• CRITICAL MINERALSSecuring South Korea's Critical Minerals Supply Chains Through Trilateral Cooperation

    South Korea, Japan, and the United States’ trilateral partnership has expanded to include collaboration on economic security, including on critical minerals supply chains (CMSCs). A new report offers analysis, tools, and recommendations to strengthen South Korea’s CMSCs and economic security.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSU.S. Mines Are Literally Throwing Away Critical Minerals

    By Tik Root

    The United States is home to dozens of active mines. Some extract copper, while others dig for iron. Whatever the resource, however, it usually makes up a small fraction of the rock pulled from the ground. There’s enough lithium in one year of U.S. mine waste to power 10 million electric vehicles.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSSecuring South Korea's Critical Minerals Supply Chains Through Trilateral Cooperation

    By Fabian Villalobos et al.

    South Korea, Japan, and the United States’ trilateral partnership has expanded to include collaboration on economic security, including on critical minerals supply chains (CMSCs). A new report offers analysis and tools for supply chain net assessment, supply chain cooperation, and economic security.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSGeological Mapping Project Supports Critical Mineral Explorations, Enhances Public Safety in the Southeast

    A key focus of a new USGS mapping project is to identify where critical minerals vital to the economy and national security might be located. As demand for rare earth elements and other critical minerals grows for use in technology, energy, and defense sectors, this project can provide vital data that helps the U.S. secure domestic sources of critical minerals, thus reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign sources.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSU.S. Moves Decisively to Avoid Dependence on China’s Rare Earths

    By David Uren

    The Pentagon’s package of support for rare earths company MP Minerals, announced on 10 July, should free the US military and eventually much of US industry from dependence on Chinese supply chains for rare earth magnets.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSManaging the Dark Side of the Critical Minerals Rush

    By John Coyne and Raelene Lockhorst

    As the world scrambles to meet the demands of a clean energy transition, it’s tempting to focus on the environmental, social and human security costs of mining. But focusing solely on these negative externalities obscures a hard reality: without mining, there is no energy transition.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSA Unique Method of Rare-Earth Recycling Can Strengthen the Raw Material Independence of Europe and America

    Researchers have developed a new method of separating the rare earth elements, or lanthanides, which are widely used in the electronic, medical, automotive, and defense industries.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSNth Cycle Is Bringing Critical Metals Refining to the U.S.

    By Zach Winn

    Much like Middle Eastern oil production in the 1970s, China today dominates the global refinement of critical metals that serve as the foundation of the United States economy. The U.S. needs another technological breakthrough to secure domestic supplies of metals like lithium, cobalt, copper, and rare earth elements, which are needed for everything from batteries to jet engines and electric motors. Nth Cycle thinks it has a solution.

  • RARE EARTHChina and Rare-Earth Elements: Is Trump Blinking on Tariffs?

    By Ajey Lele

    On 2 April 2025, President Trump announced a significant shift in the US trade policy, imposing tariffs on multiple countries, with special emphasis on China. In response, on 4 April 2025, China placed export restrictions on REEs, which are also known as rare metals.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSNevada Lithium Mining Expands with Estimated $87B Project

    By Liam Hibbert, The Center Square

    Amidst widespread speculation and local pushback, northern Nevada has taken another step toward realizing its lithium potential with an estimated $87 billion Elko County mine.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSWhat Rare Earth Elements Are and Why They Matter

    By Mike Silver

    Rare 17 earth elements are critical to many industries—used in electric motors, medical imaging and diagnostics, oil and gas refining, and computer and phone screens. These elements have become a hot political issue, says an Earth Sciences professor.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSU.S. Senate Committee Advances Kelly's Critical Minerals Bill

    By Zachery Schmidt, The Center Square

    A bill seeking to improve America’s mineral supply chain is heading to the U.S. Senate floor. The Critical Mineral Consistency Act of 2025, introduced by Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, would remove disparities between separate critical materials lists from the Department of Energy and Department of Interior. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the bill last week.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSHow the U.S. Can Mine Its Own Critical Minerals − without Digging New Holes

    By Yuanzhi Tang and Scott McWhorter

    Critical materials are the tiny building blocks powering modern life, yet the U.S. depends heavily on imports for most critical materials. Could the U.S. mine and process more critical minerals at home?

  • DEEP SEA MININGDeep Sea Mining is the New Front in Pacific Competition

    Recent developments reflect the rise of renewed great-power resource rivalry and the race for critical minerals, which underpin digital infrastructure and green energy.

  • DEEP SEA MININGExploring New Frontiers in Mineral Extraction

    By Anne Wilson

    The minerals found in the deep ocean are used to manufacture products like the lithium-ion batteries used to power electric vehicles, cell phones, or solar cells. In some cases, the estimated resources of critical mineral deposits in parts of the abyssal ocean exceed global land-based reserves severalfold. Professor Thomas Peacock’s research aims to better understand the impact of deep-sea mining.