October 5, 2023--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Critical minerals, such as copper, lithium, nickel and cobalt, are indispensable ingredients in the global drive for cleaner energy. But those minerals are unevenly distributed around the world. In general, mining for lithium and cobalt is in an earlier stage of development, when compared with copper and nickel. Demand for all four is expected to grow, but there are concerns over supply, price and the durability of supply chains for each mineral.

To forge collaborative global action on critical minerals, the International Energy Agency (IEA) (Paris, France) convened a first-ever summit meeting last week attended by dozens of government officials, industry leaders, investors and non-governmental organizations to identify steps needed to create secure, sustainable and responsible supply chains for these four critical minerals.