What are strategic minerals?
Strategic minerals are essential products for national defense whose supply during war depends totally or partially on sources outside the borders of each country. Because these resources would be difficult to obtain, strict measures are needed to control conservation and distribution. Critical minerals, on the other hand, while essential to national defense, are less difficult to obtain during war because they can be produced or obtained in adequate quantities from reliable foreign sources.
The most coveted metals for the future
Some of them, such as lithium, graphite and cobalt, are used above all in technologies linked to energy storage, but are considered critical in the sense that their demand is potentially high. On the other hand, copper, aluminum and nickel are needed in a wide variety of renewable energies such as solar, geothermal, wind and hydroelectric.
It is estimated that there will be a high demand for these materials, but less unstable and safer, According to a World Bank report . For their part, rare earths, which are highly relevant in the renewable energy sector, generate much controversy due to the great domain that China has (the largest producer in the world with over a third of known reserves ) and why the United States matters 80% of them from the Asian giant.
At present, the demand for these elements is already high and it is estimated that it will increase by 500% by 2050 in the case of lithium graphite and cobalt, while that of copper and aluminum will increase by about a third by 2040 and that of nickel by two thirds. Regarding the demand for rare earths (neodymium, dysprosium…) for wind turbines could be increased between 11 and 14 times in 2050 compared to 2018.