The public conversation about critical raw materials is dominated by mines. New projects make headlines, permitting disputes attract political attention, and strategic ambitions are routinely expressed in terms of where new extraction will happen. This is understandable. Mining is visible, tangible, and politically consequential in a way that the rest of the value chain rarely is. It is also a distraction from the binding constraint. For most critical raw materials, the most

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

Context On 6 March 2026, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued General License No. 51 , "Authorizing Certain Activities Involving Venezuelan-Origin Gold," a measure that begins to reopen Venezuela's mining sector to regulated US commercial activity. The licence was signed by OFAC Director Bradley T. Smith under the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 591. It is the first general licence under the Venezuela sanctions framew

When representatives of 54 countries gathered in Washington on 4 February 2026 for the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial, the scale of ambition was unmistakable. In the space of a single week, the Trump administration launched Project Vault, a public-private strategic minerals stockpile backed by approximately $12 billion in seed funding; unveiled the Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement (FORGE) as successor to the Biden-era Minerals Security Partnership; and annou