Articles & essays
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Future Minerals Forum 2026: Reputation, Governance and the New Architecture of Mining
The Future Minerals Forum 2026 in Riyadh brought together over 100 countries, multilaterals and industry leaders to talk about critical minerals, infrastructure and standards. Beyond the headlines, this edition introduced the Future Minerals Barometer, a standing ministerial steering group and a corridor agenda with the World Bank. Paired with a frank debate on mining’s reputation,…
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Rare Earths: The US Treasury, Baotou and Crucible
The US Treasury’s G7+ finance meeting, Korea Zinc’s Crucible smelter in Tennessee, and China’s new Baotou rare earth price index are three pieces of the same story: Washington is starting to coordinate supply, demand and price for non Chinese rare earths, while Beijing consolidates its own benchmark
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The Cost of Time in Mining.
A five year permitting delay can erase a third of a mining project’s value, without changing the orebody, the plan, or the metal. Time is not neutral. It’s the hidden variable rewriting copper, lithium and nickel economics.
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For the U.S., Minerals Are Now Geopolitics
In recent weeks, the U.S. has decisively reframed critical minerals as strategic inputs rather than commodities governed solely by global price curves. With direct state participation in key refining assets, like the $7.4B Tennessee smelter, Washington is explicitly underwriting strategic continuity, signaling a fundamental shift from market leadership to geopolitical sufficiency.
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When Security Joins ESG: How the U.S. NSS Could Reshape Lending to Mining
For a decade, ESG has been the main external filter for mining finance. America’s 2025 National Security Strategy quietly adds a second one: strategic alignment. This article explores how that twin filter could change lending criteria for U.S. and European financiers in critical minerals.
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Codelco’s Record Premiums: When Copper Stops Behaving Like a Commodity
Codelco’s unprecedented 2026 copper premiums exceeding $500/t for U.S. buyers signal a structural shift: copper is becoming less a conventional commodity and more a strategic asset, quietly reshaping geopolitical dependencies.
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The West knows it is vulnerable on critical minerals. Does it really understand what that implies?
The West knows it is vulnerable in critical minerals, but still behaves as if subsidies, alliances and new lists will be enough. This article argues that the deeper risk lies inside Western systems themselves, in how they regulate, narrate and politically absorb mining and why that matters in the first technological revolution.
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Are We in the Fifth Industrial Revolution or the First Technological Revolution?
A strategic essay exploring whether we are living through a Fifth Industrial Revolution or the first fully technological revolution and why the answer reshapes how we understand power, capital and the critical minerals that underpin AI, clean energy and advanced manufacturing.
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The Mining We Knew Is Dead. Long Live Geopolitical Mining
Strategic essay on how critical minerals became geopolitical power. This piece connects recent export controls, China’s midstream dominance, and Western vulnerabilities to explain why mining is no longer industrial, it’s Geopolitical Mining
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Copper Premiums and Geopolitical Mining
Copper premiums are no longer a minor cost. They have become strategic signals, reflecting how geopolitical risk, ESG compliance, and supply chain resilience now shape the global copper market.