Critical minerals intelligence covering lithium, cobalt, rare earths, and strategic reserves — mining permits, processing capacity, and export policy.
12 analyses
Since our June 2026 analysis, the competitive intensity between Washington and Beijing over DRC cobalt supply chains has shifted decisively from strategic positioning toward.
The Quad Critical Minerals Initiative Framework, announced at the New Delhi Foreign Ministers' Meeting on 26 May 2026.
Zimbabwe's Mines Ministry imposed a ban on all raw mineral and lithium concentrate exports effective February 25, 2026.
The Pentagon's $25 million equity investment in ReElement Technologies on July 13, 2026, alongside the IEA's Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026 published July 16.
China controls approximately 92% of refined NdPr supply and between 98-99% of separated heavy rare earths including dysprosium and terbium.
China's layered graphite export control regime, introduced in late 2023 and extended through 2025.
China's tightened export controls on rare earths, tungsten, and antimony have triggered price spikes of up to sixfold and exposed critical vulnerabilities in Western defense and.
Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has cut national nickel ore quotas by nearly 30-32% for 2026, from 379 million tonnes to 250-270 million tonnes.
African nations are building a dual-corridor system for critical minerals export, but the infrastructure race is moving faster than the supply chains it is meant to serve.
The Middle East shipping crisis has threaded directly into African critical mineral supply chains through a mechanism our July 3 analysis did not map at its full depth: sulfuric.
The DRC produces approximately 70-75% of the world's mined cobalt as of 2025-2026, and the country's January-to-October 2025 export ban.
Two overlapping supply shocks, Zimbabwe's February 2026 ban on lithium concentrate exports and the 10-month suspension of CATL's Jianxiawo mine.