Critical Mineral Processing: The Keystone of America's High-Tech Economy 

Washington, DC – Today’s high-tech economy demands an unprecedented amount of critical minerals (nickel, cobalt, copper, lithium, and rare earth elements). A secure supply of these minerals is integral to the U.S.’s long-term economic, national security, and clean energy interests. The midstream processing phase of the supply chain, which transforms raw ores into the purified minerals, are essential to everyday consumer electronics, advanced medical equipment, EV batteries, and specialized alloys in aircraft engines and satellites, is particularly at risk of disruption.

China currently controls 80% of the global capacity to process these minerals, including nearly 90% of the rare earth elements. One solution to reduce dependence on China is to build out a stronger domestic processing base.

Today, the Bipartisan Policy Center released The Missing Midstream: Identifying Investment Challenges for American Critical Mineral Processing Projects analyzing the current market dynamics and the investment challenges facing American processing projects for specific minerals. This report breaks away from treating critical minerals as a homogenous market and instead analyzes investment challenges unique to different types of minerals.

Key analyses include:

• What is critical mineral processing and how does it differ from mineral to mineral?
• Which critical minerals are at the highest risk of supply disruption and why? How do the markets for the minerals differ in terms of maturity and volatility?
• What are the specific risks holding back investment in U.S.-based critical mineral processing projects? How do these risks impact some types of projects more than others?

“Diversifying the critical minerals processing sector is vital to prevent supply disruptions that could stall the energy transition, hamstring economic competitiveness, and leave the U.S. vulnerable to national security concerns,” said BPC Senior Associate Director of Energy Innovation Tanya Das, Ph.D. “American mineral processing capacity can help secure these supply chains, but tackling current domestic investment barriers requires a nuanced approach sensitive to the unique market dynamics and technology requirements of different minerals.”