The House of Commons Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee found that the British government currently passes none of its ten tests to de-risk critical-mineral supply chains with precision, proposed allied buyers’ clubs to share new mines and smelters costing up to $3 billion apiece plus a Critical Minerals Finance Facility, and chair Liam Byrne said “critical minerals are the alpha of the new economy”.

The committee heard that China dominates refining across seven mineral categories and that British lithium demand alone would rise 45-fold by 2030.