Critical Minerals & Mining
Where copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and the rare earths come from, who refines them, and why one country controls most of the processing. It covers how a mine works and why one takes nearly eighteen years, each major mineral in turn, the producers' playbook of export bans and quotas, the American answer of price floors, equity stakes, and a strategic reserve, recycling, and the community fights that decide whether mines get built. Brought to October: copper's record year, the Congo's cobalt quota, and China's rare-earth controls and their suspension. Where the field argues, over a copper deficit, price floors and state stakes, and faster permits against community consent, each side makes its case before the evidence. Four worked examples, from a copper mine's economics to the cobalt squeeze from both sides.