31 July 2025, 10:14

By Thomas Nurcombe

The Government has been churning out strategies like they are going out of fashion: the Strategic Defence Review, National Security Strategy, the unpublished China Audit, and a Modern Industrial Strategy.

All promise to bolster national security and economic resilience. But there is one thread running through all that the Government is failing on: critical minerals.

Critical minerals are the lifeblood of modern economies. From fighter jets to EVs, renewables to medtech, everything relies on secure access to these vital resources. Yet the UK — like much of the West — is dangerously dependent on an adversary.

In what many are calling a ‘pre-war era,’ China’s President Xi is ready and willing to weaponise this dominance. His country has done it before. In 2010, Beijing put an export ban on rare earth elements to Japan following a territorial dispute. During the Biden administration, the Politburo placed export restrictions on the US for minerals with military applications. Most recently, Washington has once again faced restrictions on rare earths, which undermine America’s ability to build fighter jets, missiles, and unmanned systems. Washington is now grappling with the harsh reality of its reliance. It is 100% import-dependent on China for 12 critical minerals, and over 50% reliant for 29........

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