Raw Material Procurement Challenges

Take a moment to watch this video — a historic glimpse of workers drawing and quenching #coke from a coke oven, a process that’s fuelled steelmaking for over a century. The stunning lack of PPE aside, it’s a powerful reminder of the ingenuity that built our modern world — and the legacy that we now need to transform. Today, metallurgical coal and coke remain vital to steel, with demand holding steady in the near term, especially as India and Southeast Asia drive growth. Yet, on a net-zero scenario, emissions from steel will have to come down by around 90% in 2050 — clearly incompatible with today's trajectory for metallurgical coal. It’s not a quick switch — cost and scale are tough nuts to crack — but the shift is inevitable. Getting there will require three elements: a massive scale-up of new technologies like hydrogen-based direct-reduced iron (#DRI), retrofitting existing assets with carbon capture, and pushing #electrification as well as material and process efficiency to the limit. Achieving this transformation isn’t just about technical breakthroughs— industry will need stable policy frameworks, robust financing mechanisms, and major infrastructure investments (from clean power grids to hydrogen pipelines) to enable steelmakers worldwide to move from pilot projects to full-scale deployment.

Critical mineral traceability is becoming one of the most important pillars of the energy transition. A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlights how traceability is rapidly moving from a compliance exercise to a strategic business capability. Demand for copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements continues to accelerate as electrification, battery production, grid expansion and AI infrastructure scale globally. Yet supply chains remain highly concentrated, particularly in processing and refining. According to the IEA-OECD survey of more than 80 companies across critical mineral supply chains: • Around two-thirds already have some form of traceability system in place. • Upstream companies are implementing traceability at roughly twice the rate of downstream actors. • Three-quarters expect to increase investment in traceability over the next three years. What stands out is that this is no longer just about reporting, traceability is increasingly tied to: supply chain resilience, operational risk management, market access, due diligence requirements, responsible sourcing expectations, investor scrutiny, and long-term competitiveness in clean energy markets. The report also suggests that traceability could become foundational for standards-based markets, where minerals with verified sustainability credentials or lower emissions profiles may eventually command commercial advantages. At the same time, major barriers remain. More than half of surveyed companies identified implementation costs and lack of interoperability between systems as key challenges. Others pointed to fragmented reporting standards, commercial confidentiality concerns and difficulty obtaining information beyond tier-one suppliers. In other words: many companies can trace direct suppliers, but visibility still drops sharply deeper into the supply chain. For businesses, the broader implication is significant. Critical mineral traceability is evolving into infrastructure for the energy transition itself. Not only for compliance purposes, but for: - Securing resilient supply chains. - Validating ESG claims. - Enabling responsible procurement. - Supporting financing mechanisms. - Reducing exposure to geopolitical and operational disruption. The companies that build transparent and interoperable supply chain systems early may be better positioned as sustainability expectations, sourcing standards and market pressures continue to tighten globally. The question is no longer whether traceability will matter in critical minerals. It is how quickly it becomes a competitive requirement rather than a voluntary differentiator. #supplychain #traceability #energy #regulations

Europe currently faces a paradoxical crisis where its world-leading recycling ecosystem is effectively subsidising competitors because the bloc cannot afford the power required to process what it collects. The economics described in the Financial Times by Novelis executive Emilio Braghi differ little from a resource drain. EU producers are paying energy prices up to four times those of international rivals. When electricity costs reach that multiplier, the most energy-intensive steps in the value chain naturally shift to the cheapest baseload systems. This creates a perverse outcome in which Europe excels at logistics of collection, only to leak value offshore. We collect scrap; traders export it to jurisdictions such as China, where subsidised overcapacity and cheap power dominate, and Europe eventually buys it back as new metal. A circular economy on paper becomes a value-added loop for foreign competitors. While aluminium provides the immediate evidence with 15% of EU recycling capacity currently offline, this is a systemic security issue across all critical materials. The leverage in any supply chain sits with the region that controls the refining capacity. This vulnerability applies equally to the copper required for grid expansion and the battery materials needed for EVs. Collection is not the bottleneck. The bottleneck is the energy-intensive conversion that turns battery black mass into lithium salts or refines complex e-waste into copper. If Europe cannot power that processing step competitively, the recycling strategy becomes another form of dependency. Industrial strategy starts with electrons. If Europe wants a durable circular economy, it must treat affordable power as a strategic input. Without it, we will continue exporting the hardest part of decarbonisation and importing the finished product. #EnergySecurity #IndustrialStrategy #CriticalMinerals #Recycling #Sovereignty #NetZero

As the global energy transition accelerates, critical raw materials like rare-earths, epoxy resin, and copper are under increasing pressure. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) forecasts that by 2030, demand for many of these materials will outpace supply—not just due to volume, but because of geopolitical concentration and fragile value chains. But here’s the opportunity: Material scarcity can be a competitive advantage—for those who act early. What leading companies are doing: 1. Modeling material risk across 14,000+ value chain pathways 2. Diversifying sources through recycling, tailings, and new geographies 3. Innovating with substitutions and circular design 4. Collaborating at scale (like the EU Battery Alliance) 5. Influencing policy to drive resilient infrastructure and supply chains In a world of constraint, the winners will be those who design for resilience, act collaboratively, and shape the rules of the game. This isn’t just a supply chain issue. It’s a boardroom priority. #Sustainability #SupplyChainResilience #EnergyTransition #BCGInsights #MaterialsStrategy #ClimateLeadership #LinkedInNewsIndia

The Communication on the Clean Industrial Deal: A joint roadmap for competitiveness and decarbonisation published on 26 February 2025 (“CID”), announced that the EU Commission would carry out a fact-finding exercise aimed at assessing the need for greater industry cooperation in the #procurement, #recycling, and re-use of Critical Raw Materials (CRM's). However, the fact remains that only through large scale #collaboration can this be achieved, as recognised by the early consultation. A fact that still remains open, yet the intent rekmains to set stringent standards and create a fiscal mechanism that challenges innovation and profitability to drive clean energy solutions. Common challenges to all levels of CRM supply chains emphasised the complexity of CRMs’ supply chains in Europe. Principally, concerns on systemic vulnerabilities affecting both the procurement and recycling of CRMs. based on the overdependence on single supply sources located in third countries. Since suppliers of raw and refined materials are mostly located outside the EU, the European industry is exposed to the risk of sudden supply chain disruptions caused by geopolitical tensions and price volatility. Investors might therefore be reluctant to invest in European initiatives, especially at the refining, processing, and recycling stages, which must have an uninterrupted access to the CRMs. Challenges for producers of refined metals are directly exposed to the vulnerabilities described above. Noting that smelters and refiners are at the same time, unable to diversify their sources or reduce their dependency by simply switching suppliers. This is further impacted by new Chinese legislation on restricitng expoerts in April 2026. In parallel, downstream, the secondary market for CRM procurement from industrial scrap faces challenges in maintaining sufficient volumes within Europetoo. Challenges for manufacturers and recyclers of batteries are associated with obtaining sufficient investments for scaling their operations and in maintaining recyclable material within Europe. Companies downstream of the supply chain face the strong competitive pressure of players from third countries benefiting from state subsidies ( and engaging in dumping practices). Battery manufacturers and recyclers stressed the need for substantial capital investments to bridge the technological and know-how gap with third country players, as regards complex metallurgical processes. This situation is a real conundrum but where procurement can play a key role in facilitating and enabling the collaboration needed to create effective and sustainable solutions for the long term. Feel free to share/comment: CIPS - The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply The Sustainable Procurement Pledge Sustainability Magazine ProcureCon Europe Series Dr Hushneara Begum Inma V. Chris McCann BA (Hons), MSc, MCIPS (Chrtd.), FRSA, NSc Jyoti Mishra Thomas Heine Sarah R Robbins, MBA Cyril Wasem Regine PAHMER

Most U.S. critical minerals are not mined “on purpose”. More than half of the 60 minerals on the U.S. critical list are recovered as byproducts of something else: gallium from aluminum refining, tellurium from copper, cobalt from copper and nickel. Their supply rides on a host commodity's business case, not their own. That single fact reshapes what good policy looks like, and most of our incentive / capital markets design has not caught up. My new working paper for Rice University's Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies (CES) argues that we need to treat "byproduct critical minerals" as three different policy categories, each with its own failure mode and its own fix: (1)  A recovery economics gap, where the host operation exists but the recovery circuit does not clear the operator's hurdle rate (gallium, tellurium, selenium). (2)  A host commodity gate, where the strategic mineral is valuable but the broader basket that carries it is not (heavy rare earths, scandium). (3)  Procyclical flooding, where host expansion floods the byproduct market regardless of its own demand (cobalt). Streaming structures, prepaid offtakes, bifurcated reference pricing, and countercyclical stockpiling all fit these problems better than a new standalone mine ever will. The corollary: a strategy that targets domestic gallium, germanium, or tellurium without engaging the aluminum, zinc, and copper operations that host them is structurally insufficient. In many cases, the geology is there. What is missing is the set of structures that connects host-operator incentives, recovery economics, and downstream strategic demand. This is the second paper in my Critical Minerals Capital Series, linked below. I would like to hear where practitioners think I have it right, and where I do not. I am really excited about this one. Ken Medlock Michael Maher https://lnkd.in/eF4RRTbf #CriticalMinerals #MiningFinance #IndustrialPolicy #SupplyChains

The solar industry is hitting a structural limit, and the shift to copper is no longer optional. In the last 12 months, silver paste has gone from a manageable 5% of cell production costs to over 30%. With silver prices up 170%, the traditional model of thrifting paste has reached its physical breaking point. We cannot scale the global energy transition on a material whose availability is tied to the mining cycles of lead and zinc. The transition to copper metallization is already underway. It is a Q2 2026 reality. 10 GW of silver-free modules have already been scaled and shipped. At a global production rate of 500 GW, the move to copper electroplating represents roughly $15 billion in annual sector savings. The technical hurdles are real. Copper diffuses into silicon at high temperatures and oxidizes under process stress. These are not small problems. However, the maturation of HJT and back contact architectures has finally provided the necessary barrier layers to make copper viable at scale. At Inox Solar, we track these input costs with precision. Every percentage point shift in metallization impacts our procurement strategy, our project IRRs, and the ultimate LCOE we deliver to our partners. The manufacturers who master copper yield in 2026 will define the industry's cost curve for the next decade. Those who remain tethered to silver will simply be priced out. The cost of the energy transition cannot continue to rise while the world is still trying to fund it. Devansh Jain, Kailash Tarachandani #solarenergy #solarpower #globalsolarenergy #renewableenergy

Critical materials are back in the headlines recently – in a big way. I see coverage falling into simplistic narratives that miss some of the most vital aspects of addressing challenges. Criticality is more complex than whether projected demand exceeds available supply. Demand-side response can be quite fast - and OEMs have and will make the choice to use materials that are NOT critical when they can. A defining characteristic of a critical material is that it is difficult to replace, which gives OEMs less options to work around the problem when supply chain or market disruptions occur. This is why innovation should be a key part of any critical materials strategy. Innovation is what gives us options. Addressing criticality is not as simple is opening new mines. The US is the second largest producer of mined rare earth concentrates in the world – yet remains 80% net import reliant. This is because the US lack domestic processing capabilities. Without intermediate or precursor materials, we cannot grow mining, recycling, or manufacturing the US. I am encouraged to see more and more folks recognizing processing as the bottleneck. It bears repeating. Streamlining permitting is not a silver bullet for the mining industry. Exploration itself is a lengthy process. We need innovation here too, to speed up mineral discovery. Many mining projects face local resistance. Innovative mining techniques, like precision extraction, offer an alternative that could facilitate a social license to operate. Additionally, many critical materials are not primary metals and are in fact produced as byproducts of primary metals. There is a lot we can get from operational mines. We miss these opportunities when we reduce the narrative. All critical materials aren’t created equal. Some aren’t true commodities and have small markets. We can’t take a blanket approach to address the underlying vulnerabilities for each unique supply chain. And finally, critical materials are dynamic. What’s critical today may not be tomorrow – and vice versa. Disruptive technologies are difficult to predict. Global conflicts can be too. If we focus only on the immediate needs, we will be caught flat footed when new challenges emerge. Long-term vision is needed. But speaking of immediate needs – recycling is also an option and in fact the only source of some critical materials in the US. P.S. Resources aren’t reserves. Reserves are techno-economic viable resources of materials. This is a distinction that matters. 

Are Mine Tailings the Next Critical Mineral Reserve? For decades, tailings have been viewed only as waste—a liability to be stored, monitored, and eventually remediated. But recent research is forcing us to rethink this assumption. A comprehensive 2025 review in the Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy highlights a powerful reality: mine and mineral processing tailings are emerging as secondary resources for critical minerals—REEs, lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, tungsten, indium, antimony, even PGMs. Why does this matter now? 🔹 Demand for critical minerals is projected to triple by 2030 due to EVs, renewables, hydrogen, semiconductors, and defence 🔹 Primary ore grades are declining, while geopolitical concentration of supply is increasing 🔹 Tailings already contain liberated, finely ground material—often closer to “processable” than fresh ore 🔹 Reprocessing tailings simultaneously reduces environmental risk and improves resource security The paper shows how advanced hydrometallurgy—selective leaching, solvent extraction, molecular recognition technology (MRT), bio-leaching, and hybrid flowsheets—can unlock value from: Sulfide tailings (Cu–Zn–Pb–Mn–In–Co) Coal gangue (Li, Ga, REEs) Acid mine drainage sludges (REEs, Mn, Ni, Co) Old gold, copper, tungsten and PGM tailings This is not just metallurgy. It is circular economy in action. However, the real questions for industry and policymakers remain: Are we characterizing tailings with the same seriousness as primary ores? Should tailings storage facilities be treated as strategic mineral assets? Do our mining laws, closure plans, and economic models allow re-mining? Can India and other resource-rich countries reduce import dependence by unlocking legacy waste? Tailings are no longer the end of the mining value chain. They may well be the beginning of the next one. 💬 I’d like to hear from professionals across mining, metallurgy, ESG, policy, and academia: Are we ready to treat tailings as “new ore”? What is holding us back—technology, regulation, or mindset? #CriticalMinerals #MineTailings #UrbanMining #SecondaryResources #CircularEconomy #Hydrometallurgy #REEs #Lithium #Cobalt #Nickel #EnergyTransition #GreenMetals #SustainableMining #ESG #Decarbonization #MineralSecurity #FutureOfMining #ResourceEfficiency #MiningInnovation