Mining & Materials

Critical Minerals & Rare Earths

High44% confidenceProfile verified Jul 23, 2026
OverviewMore SignalsSourcesDependency mapStoryMilestones

Critical minerals and rare earths -- the mining and refining supply chains underpinning both the AI/electronics hardware boom and the broader clean energy transition -- moved from a specialist mining topic to the center of global industrial and geopolitical strategy in 2026. China dominates the supply chain, controlling roughly 69% of global rare earth mine production and even greater refining capacity, alongside the Democratic Republic of Congo's 74% share of cobalt and Indonesia's 67% share of nickel mine production; China escalated export controls throughout 2025-2026, adding US rare earth producers MP Materials and USA Rare Earth to its export control list in June 2026 in retaliation for US actions against Chinese military-linked firms. Base metal prices for copper, aluminum and tin rose roughly a third between January 2025 and April 2026 on tight supply, while lithium prices more than doubled amid strong energy-storage demand, with Latin America's Lithium Triangle (Chile, Argentina, Bolivia) holding the world's largest lithium reserves and expected to grow output nearly 50% by decade's end.

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Additional Intelligence Signals

Patent citation lineage, earnings-call mentions, and federal contract disclosures — automatically collected, not yet visible anywhere else on the site.

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Sources

Every claim traced to a primary source — evidence, recent activity, and insider filing behavior, all in one place.

Evidence

1 source · 48% avg. source confidence

  • IEA / UNCTAD — Critical minerals market becomes central to global industrial strategy in 202648% source confidence

Correlated Activity

Both Critical Minerals & Rare Earths and MP Materials — which it depends on — are showing accelerating Activity at the same time (1 recorded change for MP Materials in the last 90 days).

Timing correlation only — not evidence of a causal link

Both Critical Minerals & Rare Earths and US AI Chip Export Controls — which it depends on — are showing accelerating Activity at the same time (1 recorded change for US AI Chip Export Controls in the last 90 days).

Timing correlation only — not evidence of a causal link

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Dependency Map

What Critical Minerals & Rare Earths depends on below, and who depends on Critical Minerals & Rare Earths above — click any node to make it the new center, 3 levels deep.

2 levels3 levels5 levels

Connection type

Investment
Dependency
Supply Chain
Development
Enablement
Competition / Other
Succession

Click any node to make it the new center. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan.

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The Story So Far (last 6 months)

Jun 2026: Critical minerals market becomes central to global industrial strategy in 2026→Jun 2026: China adds US rare earth producers to export control list

Auto-generated from this entity's dated milestones, relationship updates, and sourced evidence — not AI-written, just sorted.

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Critical Minerals & Rare Earths's Timeline

A sourced, dated history of Critical Minerals & Rare Earths's key moments — founding to present.

  1. Jan 2026 · Base metal and lithium prices surge on tight supply

    Copper, aluminum and tin prices rose roughly a third between January 2025 and April 2026 on tight supply conditions, with copper reaching record highs, while lithium prices more than doubled amid strong demand from energy storage applications, reflecting the critical minerals market's rapid financialization as a strategic industrial input.

  2. Jun 2026 · China adds US rare earth producers to export control list

    China added MP Materials and USA Rare Earth, among 10 total US entities, to its export control list effective June 22, 2026, retaliating for US actions against Chinese military-linked companies and continuing a pattern of extraterritorial rare earth and magnet export controls that began in 2025.