Why critical materials are exactly that
Many of the technologies we depend on, from smartphones to clean energy, rely on critical materials
This piece appeared in a University of Birmingham feature in New Statesman Spotlight in May 2018.
It looks at why a group of elements, among them the rare earths, the platinum group metals and cobalt, is classed as critical: they matter to the economy and their supply is at risk. Many are not geologically scarce. The risk comes from where and how they are produced: concentrated and sometimes manipulated markets, political instability and conflict sourcing, and the way they are thinly dispersed through products, which makes them hard to recycle.
The article sets out three responses: diversifying supply, developing substitutes and recycling end-of-life products. Its main example is the rare earth magnets in electric vehicles and wind turbines, where China’s near-monopoly brings price volatility. Secondary supply can ease some of the harms of mining but cannot meet demand on its own, so stable primary sources matter too. It ends by calling for a UK Elements Strategy along the lines of Japan’s approach of replacing, reducing, recycling and regulating.