Critical raw materials lists are expanding. The European Union's current list includes 34 materials, up from 14 in 2011. The United States now designates 60 critical minerals, up from 50 in 2022. Both jurisdictions are investing significant political capital in securing these materials through legislative frameworks, strategic project designations, equity stakes in producers, and, in some cases, the activation of emergency powers. The policy apparatus erected around critical

Critical raw materials are at the centre of the energy transition, digitalisation, and defence. They are also at the centre of an intensifying geopolitical contest. China's escalating export controls, the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act, and the Trump Administration's shift toward direct federal equity investments have all accelerated in the past twelve months. Yet the policy conversation often remains fragmented: mining is discussed in isolation from processing, regulation f

Guns without foundations As European leaders commit to historic levels of defence spending, a structural problem is being systematically underweighted in public debate: the basic materials from which modern weapons are made are, to a remarkable degree, sourced from the very states that European rearmament is designed to deter or hedge against. The immediate catalyst for renewed focus is the conflict environment. Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine has driven sustained demand for