▦‍ ‍Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

Artisanal mining knowledge can improve gold exploration targeting. Responsible engagement with ASM communities strengthens exploration strategies while supporting responsible mineral supply chains and improved livelihoods.

▦‍ ‍ Tina Abelshauser | 5 Minute Read

The Pentagon’s request for proposals to secure critical minerals was issued just one day before U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, highlighting how modern military conflicts increasingly intersect with strategic supply chain vulnerabilities.

▦‍ ‍ Tina Abelshauser | 5 Minute Read

U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran threaten global energy markets far beyond oil — exposing African critical mineral supply chains, shipping routes, and extractive governance frameworks to systemic risk.

▦‍ ‍Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

In 2026, the mining industry undergoes a major transformation as geopolitics, national security policies, and rare earths influence market dynamics. Key trends include copper shortages, government intervention, and rising demand for sustainable mining practices.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

The energy transition depends on copper, aluminium, nickel, cobalt and lithium. This analysis examines demand growth, supply risks, capital requirements and geopolitics shaping the metals underpinning global decarbonisation.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

Lithuania’s foreign minister Budrys may pursue a US critical minerals deal if EU progress stalls, highlighting how supply chains, defence policy and geopolitics now define strategic metals security.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

African mineral deals stall not on geology or capital, but on trust, state alignment and execution credibility—the one capability that consistently converts memoranda into operating mines.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

In critical minerals development, offtake agreements shape project bankability, risk allocation, financing confidence, and long-term success well before mining or processing begins.

▦‍ ‍Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

A century of DRC cobalt production data reveals that wars never stopped supply — but a broken railway and a neglected state mining company did. The implications for today's battery supply chain are precise and actionable.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

The arrest of a sitting president does not reduce sovereign risk in extractive markets; it restructures it, creating a recognition gap where contracts persist on paper but enforceability, financing certainty, and commercial value remain suspended pending political settlement.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

U.S. supply chain diversification is vital, yet exclusion of Chinese firms like CATL may hinder technological progress; strategic collaboration and better data are essential to balance security, innovation, and resilience.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

There is no near-term pathway that replaces China’s entrenched position overnight. Indeed, even major efforts in the United States to secure rare earth supplies have yet to match China’s scale or integration speed.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

When I look at the debate in Western capitals about Chinese EPC dominance, what strikes me isn’t the geopolitical noise—it’s how misaligned that noise is with what actually drives commercial outcomes on the ground.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

China’s mining dominance stems from its hybrid operators who master local terrain—a human advantage no Western policy pact can replicate.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

Africa’s transition minerals boom hinges on real-time decision-making, commercial judgment and execution—not policy templates or delayed learning.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 2 Minute Read

Brandon Lewis's vetted role at LetterOne demonstrates how regulated influence and strategic capital can coexist with national energy security priorities.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

Artisanal mining employs 45 million Africans. The choice isn't whether to engage but how. Formalisation transforms risk into opportunity, conflict into partnership, informality into investment.

▦‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

How Western strategists keep underestimating Russia's mineral hand - and why it matters more than ever: This analysis reflects the complex realities of global mineral politics and the need for strategic thinking in an increasingly multipolar world.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

Effective market access in complex environments depends on early, discreet relationship-building. We examine how formal processes follow human alignment.

▦‍ ‍ Arno Saffran | 5 Minute Read

China’s critical minerals dominance is no accident—it is the reward for a long game the West failed to play. Decades of strategic foresight built an ecosystem, not just an industry. Now, the U.S. is left with only one viable move: negotiation.