Op-ed: The battle for critical minerals is won at the port, not the mine

By Nicholas Vafeas – Mining.com

At the end of 2023, a cargo ship sailing towards the Bab el-Mandeb strait did something that would have been unthinkable just a year earlier. It turned around and sailed thousands of kilometres around the Cape of Good Hope instead. This one move sparked a chain of similar decisions, and in a matter of days, one of the world’s most important maritime corridors was effectively bypassed. It was a vivid reminder of why these narrow passages are called chokepoints: because they can be closed at any time.