China’s Mineral Refining Empire

A glance at critical mining resources reveals the situation the Western world is in right now. Currently, China refines 68% of the world’s nickel, 40% of copper, 59% of lithium and 73% of cobalt, according to a Brookings Institution report. This reflects only a part of the risks.

Due to the Belt and Road Initiative, a foreign investment program set up by Beijing, the global supply chains for these strategic raw materials, especially those coming out of Africa and parts of Asia, travel in Chinese containers on Chinese-financed roads or railroads through Chinese ports, and then they are loaded by Chinese cranes onto Chinese ships.

In the case of lithium, as well as the other strategic metals, the Asian country’s refining capacity is another key to understanding its advantageous position. This edge comes from its industry, not its geology.