Abstract:

Several minerals are indispensable to producing clean energy equipment, such as solar photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and batteries, and electrical grids. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the demand for all six strategic minerals (cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel, rare earth elements, and silic) is expected to rise four-fold by 2040 as more countries worldwide are deploying clean energy technologies to realize carbon neutrality goal. This article reviews the supply chains overview of the six above strategic minerals. The result suggests that the current supply chains of strategic minerals are highly concentrated in several countries, which creates potential economic, energy, and national security risks. A typical example is China, a country dominating the strategic minerals supply chains from processing to end-use stages for both above six minerals