November 2025
Kurita Water Industries and Evove have announced their alliance in direct lithium extraction (DLE), combining the patented DLE technologies and processes of Evove with those of Kurita […]
Appeared between the two world wars, the constitution of mineral stocks has always been linked to military preparedness. It is in this context that the very notion of “criticality” emerged.
The law stipulates that the raw materials stockpiled can only be released by the President in the event of a declared war or “solely to serve the interests of national defence”.
Current trends foreshadow a dark and uncertain future.
While the United States remains on the sidelines of international climate negotiations, the Pentagon has the largest military budget in the world and is the planet’s leading institutional polluter.
As has been the case since the Kyoto negotiations in 1997 – where the United States succeeded in exempting the Pentagon from climate agreements – the immensity of American military infrastructure continues to hinder the efforts necessary to mitigate the climate crisis.
As mining extraction becomes increasingly a zero-sum game and climate impacts intensify, the United States faces a crucial choice: continue to invest massively in an expanding military apparatus or redirect it towards an industrial strategy that delivers public benefits, stabilises the climate and lays the foundations for climate cooperation, particularly between the United States and China.
A storage capacity of 2 gigawatt-hours, more than double the energy storage capacity currently available in the United States, is currently being acquired.
The cobalt is not the only transition mineral that the Pentagon is stockpiling. Graphite, another essential component of energy storage systems, represents the most important recent order from the Department of Defense, with nearly 50,000 tonnes.
Together, the planned stocks of cobalt and graphite would make it possible to manufacture more than 100,000 electric buses. This represents a significant share of the vehicle fleet needed to reorganise the American transport system around a strengthened public offer.
Today, fewer than 6,500 electric buses are in service across the entire country. Despite their potential to accelerate the energy transition, the materials in the national defence reserves remain primarily destined for the armed forces, thereby limiting their use in the civilian sector.
By the Editorial Team with Precious Fwamba and Divine Mwenda
Discover more from Mining News Group
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
