economy
February 26, 2026
Governments are rushing to hoard critical minerals as the 'resource nationalism' era arrives
A new race to secure critical minerals is unfolding across the global economy.
TL;DR
- Governments are establishing strategic stockpiles of critical minerals for national security and industrial policy.
- Initiatives include the U.S. Project Vault, Australia's critical minerals reserve, the EU's RESourceEU strategy, and pacts between India and Brazil, as well as South Korea's strategy.
- The trend is driven by a need to buffer against geopolitical factors, supply chain fragility, and geographic concentration of processing.
- Analysts describe this as a structural shift towards 'resource nationalism,' where supply chains are viewed as national security infrastructure.
- Historically, stockpiles were for emergencies; now they are explicitly driven by geopolitical risks and policy considerations.
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