Materials

U.S. and Australia Deepen Critical-Minerals Engagement to Counter China
Engagement between Australia and the United States on critical minerals has matured from technical cooperation into a strategic partnership, aligning resource security with clean energy and defense priorities.
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13 States Work on Critical Minerals in Mine Waste
The U.S. Geological Survey has awarded nearly $3 million in cooperative agreements to state geological surveys to study critical minerals in the materials left over from mining at active and legacy sites.
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Electric Cars May Be the “Green” Choice, but They're Driving a Scramble for Critical Minerals
Our cars are responsible for about 20 per cent of global carbon emissions. The move to electric vehicles (EVs) is central to the effort to decarbonize the world’s transport. But the clean-energy transition is also creating a new extractive frontier: the minerals that power electric car batteries. And the same forces that shaped the geopolitics of oil are re-emerging in the race to power the electric revolution.
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China, the United States, and a Critical Chokepoint on Minerals
Critical minerals today are “America’s most dangerous dependence,” in the words of CFR’s Heidi Crebo-Rediker. With near total control of the world’s critical minerals production, China maintains significant economic leverage over access to inputs that are necessary for everything from everyday products like smartphones to advanced weapons systems like the F-35.
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A New Generation of Industries Emerges in Texas as Feds Push to Mine More Rare Minerals
The U.S. doesn’t produce the minerals and metals needed for renewable energy, microchips or military technology. Major oil companies are drilling in East Texas again, but not for oil. This time, they’re after lithium for batteries and other rare elements.
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The U.S. Critical Minerals Dilemma: What to Know
Critical minerals play an essential role in security and technological competitiveness, but the United States relies heavily on imports from China and other foreign sources. The Trump administration is trying to change that.
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U.S. Energy Supply Chains Are Unlikely to Meet Anticipated Demand
The U.S. fast-growing energy demands for clean energy sources faces a problem: Under current supply chain conditions, the United States is on track to fall significantly short of surging demand for three clean energy sources: wind, solar, and battery. The shortage is due to the scarcity of critical raw materials such as nickel, aluminum, and silicon.
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U.S. Department of Energy buys 5% of Lithium Americas
Lithium Americas, founded 2023 in Canada, owns the permit to develop the Thacker Pass grounds in Humboldt County, Nevada for lithium mining. The U.S. Department of Energy settled government takeover reports of Lithium Americas Corp., announcing a 5% ownership of the $1.5 billion mining company.
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Securing 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.
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U.S. Mines Are Literally Throwing Away Critical Minerals
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.
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Securing 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 and tools for supply chain net assessment, supply chain cooperation, and economic security.
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Geological 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.
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U.S. Moves Decisively to Avoid Dependence on China’s Rare Earths
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.
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Managing the Dark Side of the Critical Minerals Rush
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.
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A 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.
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