{"id":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issue/critical-minerals","schemaVersion":2,"name":"Critical Minerals","category":"Energy","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issue/critical-minerals","json":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issue/critical-minerals.json","ask":"","position":"Critical minerals are fundamental to American technological competitiveness, national defense, and decarbonization. However, mainstream environmentalism often opposes extraction and heavy industry, with advocates misguidedly hoping that recycling, substitution, and demand reduction can negate the need to manage mining and processing activities. Meanwhile, policy efforts lack focus and don’t yet address key bottlenecks for unlocking new production and industrial investment. Critical minerals policy must consider specific national goals for each supply chain and alleviate multiple critical constraints in parallel—especially mineral mapping, project permitting, hard tech innovation, project finance, and market certainty.","faq":[{"question":"What are critical minerals?","answer":"Critical minerals are minerals that are essential to the economy, national security, and modern technologies but face potential supply-chain risks."},{"question":"Why are critical minerals important?","answer":"Critical minerals are used in everything from electricity grids and nuclear reactors to batteries, electronics, vehicles, industrial metals, and defense technologies. Reliable access to these materials is essential for energy security, economic growth, and national security—and for building the technologies and infrastructure needed for a more prosperous, lower-carbon future."},{"question":"Does China control the world's critical minerals?","answer":"China dominates the market for many critical mineral supply chains and often across multiple supply chain steps, especially processing and refining. For example, China controls 95% of the global magnesium metal supply—a key input for widely-used aluminum alloys, steelmaking, and titanium refining. China also produces 90% of the world’s battery graphite material, 80% of the world’s battery cells, and around 93% of rare earth permanent magnet manufacturing."},{"question":"Does the US have its own critical minerals?","answer":"The United States contains significant deposits of many critical minerals, including lithium, copper, and rare earth elements. But overall, domestic mining—and especially processing and refining capacity—remains limited for many minerals."}],"experts":[{"name":"Seaver Wang","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/people/seaver-wang"},{"name":"Peter Cook","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/people/peter-cook"},{"name":"Ryan Alimento","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/people/ryan-alimento"}],"startHere":[{"title":"The Critical Minerals Picture Book","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/the-critical-minerals-picture-book","date":"2026-04-22"},{"title":"Reducing Critical Mineral Project Lead Times","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/reducing-critical-mineral-project-lead-times","date":"2026-01-15"},{"title":"Taking Inventory of Critical Mineral Stockpiling","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/taking-inventory-of-critical-mineral-stockpiling","date":"2025-07-21"}],"latest":[{"title":"Critical Mineral Policy Needs BAAJA","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/critical-mineral-policy-needs-baaja","date":"2026-10-23","type":"Analysis"},{"title":"Mine Tailings Offer Few Opportunities for Critical Mineral Recovery","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/mine-tailings-offer-few-opportunities-for-critical-mineral-recovery","date":"2026-10-14","type":"Report"},{"title":"Does Congress Even Have a Critical Minerals Strategy?","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/does-congress-even-have-a-critical-minerals-strategy","date":"2026-08-17","type":"Analysis"},{"title":"Factors for Successful Critical Mineral Beneficiation","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/factors-for-successful-critical-mineral-beneficiation","date":"2026-08-13","type":"Whitepaper"},{"title":"U.S. Critical Mineral Security Cannot Rely On Mine Waste Alone","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/u-s-critical-mineral-security-cannot-rely-on-mine-waste-alone","date":"2026-08-06","type":"Policy brief"},{"title":"The Mining Regulatory Clarity Act Is Not an Environmental Issue","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/the-mining-regulatory-clarity-act-is-not-an-environmental-issue","date":"2026-06-18","type":"Policy brief"},{"title":"The CAPEX Challenge Is Key to Industrial Competitiveness","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/the-capex-challenge-is-key-to-industrial-competitiveness","date":"2026-06-17","type":"Analysis"},{"title":"What Drives Innovation in Heavy Industry?","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/what-drives-innovation-in-heavy-industry","date":"2026-05-20","type":"Analysis"},{"title":"Congress Should Fund the Earth Mapping Resource Initiative","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/congress-should-fund-the-earth-mapping-resource-initiative","date":"2026-05-18","type":"Whitepaper"},{"title":"The Critical Minerals Picture Book","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/the-critical-minerals-picture-book","date":"2026-04-22","type":"Report"}],"policyHub":"https://thebreakthrough.org/policy?topics=mining-and-processing-regulation%7Ccritical-mineral-public-investment%7Cmapping-and-geoscience%7Ccritical-mineral-recycling%7Cnational-environmental-policy-act%7Cseafloor-minerals%7Cadvanced-nuclear-2%7Cclean-water-act%7Cnuclear-fuel-cycle","policyAreas":[{"slug":"mining-and-processing-regulation","name":"Mining and Processing Regulation","records":9,"url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/policy?topics=mining-and-processing-regulation"},{"slug":"critical-mineral-public-investment","name":"Critical Mineral Public Investment","records":6,"url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/policy?topics=critical-mineral-public-investment"},{"slug":"mapping-and-geoscience","name":"Mapping and Geoscience","records":4,"url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/policy?topics=mapping-and-geoscience"},{"slug":"critical-mineral-recycling","name":"Critical Mineral Recycling","records":3,"url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/policy?topics=critical-mineral-recycling"},{"slug":"national-environmental-policy-act","name":"National Environmental Policy Act","records":3,"url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/policy?topics=national-environmental-policy-act"},{"slug":"seafloor-minerals","name":"Seafloor Minerals","records":2,"url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/policy?topics=seafloor-minerals"},{"slug":"advanced-nuclear-2","name":"Advanced Nuclear","records":1,"url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/policy?topics=advanced-nuclear-2"},{"slug":"clean-water-act","name":"Clean Water Act","records":1,"url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/policy?topics=clean-water-act"},{"slug":"nuclear-fuel-cycle","name":"Nuclear Fuel Cycle","records":1,"url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/policy?topics=nuclear-fuel-cycle"}],"policyRecords":[{"id":280231,"title":"Critical Mineral Policy Needs BAAJA","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/critical-mineral-policy-needs-baaja","type":"Analysis","date":"2026-10-23","stance":"none","subject":"","subjectUrl":"","summary":"","authors":"Peter Cook"},{"id":267803,"title":"Does Congress Even Have a Critical Minerals Strategy?","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/does-congress-even-have-a-critical-minerals-strategy","type":"Analysis","date":"2026-08-17","stance":"none","subject":"","subjectUrl":"","summary":"","authors":"Peter Cook; Seaver Wang"},{"id":266814,"title":"The Mining Regulatory Clarity Act Is Not an Environmental 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Abundant Reactors","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/abundant-fuels-for-abundant-reactors","type":"Report","date":"2025-11-06","stance":"none","subject":"","subjectUrl":"","summary":"","authors":"Juzel Lloyd; Adam Stein; Seaver Wang; Peter Cook; Matthew L. Wald"},{"id":261448,"title":"Mining Is Not What it Used to Be","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/mining-is-not-what-it-used-to-be","type":"Analysis","date":"2025-10-20","stance":"none","subject":"","subjectUrl":"","summary":"","authors":"Peter Cook; Seaver Wang"},{"id":247635,"title":"If Every Mineral Is Critical Then None Are","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/if-every-mineral-is-critical-then-none-are","type":"Analysis","date":"2025-05-21","stance":"none","subject":"","subjectUrl":"","summary":"","authors":"Peter Cook; Seaver Wang"},{"id":235468,"title":"Metals for the Future","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/metals-for-the-future","type":"Report","date":"2024-09-24","stance":"none","subject":"","subjectUrl":"","summary":"","authors":"Seaver Wang; Peter Cook; Juzel Lloyd"}],"dateModified":"2026-11-12T08:26:15-08:00"}