• CRITICAL MINERALSHow to Win the Battle for Critical Minerals

    By Robert Monterosso

    In the struggle with China over critical-minerals supply chains, the United States and its partners should focus efforts across three fronts: commercial, technological and allied coordination. Action is needed in each to overcome advantages that China has built over decades.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSThe U.S. Military Is Spending Big on Critical Minerals

    By Aimee Gabay

    Over the past decade, DOD spending for critical minerals transformed from virtually nonexistent into a major spending area. The last five years in particular have seen a dramatic surge in both contracts and dollar value. Indigenous peoples raise the alarm as Pentagon spending on lithium, graphite, and other minerals skyrockets.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSLow-Cost Technique to Get Lithium Out of Rocks

    By Zach Winn

    Demand for lithium has surged in recent years as lithium-ion batteries power increasingly more of our world. A new low-temperature process could unlock cleaner lithium from America’s abundant hard rock while minimizing waste.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSFrom Wastes to Resources: Expanding Rare Earth Research to Bolster U.S. Domestic Critical Minerals Supply

    A decade ago, West Virginia University researchers were among the first to find rare earth elements in acid mine drainage seeping from retired coal mines. Now, the University is expanding that work to help secure a domestic supply of the critical materials essential to modern technology, enhancing national security interests and economic innovation.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSThe Missing Link in America’s Critical Minerals Push Isn’t Mining – It’s Processing Expertise

    By Hélène Nguemgaing and Alan Collins

    The United States is spending billions of dollars to secure access to critical minerals – minerals and metals that are essential to modern technology, from electric vehicles to smartphones and military systems. But amid the push to dig more, one question gets far too little attention: Who will actually process what comes out of the ground?

  • CRITICAL MINERALSThe Quad Should Share Intel on Critical-Mineral Supply Risks

    By Hayley Channer

    With China increasing restrictions on critical minerals trade, including tighter export controls on rare earth elements announced in March, the United States and allied countries are trying to bring more mineral supply to market. To succeed, they need to start with more structured information sharing and fusion.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSCould Deep Sea Mining Break China's Grip on Critical Minerals?

    By Doug Irving

    Mining companies have proposed to use remote-controlled robots or seabed crawlers tethered to surface ships to bring up nodules. The International Seabed Authority has wrestled for more than two decades with how to regulate seabed mining. The Trump administration has promised no such delay. It plans to use an existing U.S. regulatory framework.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSElectrochemical Process Enables Recovery of Valuable Raw Materials

    Lithium, cobalt and nickel are in high demand – and they are hard to obtain. Researchers are developing an electrochemical process to recover scarce raw materials in battery recycling. This new technology could also enable the extraction of rare earth elements from electronic waste in the future.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSResearchers Advance Critical Materials Recycling Technologies

    By Brandon Hallmark

    The U.S. has deposits of nearly all critical materials, but mining capabilities cannot meet the nation’s growing demand. Most extraction and processing are done overseas, much of it in China. This reliance on foreign critical materials risks supply disruptions that could affect U.S. national security, economic growth and everyday life.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSEU and U.S. Critical-Minerals Strategies: Same Goal, Different Methods

    By Ivana Damjanovic

    The United States and the European Union are both working to reduce their dependence on China for critical minerals, but they’re taking markedly different approaches. As both powers pursue critical-mineral independence through different means, the EU may struggle to keep up with the US’s more assertive policy.

  • IRAN WARThe Chokepoint We Missed: Sulfur, Hormuz, and the Threats to Military Readiness

    By Morgan Bazilian, Macdonald Amoah. and Jahara Matisek

    The cascading effects of disrupted maritime chokepoints are no longer the subject of simulations; they are an active crisis.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSStrengthening National Security with Critical Materials Research

    By Brandon Hallmark

    From satellites and surveillance systems to precision-guided munitions and fighter jet engines, critical materials are at the foundation of America’s military strength. Yet most critical materials are extracted and processed overseas, leaving the U.S. vulnerable to supply chain disruptions that could jeopardize everyday life, economic stability and national security.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSThe Country’s Largest Magnesium Supplier Shut Down. Now What?

    By Leia Larsen

    The U.S. supply of the critical mineral looks uncertain. The largest producer, US Magnesium, filed for bankruptcy in September. Its half-century-old Rowley smelting plant on the west shore of Utah’s famed lake could shutter for good. US Magnesium’s bankruptcy has consequences for the supply of a critical mineral — and the environment.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSA Huge Cache of Critical Minerals Found in Utah May Be the Largest in the U.S.

    By Leia Larsen

    A Utah company says it has unearthed a massive deposit of minerals crucial for building electric vehicles, semiconductors, satellites, magnets, and more. The discovery could reshape the clean energy supply chain.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSThe Year the US. Doubled Down on Critical Minerals

    By Rebecca Egan McCarthy, Anita Hofschneider, and Tik Root

    President Donald Trump spent most of 2025 hacking away at large parts of the federal government. One tiny corner of regulation, however, has actually grown under Trump: the critical minerals list. The list of metals became a top priority under Trump. But what even are they?