Washington is putting more money behind critical minerals, but the West still lacks the processing capacity and private capital needed to cut its reliance on China, a May 19 panel on The Critical Minerals Race: Policy, Power and Where Investors Win heard.
U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) official Madeleine Bugel told panel moderator Anthony Vaccaro, President of The Northern Miner Group, that her department announced $45.7 million (C$63 million) for 19 projects to fill supply chain gaps. Energy and supply chain policy group SAFE’s Abigail Hunter said there is an acute lack of investment-ready projects in the midstream supply chain.
“Processors and smelters remain hard to finance without cheaper capital, government support and stronger downstream demand,” Hunter said in Washington. D.C. “We don’t need that much capital allocation in this space, but we need more than we currently have.”
Both panellists said the answer is not full self-sufficiency, but a more resilient supply chain built with allies. Washington wants secure domestic supply chains over time, Bugel said, while Hunter said diversification, not isolation, is the more realistic goal.
Watch the full panel below:
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