aoth-logoaoth-logoaoth-logoaoth-logo
  • Articles
    • Medical –
      • Addiction –
      • CBD –
      • Health –
      • Wellness –
    • Metals –
      • Battery Metals –
      • Critical Metals –
      • Energy Metals –
      • Industrial Metals –
      • Precious Metals –
    • Energy –
      • Nuclear –
      • Oil & Gas –
      • Renewable –
    • Environment –
      • Clean Energy –
      • Global Warming –
        • Decarbonization –
        • Electrification –
      • Pollution –
    • Markets –
      • Bitcoin –
      • Bonds –
      • Commodities –
      • cryptocurrency –
      • Currency –
      • Digital Currency –
      • Inflation –
      • Interest Rates –
    • Technology –
      • 3D Printing –
      • 5G –
      • Artificial Intelligence (AI) –
      • Blockchain –
      • Imaging –
    • Politics –
    • Education –
  • 文章
  • Company Profiles
  • News
  • Video
  • Articles –
  • Under The Spotlight –
Home | Disclaimer | 免责声明 | Newsletter Subscribe | RSS Subscribe

Critical minerals in the crosshairs

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Metals Critical Metals
  • Critical minerals in the crosshairs
March 2, 2022

2022.03.02

North America relies heavily on foreign supplies of critical minerals — the raw materials it needs to become a leader in high technology, transportation, energy, and defense. Metals like lithium, graphite, cobalt, nickel, palladium, platinum, zinc and tin.  

For years, the United States and Canada did not bother to explore for these minerals and build mines. Globalization brought with it the mentality that all countries are free traders, and friends. Why bother mining when we can just import the minerals needed?

According to data collected by the US Geological Survey, the United States is reliant on foreign countries for at least 50% of 47 minerals. The 2022 critical minerals list below, with a brief description of each, expands upon the 2018 list that detailed 35 mineral commodities considered critical to the economic and national security of the United States. They are:

• Aluminum, used in almost all sectors of the economy.

• Antimony, used in lead-acid batteries and flame retardants.

• Arsenic, used in semiconductors.

• Barite, used in hydrocarbon production.

• Beryllium, used as an alloying agent in aerospace and defense industries.

• Bismuth, used in medical and atomic research.

• Cerium, used in catalytic converters, ceramics, glass, metallurgy, and polishing compounds.

• Cesium, used in research and development.

• Chromium, used primarily in stainless steel and other alloys.

• Cobalt, used in rechargeable batteries and superalloys.

• Dysprosium, used in permanent magnets, data storage devices, and lasers.

• Erbium, used in fiber optics, optical amplifiers, lasers, and glass colorants.

• Europium, used in phosphors and nuclear control rods.

• Fluorspar, used in the manufacture of aluminum, cement, steel, gasoline, and fluorine chemicals.

• Gadolinium, used in medical imaging, permanent magnets, and steelmaking.

• Gallium, used for integrated circuits and optical devices like LEDs.

• Germanium, used for fiber optics and night vision applications.

• Graphite, used for lubricants, batteries, and fuel cells.

• Hafnium, used for nuclear control rods, alloys, and high-temperature ceramics.

• Holmium, used in permanent magnets, nuclear control rods, and lasers.

• Indium, used in liquid crystal display screens.

• Iridium, used as coating of anodes for electrochemical processes and as a chemical catalyst.

• Lanthanum, used to produce catalysts, ceramics, glass, polishing compounds, metallurgy, and batteries.

• Lithium, used for rechargeable batteries.

• Lutetium, used in scintillators for medical imaging, electronics, and some cancer therapies.

• Magnesium, used as an alloy and for reducing metals.

• Manganese, used in steelmaking and batteries.

• Neodymium, used in permanent magnets, rubber catalysts, and in medical and industrial lasers.

• Nickel, used to make stainless steel, superalloys, and rechargeable batteries.

• Niobium, used mostly in steel and superalloys.

• Palladium, used in catalytic converters and as a catalyst agent.

• Platinum, used in catalytic converters.

• Praseodymium, used in permanent magnets, batteries, aerospace alloys, ceramics, and colorants.

• Rhodium, used in catalytic converters, electrical components, and as a catalyst.

• Rubidium, used for research and development in electronics.

• Ruthenium, used as catalysts, as well as electrical contacts and chip resistors in computers.

• Samarium, used in permanent magnets, as an absorber in nuclear reactors, and in cancer treatments.

• Scandium, used for alloys, ceramics, and fuel cells.

• Tantalum, used in electronic components, mostly capacitors and in superalloys.

• Tellurium, used in solar cells, thermoelectric devices, and as alloying additive.

• Terbium, used in permanent magnets, fiber optics, lasers, and solid-state devices.

• Thulium, used in various metal alloys and in lasers.

• Tin, used as protective coatings and alloys for steel.

• Titanium, used as a white pigment or metal alloys.

• Tungsten, primarily used to make wear-resistant metals.

• Vanadium, primarily used as alloying agent for iron and steel.

• Ytterbium, used for catalysts, scintillometers, lasers, and metallurgy.

• Yttrium, used for ceramic, catalysts, lasers, metallurgy, and phosphors.

• Zinc, primarily used in metallurgy to produce galvanized steel.

• Zirconium, used in the high-temperature ceramics and corrosion-resistant alloys.

Source: US Geological Survey

This new list comes at an interesting time, to say the least.

The US is reliant on totalitarian regimes with dictators installed for life for 32 of 47 minerals — an eye-watering 70%! We are of course talking about China (23) and Russia (9).

Without a reliable supply chain, a country must depend on outsiders. This gives foreign suppliers incredible leverage over the United States. There is always the possibility of slowed flows or bans on strategic materials, due to politics, acts of aggression/war or trade disputes.

Yet Russia, and China, are holding some powerful cards.

Conclusion

In 2019 President Donald Trump addressed the critical minerals dilemma by releasing a strategy that directed the US Department of the Interior to locate domestic supplies of those minerals, ensure access to information necessary for the study and production of minerals, and expedite permitting for minerals projects.

Three years later, we are no farther ahead, in fact the list has grown from 35 to 47 minerals and of those, 70% are supplied by America’s two principal adversaries — Russia and China.

The invasion of Ukraine shows just how emboldened these dictatorships have become. The message sent by Putin is that he is free to walk into whatever country he chooses, backed by nuclear weapons.

China is Russia’s ally, so it is scary to imagine what President Xi Jinping is thinking, as he watches Putin invade Ukraine with impunity. Could Taiwan be next?

The Kremlin has clearly calculated that it is willing to tolerate economic sanctions; it’s eyeing a much bigger prize. No thanks to ball-less politicians without the gumption to mount a counter-offensive. They prefer to hide behind their desks and calculators.

The same politicians who have done nothing to reduce the West’s dependence on Russia and China for critical minerals, in fact under their watch, it has increased. This opens the United States, Canada and Europe up to retaliation, which could easily come in the form of restrictions on metal exports.

We’ve already seen the prices of oil, natural gas, aluminum, nickel and palladium spike in the wake of the Russian invasion. The US depends on Russia for 9 of 47 critical minerals. For China it’s 23. Imagine what will happen to those prices, if China invades Taiwan and we slap sanctions on them?

Of course gold is always in the mix during times of geopolitical stress. On Thursday, Feb. 24, spot gold came within $26 of $2,000 an ounce, before slipping back as supposedly more hefty sanctions were announced.

Source: Kitco

It certainly is an interesting time to be a resource investor. 

Richard (Rick) Mills
aheadoftheherd.com
subscribe to my free newsletter

Legal Notice / Disclaimer

Ahead of the Herd newsletter, aheadoftheherd.com, hereafter known as AOTH.

Please read the entire Disclaimer carefully before you use this website or read the newsletter. If you do not agree to all the AOTH/Richard Mills Disclaimer, do not access/read this website/newsletter/article, or any of its pages. By reading/using this AOTH/Richard Mills website/newsletter/article, and whether you actually read this Disclaimer, you are deemed to have accepted it.

Any AOTH/Richard Mills document is not, and should not be, construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment.

AOTH/Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable, but which has not been independently verified.

AOTH/Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness.

Expressions of opinion are those of AOTH/Richard Mills only and are subject to change without notice.

AOTH/Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission.

Furthermore, AOTH/Richard Mills assumes no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within this AOTH/Richard Mills Report.

You agree that by reading AOTH/Richard Mills articles, you are acting at your OWN RISK. In no event should AOTH/Richard Mills liable for any direct or indirect trading losses caused by any information contained in AOTH/Richard Mills articles. Information in AOTH/Richard Mills articles is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. AOTH/Richard Mills is not suggesting the transacting of any financial instruments.

Our publications are not a recommendation to buy or sell a security – no information posted on this site is to be considered investment advice or a recommendation to do anything involving finance or money aside from performing your own due diligence and consulting with your personal registered broker/financial advisor.

AOTH/Richard Mills recommends that before investing in any securities, you consult with a professional financial planner or advisor, and that you should conduct a complete and independent investigation before investing in any security after prudent consideration of all pertinent risks.  Ahead of the Herd is not a registered broker, dealer, analyst, or advisor. We hold no investment licenses and may not sell, offer to sell, or offer to buy any security.

Legal Notice / Disclaimer

Ahead of the Herd newsletter, aheadoftheherd.com, hereafter known as AOTH.
Please read the entire Disclaimer carefully before you use this website or read the newsletter. If you do not agree to all the AOTH/Richard Mills Disclaimer, do not access/read this website/newsletter/article, or any of its pages. By reading/using this AOTH/Richard Mills website/newsletter/article, and whether you actually read this Disclaimer, you are deemed to have accepted it.
Share

Related posts

April 6, 2025

US achieves security of graphite supply with G1 Feasibility Study – Richard Mills


Read more
March 11, 2025

Freeport sees $500 million annual boost if Trump declares copper as critical


Read more
February 6, 2025

Essential graphite and G1’s Soon-to-be-Released Feasibility Study – Richard Mills


Read more
February 4, 2025

B.C. critical minerals being diverted away from United States: David Eby


Read more
January 27, 2025

The coming critical minerals trade war – Richard Mills


Read more
January 20, 2025

Electrification Visualizing China’s Cobalt Supply Dominance by 2030


Read more
December 19, 2024

Column: Critical metals will be a key battleground in US-China trade war


Read more
December 16, 2024

Military Uses of Graphite – Richard Mills


Read more
November 23, 2024

British Columbia creates new mining ministry to tackle critical minerals amid doubts over capacity


Read more
October 29, 2024

China’s critical mineral dominance puts Washington’s supply chain hopes at risk


Read more
June 30, 2024

REE Stockpile


Read more
June 25, 2024

Is Now Time To Buy This Graphite Stock?


Read more
June 3, 2024

Graphite One could benefit from tariff hike on Chinese EVs, battery parts – Richard Mills


Read more
June 3, 2024

Graphite One CEO and President, Anthony Huston, Invited by President Biden to White House Investment and Job Creation Session; White House Sets 25% Tariff on Chinese Graphite


Read more
May 19, 2024

US runs out of copper – Richard Mills


Read more
May 19, 2024

The world has a critical minerals problem


Read more
May 15, 2024

Graphite and Critical Mineral Mining Boosted by $72B Fund


Read more
April 5, 2024

Graphite’s war-fighting capabilities – Richard Mills


Read more
April 1, 2024

Dwindling U.S. Stockpiles of Minerals for Military Use Should Be a Cause for Concern


Read more
March 20, 2024

China copper nudges 3-year high as supply cuts bite – Richard Mills


Read more
January 2, 2024

Beyond Batteries: What’s Really Driving the Energy Transition?


Read more
November 23, 2023

Exposing the copper surplus myth – Richard Mills


Read more
November 13, 2023

How Canada – and Bay Street – squandered the chance to finance the critical minerals revolution


Read more
October 26, 2023

Why Copper Is Critical for Data Centers


Read more
September 27, 2023

We need China’s critical minerals technology, not their metals – Richard Mills


Read more
September 23, 2023

Copper Road intersects broad zones of visible copper mineralization at its namesake project in Ontario – Richard Mills


Read more
August 25, 2023

Copper now classified as US critical mineral, and rightly so – Richard Mills


Read more
RSS Subscribe
Subscribe to our RSS feed to receive our most recent articles directly to your favourite RSS Reader application.

Do you have an opinion on this article? We'd love to hear from you.

Post a comment

Article Archives

Article Categories

  • Education (289)
  • Energy (257)
    • Nuclear (60)
    • Oil & Gas (51)
    • Re-newable (61)
  • Entertainment (50)
  • Environment (614)
    • Clean Energy (79)
    • Global Warming (370)
      • Decarbonization (76)
      • Electrification (202)
    • Pollution (77)
  • Markets (644)
    • Bitcoin (7)
    • Bonds (28)
    • Commodities (165)
    • cryptocurrency (19)
    • Currency (129)
    • Digital Currency (8)
    • Inflation (102)
    • Interest Rates (70)
  • Media (10)
  • Medical (257)
    • Addiction (8)
    • CBD (5)
    • Health (237)
    • Wellness (175)
  • Metals (1,595)
    • Battery Metals (424)
    • Critical Metals (155)
    • Energy Metals (51)
    • Industrial Metals (227)
    • Precious Metals (803)
  • Politics (731)
  • Technology (84)
    • 3D Printing (3)
    • 5G (26)
    • Artificial Intelligence (AI) (29)
    • Blockchain (6)
    • Imaging (3)
  • Uncategorized (397)
  • Under the Spotlight (8)

AOTH Portfolio

  • Articles
  • 文章
  • Company Profiles
  • Company News Releases
  • Video
  • Under The Spotlight
  • Disclaimer

Recent Articles

  • Silver47/Summa Silver: Building a premier silver company May 18, 2025
  • Video – Is the dollar done? May 18, 2025
  • Video – Chaos To Infinity And Beyond May 18, 2025
  • Silver47 and Summa Silver merge into high-grade US silver explorer May 18, 2025
  • Chaos To Infinity And Beyond – Richard Mills May 18, 2025
  • Is the US dollar done? – Richard Mills May 18, 2025
  • Gold Miners’ Q1’25 Fundamentals May 18, 2025
  • Tariffs hitting shoppers in Canada and U.S., with some prices set to rise at Loblaw stores, Walmart May 18, 2025

Ahead of the Herd

Enjoy hundreds of top-notch, thoroughly-researched articles on commodities and the junior resource companies that search for deposits of them.

Newsletter Subscribe

Subscribe to our free newsletter so we can start telling you things everyone else doesn't already know!

Recent Articles

  • Silver47/Summa Silver: Building a premier silver company
  • Video – Is the dollar done?
  • Video – Chaos To Infinity And Beyond

Explore

  • Articles
  • 文章
  • Company Profiles
  • Company News Releases
  • Video
  • Under The Spotlight
  • Disclaimer
© 2020 Ahead of the Herd. All Rights Reserved