Beyond Mining: Technology, Recycling, Substitution and the Future of Critical Minerals Security

As North America races to develop new sources of rare earths and other critical minerals, an equally important question is emerging: How can North America secure the materials it needs while reducing its dependence on vulnerable global supply chains? Do we need to produce more of every critical mineral, or can technology, recycling and material substitution help close the supply gap?

This discussion will examine how innovation in motors, power electronics, advanced manufacturing, materials recovery and recycling can reduce dependence on constrained or geopolitically vulnerable inputs. The conversation will explore how primary mining, recycling and recovery of secondary resources, material substitution and new technologies can work together to create a more resilient North American critical-minerals supply chain.

Industry leaders will discuss the economics and scalability of material substitution and recycling, the growing role of secondary resources and end-of-life materials, customer adoption, domestic manufacturing, supply-chain resilience and the infrastructure required to bring recovered critical minerals back into the economy.

The panel will also examine what it will take to move these technologies from promising innovation to commercial scale — and how government policy, strategic partnerships and private capital can accelerate investment across the full critical-minerals value chain.