Elements of Power
Critical Minerals and Resource Security
“The contest for the twenty-first century will be won not only in data centers and laboratories, but in the mines, refineries, and recycling facilities that supply them.”
Kennedy hosting a Congressional briefing on a new WISC report on Cobalt.
Why Critical Minerals Matter
- Every circuit board, battery, turbine, and satellite depends on a hidden architecture of materials—rare earths, lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and graphite—that power modern life. These elements of power form the foundation of digital, defense, and clean-energy industries. Yet their supply chains remain dangerously concentrated, often under authoritarian influence.
- Democracies cannot afford strategic dependence on rivals for the inputs that sustain their freedom. But neither can they afford to pursue independence at the expense of the nations where those resources lie. True resilience requires that the countries supplying these materials be left stronger, more diversified, and more democratic—with transparent governance, local value creation, and enduring prosperity.
- The rarest resource in these supply chains is not the mineral itself but the trust and coordination to manage it well. When resource partnerships empower local communities rather than exploit them, they strengthen freedom’s foundation and legitimacy. Democracies that invest together, refine together, and recycle together can achieve the sustainable resilience that the future demands.
Strategic Priorities
- De-Risk Authoritarian Concentration: Diversify sourcing away from single-point dependencies by building allied production and refining capacity, especially across the Americas, Australia, and Africa.
- Integrate Trade, Investment, and Standards Policy: Embed mineral security within trade and investment frameworks that uphold labor rights, environmental integrity, and transparent governance. High-standard trade agreements and investment screening should reward responsible partners and deter predatory behavior.
- Accelerate Allied Mining and Refining Partnerships That Leave Communities Stronger: Coordinate among development finance institutions, export-credit agencies, and private investors to mobilize capital for responsible extraction and processing that benefits host nations and builds local capability. Partnership must mean shared value—ensuring that mining nations become co-architects of the clean, secure, and trusted systems they help supply.
- Build Closed-Loop Systems Through Recycling: Promote circular-economy initiatives that recover and reuse critical materials, reducing waste and vulnerability while building domestic and allied recycling capacity.
- Link Resource Strategy to Energy and Industrial Policy: Treat minerals as strategic infrastructure—essential to semiconductors, batteries, defense systems, and AI compute power. Align energy, industrial, and resource strategies so that democracies lead in both clean production and ethical sourcing.
Insights & Engagements
🏛️ Engaging Administration or Congress, 📰 Op-Ed / Article / Quoted 🎙️ Podcast ✍️ Policy Brief / Blog Post 👥 Roundtable / Event 🎤 Speaking 🎥 TV/Video 🌐 Global
- 🎤 Bolstering Energy Security through Infrastructure Technologies - Moderated Wilson Center Roundtable - April 3, 2024
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