Materials

Bans on Gallium n Germanium Exports Could Cost the U.S. Billions
The disruptions of critical mineral supplies would negatively affect the U.S. economy. Researchers estimate there could be a $3.4 billion decrease in U.S. GDP if China implements a total ban on exports of gallium and germanium, minerals used in some semiconductors and other high-tech manufacturing.
- Read more
Startup Turns Mining Waste into Critical Metals for the U.S.
At the heart of the energy transition is a metal transition. Wind farms, solar panels, and electric cars require more exotic metals with unique properties, known as rare earth elements. Phoenix Tailings is creating domestic supply chains for rare earth metals, key to the clean energy transition.
- Read more

Major Lithium Mine Approved in Nevada, Supporting a Domestic Supply of Critical Minerals 
Critical minerals are essential building blocks of the modern economy and America’s energy security, from clean energy technologies – like electric vehicle and grid storage batteries and wind turbines – to semiconductors to advanced defense systems and consumer electronics.
- Read more
Work Toward a Cleaner Way to Purify Critical Metals
Rare-earth elements are everywhere in modern life. However, purifying these critical metals from ores with complex mixtures is a nasty business involving strong acids and hazardous solvents, and is primarily conducted in China. Sandia team studies selective sponges for rare-earth elements.
- Read more

Insights on Valuable Byproduct Minerals
Byproduct minerals are not the main target of the mining operation but are obtained as a result of processing the primary ore. Many critical minerals are byproducts of mining other minerals like copper, gold, and zinc.
- Read more
Not Just Beijing’s Doing: Market Factors Are Also Hitting Rare Earths Prices
Have depressed rare earths prices been engineered by the Chinese state to snuff out non-Chinese rivals before they get going? Or do they simply reflect a weak market, with demand rising more slowly than was expected by the promotors of a slew of new projects?
- Read more

Quantifying Global Earthquake Risk to Mineral Supplies
Earthquakes could impact the supplies of mineral commodities like copper and rhenium around the world. A new scientific mechanism for assessing the potential risk to worldwide mineral commodity supplies from seismic activity has been developed by USGS scientists.
- Read more
A $40B Critical Mineral Supply Chain Could Start in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has a mine pollution problem. America has a critical mineral shortage. And both problems may get solved as researchers find these critical and strategic elements in the polluted waters that come from acid mine drainage.
- Read more

Critical Minerals: The Quiet Achievers Gallium and Germanium
Australia produces 14 of the 31 critical minerals essential for modern technology and renewable energy. Gallium and germanium, critical for high-tech applications, are by-products of processing other minerals. Strategic mineral management and advanced processing can significantly boost Australia’s economic and global market position.
- Read more
Countering Coercion: Australia Must Engage with Allies on Critical Minerals Supply
China’s use of coercion to control critical mineral mining and processing projects, their output and even whole supply chains has motivated several countries to take increasingly strong measures to secure alternative supply chains. Meanwhile, China’s state-linked companies continue to use multiple channels to manipulate markets at scale.
- Read more

Can Europe Secure Its Own Critical Raw Materials?
With the EU’s Critical Raw Materials’ Act coming into force, the 27-nation bloc is looking to diversify its supplies of minerals away from China. But can it source enough of it at competitive prices?
- Read more
China’s Control and Coercion in Critical Minerals
Markets for critical minerals are no longer shaping up to be the next components of the global economy to be dominated by China. They already are. While Western nations were sleeping, China built vertically integrated supply chains for several critical minerals vital to the energy transition and high technology applications, including defense equipment.
- Read more

Artificial Geysers Can Compensate for Our Mineral Shortages
By imitating nature, it may be possible to recover seabed minerals by extracting hot water from the Earth’s crust. We can harvest green energy and be sensitive to the environment – all at the same time.
- Read more
Critical Minerals Need Insulation from China’s Market Manipulation
Investors can handle lots of different risks. They can price risks in construction, interest rates, weather and, with hedging, price movements in product markets. But the one risk they can’t price is political risk, the chance of some government action ruining profits. You can’t hedge against it.
- Read more
A More Efficient Way to Extract Lithium from Mining Sites, Oil Fields, Used Batteries
Lithium is a lightweight metal commonly used in energy-dense and rechargeable batteries. Electric vehicles, which are needed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, rely on lithium-ion batteries. Chemists have invented a more efficient way to extract lithium from waste liquids leached from mining sites, oil fields and used batteries.
- Read more

More headlines