Besides the sheer necessity to survive this continuing recession, a widespread activity among countries and companies alike has been to take some time to fully evaluate where the future lies for minerals.
In particular, such exercises have concentrated on considering what are the “strategic minerals” of the future, and whether this country or that company is fully informed and prepared to participate or achieve success in this area.
There’s nothing new about such forward thinking models. For example, since 1939 the USA has maintained its National Defense Stockpile (NDS) of various commodities based on their perceived strategic value. Over the years, the NDS has decreased as the US government has sold off material it has deemed superfluous to its strategic needs. In 2008, the NDS comprised 33 commodities with...