Industrial Policy
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The Lithium Processing Paradox
Australia’s lithium experience reveals a central paradox of critical mineral strategy: processing can be strategically necessary before it is commercially easy. A world class mine does not automatically create midstream capability. Lithium conversion requires industrial learning, customer qualification, process control, working capital and time. The mine may remain strategic, while the conversion plant must still…
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The Practitioner Gap
As mining becomes more strategic, the people who understand how geology becomes supply must help shape the decisions that govern it. This article introduces the practitioner gap and explains why closing it is essential to stronger, more accountable formal mining.
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of June 8–14, 2026
This week’s Geopolitical Mining Weekly looks at how the G7, Ontario, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Japan and the United States are moving critical minerals policy into finance, processing, permitting, industrial capacity and trusted supply chains.
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Rare Earths Are Becoming a Talent War
Rare earths are becoming a talent war. Deposits matter, but reliable supply depends on the engineers, metallurgists, laboratories, public agencies and industrial systems able to convert mineral potential into qualified supply.