Critical Minerals: The Geopolitical Battleground of Energy Transition

How Are Geopolitical Tensions Reshaping Critical Minerals Markets?

The intersection of geopolitics and critical minerals has dramatically shifted global priorities from purely environmental concerns to resource security and strategic advantage. This fundamental change is reshaping investment flows, supply chains, and national policies worldwide.

Recent geopolitical developments have created what mining experts describe as "the perfect storm" for critical minerals energy transition—where security concerns, climate imperatives, and technological transformation converge to create unprecedented demand pressures and supply challenges.

The Security-Sustainability Balance

Recent geopolitical developments have triggered a notable pivot in global rhetoric. While climate action and decarbonization remain important, national security concerns have taken center stage in discussions about critical minerals. This shift reflects growing recognition that control over these resources represents both economic and strategic power.

As Kitha Cabala noted during the OneToOne Mining Investment London panel, "Energy security and climate adaptation need not be mutually exclusive. The two can and must go hand in hand." This perspective represents a significant evolution in how policymakers approach critical minerals.

Tariffs and Trade Tensions

Recent tariffs and market impact between major economies have created significant market disruptions. While overnight developments have seen some reduction in US-China tariffs (US tariffs on China dropping to 30% and Chinese tariffs falling to 10%), the ongoing volatility creates planning challenges for mining projects.

These trade barriers have:

• Structurally elevated commodity prices while maintaining upside potential
• Created fragmented markets with two-tier pricing systems
• Complicated construction timelines and cost projections
• Delayed investment decisions due to uncertainty around inflation and labor availability

David Freeland highlighted during the panel discussion that "uncertainty under the Trump administration has caused EPC contractors to delay cost projections due to concerns about inflation and labor availability," demonstrating how geopolitical tensions directly impact project development timelines.

Government Initiatives Accelerating Development

Despite these challenges, governments worldwide are implementing measures to expedite critical minerals projects:

• United States: Identified 41 critical metals projects ("Fast 41") for streamlined permitting
• European Union: Designated 47 strategic metals projects for accelerated development
• Canada and Australia: Recent elections highlighted mining development as a central economic priority
• G7 Nations: Upcoming summit will address critical minerals as a key agenda item

The U.S. Fast 41 program has already shown tangible results, with several projects receiving expedited mining permitting insights in 2025, significantly accelerating their development timelines.

Permitting Timeline Disparities

The development timeline gap between jurisdictions remains substantial:

• North America: 5+ years for typical project permitting
• Australia: 2 years for comparable project permitting

This disparity creates competitive advantages for certain jurisdictions and influences investment decisions. Companies are increasingly factoring these timeline differences into their strategic planning, often prioritizing projects in jurisdictions with more efficient permitting processes.

What's Driving Demand for Critical Minerals?

Multiple converging factors are creating unprecedented demand for critical minerals, forming what Kaylee Barker at the OneToOne Mining Investment panel vividly described as "an escalator that's coming down faster than we're able to go up it."

This demand surge is occurring alongside persistent supply constraints, creating what industry experts characterize as a "structural deficit" that cannot be easily resolved through traditional market mechanisms.

Energy Transition Requirements

The shift toward renewable energy and electrification creates massive mineral demands:

• Battery Technologies: Require lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite
• Solar Panels: Depend on silicon, silver, and various rare earth elements
• Wind Turbines: Need neodymium, dysprosium, and other specialized materials
• Grid Infrastructure: Requires substantial copper and aluminum

The International Energy Agency estimates that a typical electric vehicle requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car, while an onshore wind plant requires nine times more mineral resources than a gas-fired power plant of equivalent capacity.

Industrial Decarbonization

Beyond energy generation, industrial processes are transforming to reduce emissions:

• Green Steel Production: Requires different mineral inputs than traditional methods
• Hydrogen Economy: Demands platinum group metals for electrolyzers and fuel cells
• Carbon Capture: Utilizes various minerals for absorption and conversion processes

The decarbonization of heavy industry, which accounts for approximately 20% of global emissions, represents a significant but often overlooked driver of critical mineral demand. As Fiona Clouder noted during the panel, "We're seeing competition not just between countries, but between industries for these materials."

Defense and Security Applications

Critical minerals serve dual purposes in both civilian and defense applications:

• Antimony: Essential for fire retardants and ammunition
• Tungsten: Used in both industrial tools and armor-piercing ammunition
• Nickel: Critical for both batteries and defense alloys
• Rare Earths: Required for both consumer electronics and weapons systems

This dual-use nature creates complex market dynamics, as defense requirements often command premium pricing and priority access. Panel experts highlighted that minerals with both defense and energy transition applications tend to receive the most government support and investment interest.

Digitalization and Smart Infrastructure

The expanding digital ecosystem creates additional mineral demands:

• Smart Grids: Require sophisticated materials for sensors and controls
• Data Centers: Need substantial quantities of copper and cooling materials
• Communications Infrastructure: Depends on rare earths and specialized metals

The digital transformation of infrastructure, particularly in developed economies, represents a significant but often underappreciated driver of critical mineral demand. As one panelist noted, "We're building a digital layer on top of our physical infrastructure, and each layer requires its own mineral inputs."

What Supply Gaps Are Emerging in Critical Minerals Markets?

Projections indicate severe supply deficits emerging across multiple critical minerals within the next five years:

These shortfalls represent significant challenges for industries dependent on these materials and create potential investment opportunities for mining projects that can address these gaps.

As Fiona Clouder emphasized during the panel, "These aren't just numbers on a page. These deficits represent real constraints on our ability to deploy clean energy technologies at the scale and pace required."

Processing Capacity Limitations

While geological availability remains important, processing capacity has become the critical bottleneck:

• Historical Concentration: Processing capabilities for many critical minerals have consolidated in China over recent decades
• Economic Barriers: High energy costs in Western nations make processing economically challenging
• Technical Complexity: Processing facilities for minerals like tungsten and antimony require specialized expertise that has diminished in Western countries
• Rebuilding Challenges: Reestablishing processing capabilities requires significant capital investment and government support

David Freeland highlighted during the panel that "China's dominance in processing has been decades in the making. It's not something Western nations can replicate overnight, regardless of policy support." This reality creates persistent vulnerability in critical mineral supply chains that cannot be quickly resolved.

How Are Different Commodities Performing in This Environment?

Market performance varies significantly across different mineral categories, creating a complex landscape for investors.

Gold: Thriving Amid Uncertainty

Gold has demonstrated exceptional strength in the current environment:

• Record high prices supported by multiple factors
• Strong central bank buying activity
• Renewed ETF inflows after prolonged absence
• Investment demand serving as the primary price driver
• Relatively strong performance of gold juniors, particularly in Australia

Kaylee Barker noted during the panel that "gold's strong performance has been driven primarily by investment demand rather than jewelry or industrial uses," highlighting the metal's continued role as a safe haven during periods of geopolitical uncertainty. The gold price forecast remains positive amid these conditions.

Base Metals: Mixed Performance

Traditional industrial metals show more variable performance:

• Copper prices remain historically strong despite volatility
• Zinc and lead facing more challenging market conditions
• Base metal juniors underperforming relative to precious metals counterparts
• Regional variations with Canadian juniors outperforming UK and Australian counterparts

The panel highlighted that base metals performance increasingly correlates with perceptions about the energy transition, with copper benefiting from its critical role in electrification while more traditional industrial metals like zinc and lead face more challenging market conditions.

Critical Minerals: Fragmented Markets

Specialty and critical minerals markets show increasing fragmentation:

• Antimony: Two-tier pricing with global prices at $60,000 while Chinese domestic prices are half that level
• Nickel: Growing differentiation between battery-grade and stainless steel grades
• Rare Earths: Complex pricing structures based on processing requirements and end applications

This market fragmentation creates both challenges and opportunities for investors. As one panelist noted, "We're moving from global commodity markets to regional critical mineral markets, which requires a fundamentally different approach to project valuation and risk assessment."

What's Happening with Junior Mining Investment?

Despite strong fundamentals, junior mining companies continue to face significant funding challenges, with several factors contributing to this disconnect.

Market Size and Visibility Limitations

The mining sector represents a relatively small portion of global investment markets:

• Mining sector represents approximately 3% of the MSCI World Index
• Entire mining sector market capitalization (approximately $1.5 trillion) could be purchased by a single large tech company like Nvidia ($3 trillion)
• Limited visibility to generalist investors who prefer large, liquid mining stocks when seeking sector exposure

This size disparity creates structural challenges for capital formation in the junior mining sector. As David Freeland observed during the panel, "When generalist investors want mining exposure, they buy Rio Tinto or BHP. They rarely look at the junior end of the market where much of the critical minerals exploration is happening."

Regional Performance Disparities

Junior mining performance shows significant regional variations:

• Canadian Juniors: Up approximately 25% year-over-year, with top performers up 300%
• UK AIM-Listed Juniors: Flat performance over the same period
• Australian Juniors: Gold-focused companies performing well while base metals juniors struggle

These regional variations reflect differences in investor bases, regulatory environments, and market structures. The panel noted that Canadian capital markets have traditionally demonstrated greater sophistication and appetite for mining investment, creating advantages for companies listed in that jurisdiction.

Investment Criteria Evolution

Successful junior companies increasingly share specific characteristics:

• Clear offtake agreements providing revenue visibility
• Projects included on national critical minerals lists
• Department of Defense (DoD) or Department of Energy (DoE) recognition
• Export finance backing or similar government support
• Multi-use minerals serving both energy transition and defense applications

As Kaylee Barker observed during the panel, "The days of raising capital on exploration potential alone are largely over. Investors want to see a clear path to production and, ideally, government support that validates the project's strategic importance."

How Can the Sector Attract More Investment?

Expanding the investor base beyond traditional mining specialists represents a critical challenge for the sector.

Education and Perception Management

The industry must address persistent misconceptions:

• Connect mining directly to everyday products and services
• Highlight the sector's role in enabling climate solutions
• Demonstrate improved environmental and social performance
• Reframe mining as the "minerals and metals industry" rather than focusing on extraction

The panel emphasized that changing public and investor perceptions requires sustained effort. As Kitha Cabala noted, "We need to help people understand that everything they touch and use every day comes from mining. Without mining, there is no energy transition."

Major Company Leadership

Larger mining companies have a responsibility to elevate the sector's profile:

• Develop more effective branding strategies
• Demonstrate technology leadership and innovation
• Create ecosystem support for junior companies
• Engage more effectively with non-mining stakeholders

David Freeland highlighted that "major mining companies have the resources and visibility to change the narrative around mining, but they haven't always used that platform effectively." This represents a missed opportunity for the entire sector.

Cross-Sector Collaboration

Breaking down industry insularity requires broader engagement:

• Facilitate dialogue between government, industry, and finance sectors
• Create partnerships between mining and end-use industries
• Develop shared understanding of supply chain requirements
• Establish collective approaches to addressing critical challenges

The panel noted that collaboration between mining companies and end-users like automotive manufacturers or defense contractors remains underdeveloped. As Fiona Clouder observed, "We need to build bridges between mining companies and the industries that will ultimately use these materials."

What Are the Key Themes for the Coming Year?

Looking ahead, several dominant themes will likely shape the critical minerals landscape:

Security and Competition

National security concerns will continue driving policy decisions:

• Increasing competition between countries for mineral resources
• Growing focus on domestic supply chain development
• Strategic capital deployment to secure critical materials
• Emphasis on minerals with dual civilian and defense applications

As Kitha Cabala emphasized during the panel, "Critical minerals have moved from being primarily an environmental concern to being fundamentally a security issue. This shift changes everything about how governments approach these resources."

Alignment, Agility, and Execution

Successful projects will demonstrate:

• Alignment with national strategic priorities
• Agility in navigating changing regulatory environments
• Execution capabilities in bringing projects to production
• Strategic positioning in secure jurisdictions

The panel highlighted that projects aligned with government priorities have significant advantages in the current environment. As David Freeland noted, "Companies that can position their projects as solutions to national security challenges will find doors opening that might otherwise remain closed."

Permitting Reform Momentum

Continued pressure to streamline development processes:

• Potential for additional regulatory reforms to accelerate projects
• Focus on maintaining environmental standards while reducing delays
• Growing recognition of permitting as a competitive advantage
• Emphasis on projects in jurisdictions with predictable timelines

The panel observed that permitting reform has gained momentum in multiple jurisdictions, though implementation remains uneven. As one panelist noted, "Everyone agrees permitting needs to be more efficient, but translating that agreement into actual timeline reductions has proven challenging."

Strategic Capital Deployment

Investment patterns will increasingly reflect strategic considerations:

• Government support for projects aligned with national interests
• Private capital focusing on secure jurisdictions and critical materials
• Growing emphasis on vertical integration and supply chain security
• Preference for projects with clear paths to production

Kaylee Barker emphasized that "capital is becoming increasingly strategic rather than purely financial. Investors are thinking about supply chain security and national interests, not just IRR and NPV." This shift creates both challenges and opportunities for junior mining companies.

What Makes a Successful Critical Minerals Project?

In the current environment, projects with specific characteristics are most likely to attract investment and advance to production.

Project Quality Fundamentals

Basic economic viability remains essential:

• Grade and scale appropriate for target commodity
• Reasonable capital intensity relative to market size
• Manageable technical complexity and proven processing route
• Competitive operating cost structure

David Freeland emphasized during the panel that "fundamentals still matter. A strategically important project with poor economics will struggle to attract capital, regardless of government support." This reality creates discipline in project selection and development.

Strategic Positioning

Beyond economics, strategic factors increasingly matter:

• Location in secure, mining-friendly jurisdiction
• Alignment with national critical minerals strategies
• Production of materials with multiple high-value applications
• Potential for vertical integration or value-added processing

The panel highlighted that projects with strategic positioning can command premium valuations. As Fiona Clouder observed, "A good project in a great jurisdiction will outperform a great project in a challenging jurisdiction in the current environment."

Government Support

Projects benefiting from policy support have advantages:

• Inclusion in expedited permitting programs
• Access to government funding or loan guarantees
• Recognition in national security frameworks
• Export finance backing or similar mechanisms

Kitha Cabala noted that "government support provides both tangible benefits, like funding and expedited permitting, and intangible benefits, like market validation and reduced political risk." This combination can significantly enhance project economics and investor confidence.

Market Connectivity

Established pathways to market provide critical advantages:

• Offtake agreements with credible counterparties
• Strategic partnerships with end-users
• Processing relationships or capabilities
• Integration with existing supply chains

The panel emphasized that offtake agreements have become increasingly important for junior companies. As Kaylee Barker observed, "An offtake agreement with a credible counterparty can be the difference between a project advancing to production or languishing on the shelf."

Navigating the Critical Minerals Landscape

The critical minerals and energy transition sector stands at a pivotal moment, shaped by competing forces of geopolitical tension, climate imperatives, technological transformation, and economic uncertainty. While challenges remain significant, particularly for junior companies, the fundamental drivers supporting demand growth remain intact.

The coming years will likely see continued volatility and market fragmentation, but also accelerating government support and growing recognition of these materials' strategic importance. Companies and investors positioned to navigate this complex landscape—particularly those focused on high-quality projects in secure jurisdictions producing strategically important materials—have significant opportunities ahead.

As one panelist noted, the current environment resembles "a New York taxi situation—it's raining just enough for people to get out of the house and hail a cab." For those prepared to venture out, the critical minerals sector offers compelling prospects despite the uncertain weather.

"The energy transition represents the greatest industrial transformation of our lifetime. Critical minerals are the foundation upon which this transformation will be

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