The rapid technological development of recent years has turned the metals and minerals market into a critical factor in the global economy. This is due to the unique chemical and physical properties that make metals and minerals fundamental building blocks across many industrial sectors.
This is particularly true for the high-tech industry, which relies heavily on metals and minerals essential to the production of everyday technological products. For example, this includes the semiconductor industry or the advanced component manufacturing based on chips, as well as industries derived from these components, such as autonomous and electric vehicles, magnets for motor production, aircraft, missiles, satellites, communications and electronics, wind turbines and renewable energy, medical technology such as MRI, command and control centers, photonics, lasers, and electro-optics.
The essential need for special metals also applies to traditional industries such as iron and steel, which depend on metals capable of withstanding extreme mechanical and thermal stresses. The metals and minerals market primarily includes iron, copper, platinum, gold, titanium, palladium, scandium, magnesium, lead, cobalt, lithium, and their compound derivatives, as well as rare metals, referred to in professional terminology as “rare earth elements,” including neodymium, erbium, ytterbium, thulium, praseodymium, and others.
It is important to note that these metals are natural resources found deep underground. To extract them, specialized mining operations or deep drilling are required. Moreover, since these metals occur in nature as mixtures or chemical compounds, special industrial facilities and the use of hazardous chemicals are necessary for their extraction and separation processes, which can endanger both workers and the environment.
As noted in a comprehensive INSS report published in October 2024, these minerals are foundational to all branches of modern industry. Therefore, control over these industries and supply chains is vital to China’s own economic development and serves as a strategic tool for positioning China as a major player in the global economy, with significant leverage for economic and political influence. Over the past three decades, China has invested trillions of dollars in mining, infrastructure development, and critical mineral refining facilities in Africa. In some markets, it holds near-total dominance of up to 90% in certain products. This has far-reaching economic and political implications, particularly for China–US relations and China’s ties with Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Since the early 1980s, the Chinese government has made extensive investments in mineral extraction and processing infrastructure in various African countries, as well as in related civilian infrastructure. These massive Chinese investments across the African continent and beyond are driven by a dual purpose, serving both domestic needs and strategic geopolitical goals. The vision of this dual-purpose strategy is to advance China’s economy through the accumulation of strategic reserves of critical minerals and by gaining control over supply chains for key consumer products vital to both China’s and the global economy. This aligns with the vision of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who views dominance in the semiconductor industry as a key component of China’s national security.
In parallel with its efforts to control Africa’s mineral resources, the Chinese government is also investing heavily in developing domestic natural resources and in massive imports of minerals for processing within China. This enables the country to accumulate significant reserves of critical raw materials and, as a result, exercise control over global consumption volumes and the supply chains of critical components.
China’s dominance in the minerals market has become a potent tool of political and economic pressure, such as by constraining the Western automotive industry through control of raw material exports for electric vehicle batteries or motor magnets. This trend alarmed the previous US administrations under Obama and Biden and now concerns the Trump administration, which has intensified the trade war with China while seeking agreements with countries such as Ukraine and Australia to reduce the dependence of the West, and particularly that of the United States, on China.
The rapid technological development of recent years has turned the metals and minerals market into a critical factor in the global economy. This is due to the unique chemical and physical properties that make metals and minerals fundamental building blocks across many industrial sectors.
This is particularly true for the high-tech industry, which relies heavily on metals and minerals essential to the production of everyday technological products. For example, this includes the semiconductor industry or the advanced component manufacturing based on chips, as well as industries derived from these components, such as autonomous and electric vehicles, magnets for motor production, aircraft, missiles, satellites, communications and electronics, wind turbines and renewable energy, medical technology such as MRI, command and control centers, photonics, lasers, and electro-optics.
The essential need for special metals also applies to traditional industries such as iron and steel, which depend on metals capable of withstanding extreme mechanical and thermal stresses. The metals and minerals market primarily includes iron, copper, platinum, gold, titanium, palladium, scandium, magnesium, lead, cobalt, lithium, and their compound derivatives, as well as rare metals, referred to in professional terminology as “rare earth elements,” including neodymium, erbium, ytterbium, thulium, praseodymium, and others.
It is important to note that these metals are natural resources found deep underground. To extract them, specialized mining operations or deep drilling are required. Moreover, since these metals occur in nature as mixtures or chemical compounds, special industrial facilities and the use of hazardous chemicals are necessary for their extraction and separation processes, which can endanger both workers and the environment.
As noted in a comprehensive INSS report published in October 2024, these minerals are foundational to all branches of modern industry. Therefore, control over these industries and supply chains is vital to China’s own economic development and serves as a strategic tool for positioning China as a major player in the global economy, with significant leverage for economic and political influence. Over the past three decades, China has invested trillions of dollars in mining, infrastructure development, and critical mineral refining facilities in Africa. In some markets, it holds near-total dominance of up to 90% in certain products. This has far-reaching economic and political implications, particularly for China–US relations and China’s ties with Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Since the early 1980s, the Chinese government has made extensive investments in mineral extraction and processing infrastructure in various African countries, as well as in related civilian infrastructure. These massive Chinese investments across the African continent and beyond are driven by a dual purpose, serving both domestic needs and strategic geopolitical goals. The vision of this dual-purpose strategy is to advance China’s economy through the accumulation of strategic reserves of critical minerals and by gaining control over supply chains for key consumer products vital to both China’s and the global economy. This aligns with the vision of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who views dominance in the semiconductor industry as a key component of China’s national security.
In parallel with its efforts to control Africa’s mineral resources, the Chinese government is also investing heavily in developing domestic natural resources and in massive imports of minerals for processing within China. This enables the country to accumulate significant reserves of critical raw materials and, as a result, exercise control over global consumption volumes and the supply chains of critical components.
China’s dominance in the minerals market has become a potent tool of political and economic pressure, such as by constraining the Western automotive industry through control of raw material exports for electric vehicle batteries or motor magnets. This trend alarmed the previous US administrations under Obama and Biden and now concerns the Trump administration, which has intensified the trade war with China while seeking agreements with countries such as Ukraine and Australia to reduce the dependence of the West, and particularly that of the United States, on China.