The world is hungry for more stuff: televisions, phones, motors, container ships, solar panels, satellites. That means the stuff required to make stuff is in high demand, and none more so than what are known as “critical minerals.”

These are a handful of elements and minerals that are particularly important for making the modern devices that run the global economy. But “critical” here doesn’t mean rare so much as it means essential — and alarmingly vulnerable to supply chain shocks.

In the US, the Geological Survey has flagged 50 minerals as critical to our economy and security. And including some among that larger group, the US Department of Energy is focused on 18 materials that are especially important for energy — copper for transmission lines, cobalt for cathodes in batteries, galli

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