March 27, 2026: The New York Times reports that a draft US State Department memo says that the United States is considering significantly cutting HIV assistance to Zambia unless it agrees to expanded access for American firms to its critical mineral resources. For the roughly 1.3 million Zambians who rely on daily antiretroviral therapy, such a move would be catastrophic. Disruptions to HIV treatment can lead not only to preventable deaths but also to drug resistance and long-term setbacks in epidemic control. Zambia’s HIV response, though increasingly domestically supported, still depends heavily on external financing for medicines, supply chains, and prevention programs.

February 10, 2026. Last week, the US convened a Critical Minerals Ministerial summit attended by 54 countries and the European Union, including Australia. Critical minerals are needed for batteries, semi-conductors and other essential components of the transition to renewable energy and for digital technology and defence industries. China currently dominates production and processing and sets prices on the global processing market.

30 October, 2023: The US, concerned with reliance on imports from China amid growing global demand for critical minerals, has been aggressively developing its critical mineral supply chains over the last years. However, a bipartisan group of senators have recently criticised the Biden administration for pursuing a critical mineral deal with Indonesia. They argue that Indonesia’s poor labour and environmental record should preclude it from a special trading relationship with the US.

October 27, 2025: The US Australia critical minerals agreement was announced last week as a win-win agreement for both governments. The stated aim is to provide guaranteed supplies to the US of critical minerals and rare earths needed for the battery, semi-conductor, and defence industries as an alternative to dependence on China, and to provides US investment in value-added processing for Australian minerals.

17 October 2024: 36 civil society organisations from Europe and Australia have written an open letter to European and Australian decision-makers, expressing serious concerns about the EU-Australia Strategic Partnership on Sustainable Critical and Strategic Minerals. The partnership, aimed at securing raw materials essential for the green transition, has been criticised for overlooking the need to protect human rights, labour rights and the environment.

9 October, 2023: Last week the Philippine Supreme Court ordered two mining companies to cease operations at a nickel mine and ordered concerns raised by the Pala’wan Indigenous community be addressed. The Pala’wan community have fought since 2005 against plans to mine nickel in an environmentally protected area of cultural significance.

Critical minerals, such as nickel, lithium, cobalt, copper and rare earths, are essential for technologies needed for a green transition, such as wind turbines, electricity infrastructure and batteries. However, the boom in demand and rush to mine has led to concerns that critical mineral mining will continue the association of extractive industries with human rights violations, particularly for indigenous peoples.

30 August, 2023: This two-page explainer explores the links between Australian policy and bilateral critical minerals agreements, both of which aim to aim to diversify supply chains and reduce dependence on China, and Free Trade Agreements.

4 October, 2023: Australian Resource Minister, Madeline King, commented last week that the EU might “miss the boat” on securing Australian critical minerals, amping up tensions in current EU-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. Her comments come despite calls from experts to take a more deliberative approach to critical minerals that considers the potential risks to Indigenous peoples, labour rights and the environment.