Mine Games: Securing America’s Critical Mineral Supply

The Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, has listed 50 critical minerals that constitute a strategic vulnerability for the nation’s security and prosperity. And now, with China’s mineral export restrictions coupled with global supply chain challenges, there is greater pressure on the United States and allies to consider a coordinated strategy to weaken adversarial nations’ grip on critical minerals.

While the space industry is only one of many that consume critical minerals, the difficult engineering tradeoffs associated with space operations make finding substitute materials more challenging. The space industry will need to collaborate with high-volume industries to strengthen its buying power and market influence as it considers a range of countervailing strategies to secure its critical mineral supply chain. cri