodity prices.
Can Technology Reduce Lithium’s Water Problem?
The mining industry is developing technologies that could reduce some of the environmental impact associated with lithium extraction.
One of the most closely watched is direct lithium extraction (DLE).
Rather than relying entirely on traditional evaporation processes, DLE technologies attempt to selectively remove lithium from brines while potentially reducing water losses.
Interest in the technology is growing rapidly.
According to S&P Global figures cited by the Financial Times, 21 lithium projects are proposing to use direct lithium extraction technology.
Standard Lithium, for example, plans to use DLE technology at its proposed project in Arkansas.
Meanwhile, Lithium Americas plans significant water recycling at Thacker Pass, including recycling approximately 85% of water used at its facilities.
These approaches could help reduce water consumption.
However, there is a catch.
New extraction and recycling technologies can add costs and technical complexity to projects. Ultimately, developers must determine whether water-saving technologies make economic sense at commercial scale.
More than 100 proposed projects might suggest that the United States is on the verge of a massive lithium production boom.
The reality could be considerably more modest.
Energy consultancy Rystad expects US-produced lithium to account for only around 5% of global lithium demand by 2030.
Even more striking, it estimates that only seven of the 100-plus announced US lithium projects could actually be operating by the end of the decade.
That gap demonstrates one of the fundamental realities of the mining industry.
Finding a resource is only the beginning.
Projects must then navigate financing, engineering, commodity prices, environmental reviews, infrastructure requirements, community opposition, permits—and increasingly, water availability.
The challenge also highlights a misconception about the global critical-minerals race.
Simply discovering more lithium deposits will not automatically create an independent American battery supply chain.
The United States needs economically viable mines, reliable processing capacity, infrastructure, technology and long-term investment.
China has spent years developing many parts of the battery and critical-mineral supply chain.
Building competing supply chains in the United States will therefore require more than government incentives and new mine announcements.
Projects must actually reach commercial production.
And water scarcity could become one of the factors determining which projects survive.
Water is Becoming an Economic Issue for the Energy Transition.
The lithium debate also points toward a larger challenge facing the global shift toward cleaner energy technologies.
Electric vehicles, grid-scale batteries, renewable-energy infrastructure and electronics require enormous quantities of minerals.
Extracting those resources has environmental consequences of its own.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the energy transition will stop. Instead, it means governments and companies will increasingly have to confront difficult trade-offs involving energy security, mineral security, environmental protection and natural resources.
Water may sit at the center of many of those debates.
America’s lithium industry is likely to continue expanding as battery demand and geopolitical concerns encourage investment in domestic critical minerals.
But the number of announced projects shouldn’t be confused with the number of mines that will ultimately operate.
Water rights, community opposition, permitting timelines, financing and extraction costs could eliminate or delay many proposed developments.
Technologies such as direct lithium extraction and large-scale water recycling could improve the industry’s prospects, particularly in water-stressed regions.
But they will have to prove they can operate reliably and economically at scale.
The race to secure lithium is often portrayed as a competition between the United States and China.
Increasingly, however, America’s lithium industry may also be in a race for another critical resource:
Mining capacity may overstate real critical mineral supply. Here’s why lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper face growing production, processing and geopolitical risks.
The world may have considerably more critical-mineral capacity on paper than it can actually depend on.
That distinction matters as electric vehicles, renewable energy, power grids, battery storage, artificial intelligence, data centers and defense industries compete for growing quantities of lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper.
A recent analysis highlighted by MINING.COM warns that assessments based on nameplate capacity—the maximum production a mine or processing facility is designed to achieve—can create an overly optimistic picture of mineral availability.
The problem is simple: theoretical capacity isn’t the same as actual production.
Why Nameplate Capacity Can Be Misleading
Mines and processing facilities rarely operate continuously at maximum capacity. Maintenance, declining ore grades, power interruptions, labor shortages, water constraints, processing bottlenecks and technical problems can all reduce output.
A facility designed to produce one million tonnes annually may produce considerably less if utilization reaches only 70% or 80%.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) recognizes this distinction. In its Energy Technology Perspectives 2026 analysis, the IEA uses an 85% nameplate-capacity assumption for certain production outside China rather than assuming facilities operate at 100%.
This suggests investors and policymakers should focus on dependable production, not simply installed capacity.
Lithium: Rapid Demand Growth
Lithium demonstrates how quickly an apparently comfortable market can tighten.
Massive investment in mines and processing capacity has increased global lithium supply. But electric vehicles and battery storage are also driving extraordinary demand growth.
The IEA has projected lithium demand to increase dramatically through 2040. Its earlier analysis also indicated that announced mining projects could leave a substantial gap between expected supply and projected 2035 requirements.
Lithium also illustrates why mine production alone isn’t enough.
Lithium-bearing material must be converted into products such as lithium carbonate or hydroxide, achieve the required purity and qualify for battery manufacturing.
A lithium resource underground is therefore not equivalent to battery-grade material available to manufacturers.
Nickel: Abundant but Highly Concentrated
Nickel presents a different risk.
Indonesia’s rapid production expansion has transformed the global nickel market and contributed to abundant supply. According to U.S. Geological Survey data, Indonesia accounted for approximately 62% of global mined nickel production in 2024.
But abundance has come with increasing geographic concentration.
The IEA estimated that the top three nickel-producing countries represented about 77% of mining production in 2024, with that share potentially reaching approximately 84% by 2040.
This creates an unusual situation: the world can have plenty of nickel while remaining heavily dependent on one major production center.
The IEA’s Nickel Stress Test
The vulnerability becomes clearer under the IEA’s N-1 stress test, which examines what happens if the largest supplier is removed.
For nickel, that supplier is Indonesia.
In the IEA’s 2035 analysis, removing the largest supplier leaves remaining nickel supply covering less than 55% of corresponding remaining demand.
That is a striking result.
Nickel can appear adequately supplied globally yet become severely constrained if production from its dominant supplier is disrupted.
There is another complication: not all nickel is interchangeable.
Stainless steel, batteries, aerospace components and superalloys require different products and processing routes. Large headline production numbers therefore don’t necessarily indicate how much suitable battery-grade or specialty nickel is available.
Cobalt: Concentration at Multiple Stages
Cobalt faces another concentration problem.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has historically dominated global cobalt mining, while China plays a major role in downstream processing.
This creates vulnerabilities at multiple stages.
Even when global mine capacity appears sufficient, manufacturers remain exposed to disruptions involving extraction, refining or international trade.
The IEA’s N-1 analysis found that after removing the largest supplier, remaining cobalt supply would cover only about 65% of corresponding demand in its 2035 assessment.
Cobalt demonstrates why mineral security must be evaluated across the entire supply chain rather than by counting tonnes in the ground.
Copper: The Structutral Supply Challenges
Copper may present the biggest structural challenge.
It is essential for power grids, electric vehicles, renewable energy, buildings, industrial machinery, data centers and AI infrastructure.
Unlike some battery minerals, copper already serves an enormous existing global market.
The IEA has warned that expected supply from announced mining projects could leave a substantial gap against projected copper requirements during the 2030s.
Closing that gap isn’t easy.
Ore grades are declining in many regions, major discoveries are difficult to develop, capital costs are high and new mines can require more than a decade to progress from discovery through permitting and construction.
That makes copper supply particularly difficult to expand quickly.
Four Minerals, Four Different Risks
Lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper reveal different weaknesses in the global critical-minerals system.
Lithium faces exceptionally rapid demand growth.
Nickel faces extreme geographic concentration despite abundant global production.
Cobalt faces concentrated mining and processing.
Copper faces the possibility of a significant structural supply gap as electrification accelerates.
Together, they demonstrate why nameplate capacity alone is an inadequate measure of mineral security.
Mining Is Only the Begining
Critical-mineral supply chains extend far beyond the mine:
A country might possess large mineral resources but depend on another nation for refining. Likewise, sufficient global mine production doesn’t guarantee manufacturers can obtain material of the required purity and specification.
Processing concentration may actually represent one of the greatest vulnerabilities.
Recent IEA analysis has emphasized that mineral refining remains highly concentrated, with dominant suppliers accounting for much of the industry’s recent production growth.
Global capacity can therefore increase while the supply chain simultaneously becomes less diversified.
A mine operating at 60% capacity cannot reliably be counted at 100%. Nickel unsuitable for a particular downstream application cannot automatically satisfy that customer’s requirements. And a market overwhelmingly dependent on one country remains vulnerable even when global supply exceeds demand.
Bottom Line
The critical-minerals challenge isn’t simply about finding more resources.
The solution requires more than building mines. Governments and industry need dependable production, diversified processing, recycling infrastructure and resilient mine-to-market supply chains.
Nickel makes the distinction particularly clear. Indonesia’s extraordinary expansion has increased global supply, but the IEA’s finding that remaining nickel supply would cover less than 55% of remaining demand in a 2035 disruption scenario demonstrates how quickly apparent abundance can become vulnerability.
Ultimately, the critical-minerals race won’t be determined simply by who has the largest resources.
It will depend on who can reliably mine, process and deliver the right materials when they are needed.
Because in critical minerals, capacity on paper is not the same as secure supply.
Sources: International Energy Agency (IEA), Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 and 2026 and Energy Technology Perspectives 2026; U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) mineral statistics; MINING.COM, Mining’s Nameplate Capacity Hides a Critical Mineral Threat: Study.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only advice. Mineral supply, demand and project-development forecasts are inherently uncertain.
The world’s largest publicly traded mining companies now represent roughly $2.17 trillion in combined market capitalization, highlighting just how important minerals have become to the global economy.
Canada Has an Extraordinary Mining Presence
Canada ranks second at approximately $415 billion, but another number stands out even more.
The dataset includes 11 major Canadian mining companies, more than any other country represented.
Canada has developed one of the world’s most sophisticated ecosystems for financing mineral exploration and mine development.
Canadian mining companies also operate internationally, meaning Canada’s position isn’t simply a reflection of minerals extracted inside Canada.
Major Canadian-listed miners have operations throughout North America, South America, Africa, Australia and other regions.
When major mining companies are grouped by headquarters, Australia emerges as the leader with approximately $486 billion, leading Canada’s $415 billion, China’st $286 billion and the United States’ $275 billion.
But this is about much more than the stock market.
A global race is accelerating for copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium, uranium, gold, rare earth elements and other critical minerals needed for artificial intelligence infrastructure, data centers, electrical grids, batteries, defense systems and advanced manufacturing.
That puts Australia ahead of:
Canada — $415 billion
China — $286 billion
United States — $275 billion
Mexico — $177 billion
United Kingdom — $102 billion
Switzerland — $85.8 billion
Brazil — $64 billion
Saudi Arabia — $58.5 billion
South Africa — $48.8 billion
Australia’s leadership reflects decades of investment in mining, infrastructure, geological exploration and capital markets.
The country is already a major producer of iron ore, gold, lithium and other commodities while possessing significant deposits of copper, uranium, nickel and rare earth elements.
That resource base could become increasingly important as countries compete to secure critical-mineral supply chains.
China Remains a Critical Minerals Powerhouse
China ranks third at approximately $286 billion, representing eight major mining companies.
But China’s influence over the global minerals industry extends considerably beyond mining-company valuations.
China has built extensive capabilities in mineral processing, refining, battery materials and rare-earth supply chains.
That position has become strategically important as governments increasingly worry about dependence on a small number of countries for minerals essential to technology and national security.
The result is a rapidly developing global competition to establish alternative mineral supply chains.
The United States Reaches $275 Billion
The United States ranks fourth, with six major mining companies representing approximately $275 billion.
America’s mining industry could receive significantly more attention over the coming decade.
Washington increasingly considers minerals such as copper, lithium and rare earth elements strategically important.
The issue is no longer simply whether the United States possesses mineral resources.
The larger challenge is establishing an entire domestic supply chain:
Mining → Processing → Refining → Manufacturing
Without processing and refining capacity, simply discovering a mineral deposit doesn’t necessarily create mineral independence.
Mexico Quietly Emerges as a Mining Heavyweight
Mexico represents approximately $177 billion despite having only two companies included in the dataset.
That’s remarkable.
It places Mexico ahead of several historically important mining jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil, based on this particular corporate-market-value measurement.
Mexico possesses substantial deposits of silver, copper, gold, zinc and other metals.
Its proximity to the United States could also become increasingly important as North American governments and manufacturers seek shorter and more secure supply chains.
Why Mining Is Becoming More Important
Mining has traditionally been viewed as a cyclical industry.
Economic growth increases demand for commodities. Commodity prices rise. Mining companies expand production. New supply eventually reaches the market, putting pressure on prices.
That cycle hasn’t disappeared.
But several enormous structural changes are occurring simultaneously.
Artificial intelligence might appear to exist entirely in software.
It doesn’t.
AI requires enormous data centers containing thousands of servers and sophisticated networking equipment.
Those facilities require tremendous amounts of electricity.
That means additional:
Power plants → Transmission lines → Transformers → Substations → Cooling systems → Backup power → Data-center construction
All of that requires physical materials.
Copper is particularly important because of its exceptional electrical conductivity.
The AI revolution could therefore indirectly become a major mining story.
2. Copper Could Become One of the World’s Most Strategic Metals
Copper is everywhere in the modern economy.
It is needed for electrical wiring, transformers, motors, renewable-energy systems, electric vehicles, buildings, industrial machinery and data centers.
Electrification means more copper.
Grid expansion means more copper.
Data-center construction means more copper.
Electric vehicles generally require considerably more copper than conventional vehicles.
Yet developing a major new copper mine can take many years.
That creates one of the biggest questions facing the commodities industry:
Can global copper supply grow quickly enough to satisfy future demand?
3. Rare Earth Elements Are Becoming a National Security Priority
Rare earth elements are another increasingly strategic category.
Certain rare earths are essential for powerful permanent magnets used in electric motors, wind turbines, robotics, electronics and defense applications.
The problem isn’t necessarily that rare earths are extremely rare geologically.
The challenge is developing economical mining, separation, refining and magnet-manufacturing capabilities.
That’s why countries including the United States, Australia and Canada are increasingly supporting alternative rare-earth supply chains.
4. Lithium Remains Central to Battery Technology
Lithium became one of the most closely watched mining commodities during the electric-vehicle boom.
Commodity prices can fluctuate dramatically, but lithium remains strategically important because lithium-ion batteries dominate many applications involving electric vehicles and energy storage.
Future battery technologies could change material requirements, but securing battery-material supply chains remains an important government and industry objective.
5. Uranium Is Back in the Global Energy Conversation
Nuclear power is experiencing renewed interest.
Growing electricity demand from AI and data centers has helped revive discussion about reliable baseload power.
At the same time, countries seeking lower-carbon electricity systems are reconsidering nuclear generation.
That puts uranium back into the strategic-resource conversation.
New reactors, reactor restarts and next-generation nuclear technologies could all influence long-term uranium demand.
Mining Is Becoming a National Security Industry
Perhaps the biggest transformation is geopolitical.
Mining is no longer viewed exclusively as a commodity business.
Governments increasingly recognize that mineral supply chains affect:
Energy security
Military readiness
Semiconductor production
Artificial intelligence
Transportation
Advanced manufacturing
Electrical infrastructure
A country may possess the world’s best technology, but manufacturing that technology still requires physical materials.
And those materials ultimately have to come from somewhere.
Australia, Canada, China and the U.S. Dominate
One statistic illustrates the concentration particularly well.
Australia, Canada, China and the United States together account for approximately:
$1.46 TRILLION
of the roughly $2.17 trillion represented in the dataset.
That’s around two-thirds of the total value concentrated among companies headquartered in only four countries.
However, there is an important caveat.
These Numbers Do NOT Represent Mineral Reserves
This distinction is essential.
Australia’s approximately $486 billion figure does not mean Australia possesses only $486 billion worth of minerals underground.
Likewise, Canada’s $415 billion does not represent Canada’s mineral wealth.
These are corporate market-capitalization figures grouped geographically, not estimates of underground resources or national mineral reserves.
Mining companies are also international businesses.
An Australian company might operate mines in South America.
A Canadian company might own African mines.
An American company might generate substantial production outside the United States.
Therefore, the headquarters of a mining company should never automatically be interpreted as the location of its mines.
What Should Mining Investors Watch Next?
The next phase of the mining cycle could be influenced by several powerful trends at once.
Investors should pay particular attention to copper supply deficits, critical-mineral government incentives, rare-earth processing capacity, uranium demand, lithium supply, gold prices, AI data-center construction and electricity-grid investment.
Another important consideration is permitting.
Finding a world-class mineral deposit doesn’t automatically create a mine.
Large projects can require billions of dollars and many years of permitting, engineering, financing and construction.
That means supply can respond much more slowly than demand.
If demand for certain minerals increases faster than new mines can be developed, the consequences could eventually appear in commodity prices.
The $2.17 Trillion Mining Race Has Only Just Begun
The world’s largest publicly traded mining companies collectively representing roughly $2.17 trillion illustrates the extraordinary financial scale of the modern resources industry.
Australia currently leads the headquarters-based ranking at approximately $486 billion, followed by Canada, China and the United States.
But the ranking itself may ultimately be less important than what is happening underneath it.
The world is simultaneously building more AI infrastructure, data centers, electrical grids, renewable energy, nuclear power, electric vehicles, defense systems and advanced manufacturing facilities.
Every one of those industries requires raw materials.
You can build better software.
You can design better algorithms.
You can create more powerful artificial intelligence.
But eventually the digital economy meets the physical world.
And the physical world still needs minerals.
That could make mining and critical minerals some of the most strategically important industries of the next decade.
President Donald Trump has announced a major new push into mining and critical minerals, with approximately $3 billion in projects and investments aimed at expanding U.S. access to materials considered essential for national security, advanced manufacturing, batteries and defense.
The announcement signals another major step in Washington’s effort to rebuild domestic mineral supply chains and reduce America’s dependence on China and other foreign suppliers.
U.S. Launches Major Critical Minerals Investment
The Trump administration unveiled the initiative during a mining industry roundtable at the White House on August 7, 2026.
Trump described the projects as part of an effort to strengthen America’s position as a major minerals producer while creating jobs and improving economic and national security.
The initiative involves government financing and support for projects spanning critical minerals, battery materials, magnets and mining development.
Among the significant financing commitments reported are:
Approximately $1.4 billion for Sila Nanotechnologies, supporting production of silicon-based materials used in lithium-ion batteries.
Around $400 million for Sunrise Energy Metals, connected to development of scandium resources.
Approximately $150 million for Niron Magnetics, supporting domestic magnet manufacturing.
An additional $58 million in U.S. Export-Import Bank financing involving several critical-mineral companies.
The broader package is designed to help move strategically important mineral projects from development toward commercial production.
Why Critical Minerals Have Become a National Priority
Critical minerals are increasingly at the center of global economic competition.
Materials including lithium, graphite, copper, scandium, tungsten and rare earth elements are essential for products ranging from electric vehicles and smartphones to advanced electronics, aircraft and military systems.
The challenge for the United States is that mining alone isn’t enough.
A secure supply chain also requires processing, refining and manufacturing capacity. China has established a powerful position across several of these stages, making supply-chain diversification a strategic priority for Washington.
The Trump administration has consequently been pushing policies intended to accelerate American mineral production and strengthen domestic processing.
The China Factor
China remains one of the biggest forces shaping U.S. critical-minerals policy.
American policymakers have become increasingly concerned that dependence on foreign mineral processing could expose manufacturers and defense contractors to disruptions caused by export restrictions, geopolitical tensions or trade disputes.
The latest mining investments therefore aren’t simply about digging more minerals out of the ground.
They are part of a broader strategy to establish a mine-to-manufacturing supply chain capable of supporting U.S. industry even during periods of international disruption.
Mining Becomes a Defense-Supply-Chain Issue
Critical minerals are particularly important to the defense sector.
Advanced weapons, aircraft, radar systems, communications equipment, batteries and permanent magnets can depend on specialized metals and minerals that are produced or processed by relatively few countries.
That makes mineral security increasingly connected to national security.
By financing new mining, processing and manufacturing capacity, Washington hopes to reduce strategic vulnerabilities while encouraging private investment in projects that might otherwise struggle to obtain financing.
Washington Is Also Investing in Mining Education
Money isn’t going only toward mines and processing facilities.
The administration also announced $100 million for mining education grants, with the goal of expanding America’s mining workforce and increasing the number of graduates entering the industry.
A shortage of mining engineers, geologists, metallurgists and other specialized workers has become another challenge facing attempts to rapidly expand domestic mineral production.
Training the next generation of mining professionals could therefore become just as important as financing new mines.
What the $3 Billion Mining Push Could Mean for Investors
The announcement could increase attention on companies operating throughout the North American critical-minerals supply chain.
Investors may increasingly watch companies involved in:
Rare earths: Materials used in permanent magnets, electronics and defense applications.
Lithium and battery materials: Critical components of rechargeable batteries and energy-storage systems.
Copper: Essential for electrical infrastructure, power grids, data centers and electrification.
Graphite: An important battery-anode material.
Scandium: A specialized metal with aerospace and advanced-material applications.
Tungsten: A strategic material used in industrial and defense applications.
Government financing doesn’t guarantee that every project will become commercially successful. Mining developments still face construction risk, permitting requirements, commodity-price volatility and potentially significant capital costs.
But federal financial backing can dramatically change the economics of projects that previously struggled to attract conventional financing.
America’s Critical Minerals Race Is Accelerating
The latest announcement is part of a much larger U.S. strategy.
Washington has already committed billions of dollars toward mineral production, processing, strategic stockpiles and related supply-chain infrastructure.
The objective is becoming increasingly clear: the United States wants a much larger domestic critical-minerals industry capable of supporting manufacturing, technology and defense without excessive dependence on overseas suppliers.
That could make critical minerals, rare earths and strategic metals one of the most closely watched mining investment themes of the coming decade.
What Happens Next?
The biggest question is how quickly these announcements translate into actual production.
Mining projects can require years of engineering, permitting, financing and construction before producing their first commercial material.
Investors will therefore be watching several factors closely:
Which projects receive final financing approval?
How quickly can permitting and construction move?
Can U.S. processing capacity expand alongside mining?
Will private investors provide additional capital?
And perhaps most importantly, can American producers compete economically with established international suppliers?
The answers could determine whether the United States succeeds in building an independent critical-minerals supply chain.
Bottom Line
Trump’s approximately $3 billion mining and critical-minerals initiative represents another significant escalation in America’s effort to secure strategically important resources.
The policy connects mining with some of the biggest economic and geopolitical themes facing the United States: China, national security, defense manufacturing, batteries, advanced technology and supply-chain independence.
For the mining industry, it could mean billions of dollars in new financing and stronger government support.
For investors, it means critical minerals are becoming much more than a commodity story.
They are becoming a strategic national-security industry.
Europe’s drive to secure critical minerals creates a major opportunity for Canadian mining, processing and investment—but building a resilient supply chain will require more than good intentions.
The case for a Canada–Europe critical minerals partnership is becoming stronger. Europe needs secure supplies for clean energy, advanced manufacturing and defence, while Canada needs investment, infrastructure and long-term buyers to bring more mineral projects into production.
Critical minerals have moved from the margins of industrial policy to the centre of economic security.
The reason is simple: the technologies powering modern life depend on materials that are difficult to replace and often sourced from a small number of countries. Electric vehicles need lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite. Wind turbines, electronics and defence systems rely on rare earth elements and other specialized metals. Antimony—used in ammunition, flame retardants and some battery technologies—is another reminder that mineral supply is now inseparable from national security.
Europe knows it has a critical-minerals supply-chain problem. Canada knows it has an opportunity.
The European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act sets ambitious 2030 benchmarks: the bloc wants to extract 10 per cent of its annual strategic-material needs domestically, process 40 per cent and recycle 25 per cent. It also wants no more than 65 per cent of any strategic raw material at a relevant processing stage to come from a single foreign country.
Those targets acknowledge an uncomfortable reality. Europe cannot build resilient clean-energy, digital and defence industries while remaining heavily dependent on a narrow group of external suppliers. Domestic mining and recycling will help, but they will not be enough. Europe will need reliable partners—and Canada should be near the top of the list.
Why Canada is a natural critical-minerals partner for Europe
Canada’s official critical-minerals list includes 34 minerals and metals. The country already produces, or has the potential to produce, all 34. Its advantages include large geological resources, established mining expertise, access to comparatively low-carbon electricity, a deep capital market for exploration companies and long-standing relationships with European allies.
Just as important, Canada can offer something increasingly valuable: a supply chain governed by transparent rules, environmental safeguards and meaningful Indigenous participation.
That does not mean every proposed mine should proceed. Nor does it mean responsible development is quick or easy. It means Canada has the ingredients to become a preferred supplier at a moment when buyers are placing a premium on security, traceability and shared standards.
Yet ore in the ground is not the same as metal in a factory.
Why financing is the critical-minerals bottleneck
The source article used the Trojarova antimony project in Slovakia—owned by Canada-based Military Metals—as a case study in Europe’s struggle to translate strategic concern into commercial action. The broader lesson travels well beyond one project: miners need credible customers, lenders need predictable returns and governments need to connect policy goals with investable projects.
Critical-mineral projects face a structural challenge. They can require large upfront investments, long permitting timelines and specialized processing facilities. Prices may also be shaped by dominant producers capable of flooding the market or undercutting new entrants. A project that looks vital on a government strategy document may still fail a conventional financing test.
That is where long-term offtake agreements, loan guarantees, price-support mechanisms and coordinated public-private investment can matter. An offtake contract gives a miner confidence that someone will buy future production. For buyers, it can secure supply before a shortage emerges. For lenders, it can turn a promising deposit into a financeable business.
Europe does not merely need access to Canadian critical minerals. It needs durable commercial arrangements with Canadian producers. Canada, in turn, needs to build more midstream capacity—processing, refining and recycling—so that it exports higher-value products rather than relying mainly on raw-material shipments.
How Canada and Europe can build a secure minerals supply chain
A serious Canada–Europe minerals partnership would focus on execution:
– Match European manufacturers and defence buyers with Canadian projects early enough to shape production and financing. – Use long-term purchasing commitments to reduce price and demand risk. – Invest jointly in processing and refining capacity, not only new mines. – Coordinate strategic stockpiles and recycling systems where they improve resilience. – Accelerate decisions without weakening environmental review or consultation. – Make Indigenous nations equity partners and long-term beneficiaries where projects affect their lands and communities.
This last point is essential. Canada’s competitive advantage cannot rest only on being different from less transparent suppliers. It must demonstrate a better development model—one in which affected Indigenous communities have influence, ownership opportunities and a fair share of the economic benefits.
Why Canada must act before the investment window closes
Canada is not the only mineral-rich democracy seeking European capital and customers. Australia, the United States and others are building their own partnerships, subsidies and processing capacity. Meanwhile, Europe’s industrial buyers will choose suppliers that can offer reliable volumes, competitive pricing and credible delivery schedules.
The opportunity is therefore urgent but conditional.
Europe needs diversified sources of the materials behind its cars, power systems, electronics and defence equipment. Canada needs investment, infrastructure and committed buyers to move more projects from discovery to production. Their interests align—but alignment alone does not build a mine, finance a refinery or secure a supply chain.
The countries that succeed in the critical-minerals race will be those that connect geology to processing, policy to purchasing and public ambition to commercial contracts. Canada and Europe have the resources, institutions and shared interests to do exactly that. A Canada–Europe critical minerals partnership could reduce supply-chain risk on both sides of the Atlantic—but only if strategic language becomes investment, infrastructure and binding deals.
Frequently asked questions
Why are critical minerals important to Europe?
Critical minerals are essential to electric vehicles, renewable-energy systems, electronics, advanced manufacturing and defence equipment. Europe relies heavily on imports for many of these materials, making diversified supply chains an economic and security priority.
Which Canadian critical minerals are most important?
Canada’s list contains 34 critical minerals. Six have been identified as offering particularly strong economic potential: lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements. Antimony, uranium, potash and other materials also have strategic uses.
What is the European Critical Raw Materials Act?
The European Critical Raw Materials Act establishes 2030 targets for domestic extraction, processing and recycling. It also aims to prevent the EU from sourcing more than 65 per cent of any strategic raw material at a relevant processing stage from one foreign country.
How could Canada supply more critical minerals to Europe?
Canada and Europe could combine long-term purchasing agreements with joint investment in mines, processing plants, refining, recycling and transportation infrastructure. Loan guarantees and other financing tools could help promising projects reach commercial production.
What could delay a Canada–Europe minerals partnership?
Major obstacles include volatile commodity prices, long development timelines, uncertain financing, limited processing capacity and regulatory risk. Projects must also earn community support and establish meaningful, long-term partnerships with affected Indigenous nations.
The United States is taking another major step to strengthen its critical mineral strategy by restricting exports of certain used critical minerals. The move reflects a growing global trend: countries are increasingly treating critical minerals as strategic assets that support clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and national security rather than simply as tradable commodities.
As demand for electric vehicles (EVs), renewable energy technologies, and advanced electronics continues to rise, governments are working to secure reliable domestic supplies of key materials such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth elements.
Why Critical Minerals Matter
Critical minerals are the building blocks of today’s fastest-growing industries. They are essential for:
Electric vehicle batteries
Wind turbines
Solar energy systems
Grid-scale energy storage
Aerospace technologies
Defense equipment
Consumer electronics
According to industry analysts, global demand for battery minerals is expected to grow significantly over the next decade as countries accelerate the transition toward cleaner energy.
This growing demand has made supply chain resilience one of the biggest priorities for governments and manufacturers alike.
Used Batteries Are Becoming Valuable Resources
One of the biggest changes in the critical minerals industry is the increasing importance of battery recycling.
Used lithium-ion batteries, manufacturing scrap, and electronic waste contain valuable metals that can be recovered and reused. Instead of viewing these materials as waste, governments now see them as part of a circular economy that reduces dependence on newly mined resources.
By keeping recyclable materials within the country, policymakers hope to:
Increase domestic supplies of critical minerals
Support investment in recycling facilities
Strengthen local manufacturing
Reduce reliance on imported raw materials
Improve long-term supply chain security
How Export Restrictions Could Affect the Market
Restricting exports of used critical minerals could have far-reaching effects across the global mining and battery industries.
1. More Investment in Domestic Recycling
Companies may invest more heavily in U.S.-based recycling plants capable of recovering lithium, nickel, cobalt, and other battery materials.
2. Stronger Supply Chains
Manufacturers could benefit from greater access to domestically recycled materials, reducing exposure to geopolitical risks and international shipping disruptions.
3. Increased Competition for Recyclable Materials
As governments prioritize domestic processing, recyclable battery materials may become increasingly valuable, encouraging higher collection and recovery rates.
4. Growing Government Support
Public funding, tax incentives, and industrial policies are likely to continue supporting mining, refining, and recycling projects that strengthen national critical mineral supply chains.
The Rise of the Circular Economy
The clean energy transition cannot rely solely on new mining projects.
As millions of electric vehicle batteries reach the end of their useful lives over the coming years, recycled materials will become an increasingly important source of critical minerals.
Battery recycling offers several advantages:
Lower environmental impact than primary mining
Reduced waste
Improved resource efficiency
Greater supply chain resilience
Lower long-term dependence on imported minerals
This shift is transforming recycling from an environmental initiative into a strategic industry.
What This Means for Businesses and Investors
Mining companies, battery manufacturers, recyclers, and investors should closely monitor developments in critical mineral policy.
Companies with expertise in battery recycling, critical mineral processing, and sustainable supply chain management may benefit as governments continue to encourage domestic production.
Investors should also recognize that industrial policy is becoming a key driver of market opportunities in the mining and clean energy sectors.
Looking Ahead
The competition for critical minerals is no longer focused solely on discovering new deposits. It now extends to recovering valuable materials already in circulation.
As governments seek to secure domestic supplies of lithium, nickel, cobalt, and other strategic resources, battery recycling will play an increasingly important role in supporting the global energy transition.
The latest U.S. export restrictions highlight a broader shift toward resource security, circular manufacturing, and resilient supply chains. Companies that adapt to this changing landscape will be better positioned to compete in the rapidly evolving critical minerals market.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are critical minerals?
Critical minerals are raw materials that are essential to economic security, advanced manufacturing, renewable energy technologies, and national defense. Examples include lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth elements.
Why is battery recycling important?
Battery recycling recovers valuable materials from used batteries, reducing waste, lowering environmental impacts, and supporting a more secure supply of critical minerals.
How do export restrictions affect supply chains? Export restrictions can encourage domestic recycling and processing while reducing reliance on overseas refiners. They may also reshape global trade flows and influence the availability and pricing of critical minerals.
China has achieved another milestone in advanced manufacturing by successfully developing high-purity oxygen-free copper, a critical material that was once almost entirely dependent on foreign suppliers. This breakthrough not only strengthens China’s supply chain resilience but also supports cutting-edge medical technologies, including heavy-ion cancer therapy systems.
The achievement highlights the country’s growing capabilities in materials science and demonstrates how persistent research and development can overcome technological barriers that once seemed impossible.
Why High-Purity Oxygen-Free Copper Matters
High-purity oxygen-free copper is a specialized material known for its exceptional electrical conductivity, thermal performance, and extremely low impurity levels. These qualities make it essential for several high-tech industries, including:
Heavy-ion particle accelerators for cancer treatment
Aerospace engineering
Semiconductor manufacturing
Scientific research equipment
Precision electronics
Advanced industrial machinery
Producing this material is technically challenging because even microscopic impurities can reduce its performance. For years, only a handful of overseas manufacturers possessed the expertise to manufacture copper with the required purity standards.
That dependence became a serious concern when global supply disruptions affected the availability of the material.
The Challenge That Sparked Innovation
In 2021, international supplies of high-purity oxygen-free copper became uncertain. This posed a significant risk for China’s expanding heavy-ion accelerator industry, which relies on the material to manufacture advanced cancer treatment equipment.
Heavy-ion therapy is one of the world’s most advanced forms of radiation treatment. It delivers highly targeted radiation beams that destroy cancer cells while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue.
As demand for this life-saving technology continued to grow, ensuring a stable domestic supply of critical materials became increasingly important.
Instead of waiting for overseas technology or equipment, Chinese engineers decided to develop the material independently.
Three Decades of Experience Led to a Breakthrough
Leading the project was Wang Yanfeng, General Manager of Jinchuan Group Precision Copper Co., whose career spans more than 30 years in copper research and manufacturing.
Rather than relying on expensive imported vacuum production systems, Wang’s team adopted an alternative strategy:
Improving raw material quality
Strengthening impurity control throughout production
Upgrading existing manufacturing lines
Testing multiple production methods simultaneously
Continuously refining each manufacturing stage
The process required numerous experiments and repeated testing before the desired quality could be achieved.
Their persistence eventually paid off.
The team successfully developed 4N5 high-purity oxygen-free copper, reaching purity levels capable of meeting demanding industrial applications while reducing production costs by approximately 30%. By 2024, the domestically produced material matched the performance of imported alternatives. (China Daily)
Reducing Dependence on Foreign Technology
One of the most significant aspects of this achievement is its impact on technological independence.
Many advanced industries rely on a small number of global suppliers for specialized materials. When geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions, or export restrictions occur, manufacturers can face costly delays.
Developing domestic expertise offers several long-term advantages:
Improved supply chain security
Lower production costs
Faster product development
Greater control over manufacturing quality
Enhanced industrial competitiveness
This breakthrough demonstrates how strategic investment in research can reduce dependence on foreign monopolies without compromising quality.
Supporting China’s Medical Technology Industry
The success has particular importance for China’s medical equipment sector.
Heavy-ion accelerator systems represent one of the most sophisticated cancer treatment technologies available today. These systems require components manufactured with extremely precise materials to ensure safe and reliable operation.
A stable domestic source of high-purity oxygen-free copper helps manufacturers:
Maintain production schedules
Reduce procurement risks
Lower manufacturing expenses
Increase international competitiveness
Expand access to advanced cancer treatment equipment
As healthcare infrastructure continues to evolve, reliable access to critical materials becomes increasingly important.
Innovation Through Persistence Rather Than Shortcuts
One of the most inspiring aspects of this story is the philosophy behind the project.
According to Wang Yanfeng, scientific research has no shortcuts. Progress comes through continuous experimentation, learning from failures, and gradually improving each step of the process.
This mindset reflects an important lesson for research organizations and technology companies worldwide:
Innovation is rarely the result of one breakthrough moment. Instead, it is often built through years of incremental improvements, teamwork, and determination.
The copper project required multiple rounds of testing, refinement, and optimization before reaching commercial success.
What This Means for Global Manufacturing
The development of high-purity oxygen-free copper illustrates a broader trend within global manufacturing.
Countries are increasingly investing in domestic production of strategic materials to improve supply chain resilience. Critical industries—from renewable energy and electric vehicles to medical technology and semiconductors—depend on specialized materials that require sophisticated manufacturing capabilities.
China’s latest achievement demonstrates how investment in research and development can accelerate industrial modernization while reducing vulnerability to external supply disruptions.
Rather than simply replacing imports, domestic innovation also creates opportunities for future technological advancements.
Economic and Industrial Impact
Beyond healthcare, the successful production of high-purity oxygen-free copper could have wide-ranging economic benefits.
Potential impacts include:
Stronger domestic manufacturing capabilities
Increased exports of advanced industrial materials
New opportunities for research collaboration
Higher-value manufacturing jobs
Greater competitiveness in global technology markets
As demand for precision materials continues to grow worldwide, manufacturers capable of producing high-quality copper products may gain significant commercial advantages.
Looking Ahead
China’s breakthrough in producing high-purity oxygen-free copper represents far more than a materials science achievement. It reflects years of dedication, engineering expertise, and a long-term commitment to technological self-reliance.
By successfully developing a material once dominated by foreign suppliers, Chinese researchers have strengthened critical supply chains supporting healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and scientific innovation.
The accomplishment also serves as a reminder that meaningful innovation often comes through persistence rather than shortcuts. As industries become increasingly dependent on specialized materials, breakthroughs like this will continue to shape the future of global manufacturing.
For businesses, researchers, and policymakers alike, the story highlights the growing importance of investing in advanced materials research—not only to improve competitiveness but also to build resilient industries capable of meeting tomorrow’s technological challenges. (China Daily)
Most organizations understand that confidential documents should never be posted on the public internet. Yet the AI era introduces a subtler risk: valuable know-how can gradually escape through routine interactions with AI systems.
Every day, employees ask AI to:
Refine proprietary algorithms
Optimize manufacturing processes
Analyze customer behavior
Improve pricing strategies
Draft patent applications
Review source code
Summarize confidential research
Each prompt may reveal only a small piece of information. However, over months or years, these interactions can expose an organization’s unique methods, terminology, workflows, and decision-making patterns.
Even when AI providers state that enterprise customer data is isolated or not used for public model training under specific contracts, organizations must still carefully manage what information they share. Internal deployments, third-party integrations, misconfigured systems, or future changes in data governance policies can all introduce unexpected risks. The safest approach is to treat proprietary know-how as a strategic asset and establish clear governance over how AI systems are used.
Know-How: The Intellectual Property That Patents Can’t Fully Protect
When discussing intellectual property, patents often receive the most attention. Yet for many businesses, know-how is even more valuable.
Know-how includes:
Manufacturing techniques
Process optimization
Internal operating procedures
Supplier relationships
Customer engagement strategies
Quality control methods
Engineering experience
Lessons learned over years of experimentation
Unlike patents, know-how frequently derives its value from remaining confidential. Once widely disclosed, much of its competitive advantage may disappear.
Consider the formula for Coca-Cola, semiconductor fabrication techniques, or highly optimized industrial production methods. Their value lies not only in invention but also in the accumulated experience required to reproduce them consistently.
AI creates a new challenge because employees may unknowingly disclose fragments of this institutional knowledge while seeking productivity gains.
Patents provide inventors with exclusive rights for a limited period, but they require public disclosure. In exchange for protection, inventors must explain their invention sufficiently for others skilled in the field to understand it.
This trade-off has worked well for centuries because the patent system encourages innovation while eventually enriching the public domain.
However, many competitive advantages are intentionally never patented.
Companies often choose trade secret protection when:
Reverse engineering is difficult.
The innovation can remain confidential.
The commercial value may outlast the life of a patent.
The competitive edge lies in operational expertise rather than a single invention.
The danger in the AI era is that organizations may inadvertently weaken this trade secret protection by embedding confidential methods, prompts, workflows, or engineering knowledge into AI interactions without fully understanding where that information is stored, processed, or retained.
The Public Domain Effect
Knowledge naturally migrates toward the public domain over time through publications, patents, employee mobility, academic research, and market competition.
AI has the potential to accelerate this process.
As organizations increasingly rely on AI to solve technical problems, summarize internal documents, or generate software, a growing portion of proprietary expertise risks becoming encoded into broader AI-assisted workflows. While enterprise AI providers implement contractual and technical safeguards, the cumulative effect of widespread AI adoption is that unique organizational know-how may become easier to replicate across industries.
This does not necessarily mean that confidential information becomes publicly accessible. Rather, the uniqueness of proprietary expertise may gradually erode as AI systems help disseminate similar best practices, design patterns, and problem-solving approaches across many organizations.
The result is a shift in competitive advantage: companies may need to innovate continuously rather than relying solely on accumulated institutional knowledge.
Governance Is Becoming an Intellectual Property Strategy
Historically, intellectual property strategy focused on deciding whether to patent an invention or keep it as a trade secret.
Today, organizations face a third question:
What should employees be allowed to teach AI?
Answering this requires more than cybersecurity policies. It calls for AI governance frameworks that define:
Which information can be shared with external AI systems.
Which AI platforms are approved for sensitive work.
How prompts and outputs are logged and audited.
When private or on-premises AI models are required.
How trade secrets and know-how are preserved while still enabling AI-driven productivity.
In the AI economy, protecting institutional knowledge may become as important as protecting the inventions themselves.
