In race to end China’s chokehold on critical minerals, the U.S. needs all the friends it can get

A drill pad is positioned at Critical Metals’ Tanbreez project in Greenland. Courtesy of Critical Metals View: Source Pini Althaus saw the signs. In 2023, he left the company he founded, USA Rare Earth, to develop critical minerals mining and processing projects in central Asia, after realizing that the U.S. will need all the international help it can get to end …

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U.S. Army Looks to Build Small Refineries for Critical Minerals

View: Source The U.S. Army will develop small-scale refineries to ensure domestic supply of critical minerals for defense and military purposes as the United States and the Western allies look to reduce their dependence on China. “We ?need to come up with a way to ‌make our own (critical minerals) domestically that we can actually monitor and control within our borders,” Mark Mezger, …

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The Next Frontier for Critical Minerals

View: Source Melting Arctic ice is making previously inaccessible mineral reserves reachable, triggering a surge of global interest from the U.S., Canada, Russia, Denmark, and Norway. Governments are pursuing Arctic mining to counter China’s dominance in critical minerals, despite major environmental risks and political disputes over sovereignty and ownership. New national strategies, from U.S. investment proposals to Canada’s corridor plan and …

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Korea to designate all 17 rare earths as critical minerals to beef up resource security

View: Source Image Credit: Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan, right, presides over the inaugural meeting of the national resource security council in Seoul, Friday. Yonhap The government on Friday launched an interagency resource security council to beef up the country’s response capabilities against supply chain disruptions and stabilize management of critical resources, the industry ministry said. The council was established to bolster …

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UK has no immediate plans for critical minerals price floor, Minister says

View: Source Britain has no plans to match the United States in supporting domestic rare earth companies with a price floor to cut reliance on dominant producer China, Industry Minister Chris McDonald said. So far Britain is attracting adequate investment in the critical minerals sector to develop home-grown supply, but it will monitor the situation in case other mechanisms are needed, he told …

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US critical minerals security drive brings new era of stockpiling, project investment

View: Source Explore the efforts of the US government in critical mineral stockpiling and the challenges involved in securing these vital materials. Key takeaways: The US government has ramped up its efforts to stockpile critical materials for its national stockpile, but has faced challenges in doing so Many requests by the DLA have been extended or cancelled, demonstrating the challenges of …

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The Geopolitical Weaponization of Critical Minerals Supply

View: Source Global trade in late 2025 is increasingly defined by the geopolitical weaponization of Critical Minerals (CMs), moving these essential resources from mere commodities to strategic national security assets. The extreme concentration of mining and, crucially, refining capacity for CMs like lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements in a handful of nations has created acute supply chain vulnerabilities for the rest of the world. The Trade-Off: …

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The UK must secure supplies of 34 critical minerals says new report – here’s how

View: Source You’re probably reading this article on a phone or laptop containing more than 30 different metals. Some will be common: aluminium casing, copper wires. But other metals are less familiar and much more scarce. Each iPhone contains less than a gram of lithium, for instance, but would not function without it. We are in the midst of a geopolitically …

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Canada’s critical minerals push reshapes corporate identities

View: Source Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled the next wave of Canada’s “nation-building”projects this month, and the message was clear: Critical minerals are no longer a niche resource play, but a central pillar in Canada’s response to a US-led trade war and climate-transition strategy. The announcement, part of a sweeping second tranche of projects destined for the new Major Projects Office, prioritized low-carbon nickel, graphite …

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US Surges Ahead While EU Falters in Critical Minerals Race

View: Source In the global race for critical minerals, the US appears on track to bolster its supply chains while Europe watches from the sidelines, struggling to transform policy into practice. Demand for critical minerals reached new heights recently due to their renewed importance in crucial industries. These raw materials, including lithium, cobalt, copper, graphite and rare earths, form the base …

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