What Is “Mineral Security” and What Policies Are Needed to Achieve It? Lessons from Oil Security
This working paper examines past US policy on oil security to gleam lessons for addressing modern-day concerns about critical mineral security.
Abstract
The need to enhance US “critical mineral security” is a recurrent policy theme. In this paper we examine security issues for the critical minerals used to produce EV batteries. We examine those issues through the lens of concerns about international oil insecurity, a major energy policy concern for the United States in the past. We discuss similarities and differences between the factors affecting critical mineral security and international oil security, drawing on policy lessons from years of research on international oil security policy to find lessons for identifying and managing mineral security issues.
