MILITARY conflicts and surging defense budgets are dramatically altering metals demand globally, with western nations unprepared for critical shortages, said Ivanhoe Mines co-chair, Robert Friedland.
“Everyone in the American government—at the highest level—is completely concerned with the supply chain and critical raw materials,” said Friedland in an interview with the Financial Times. “They don’t have any of the metals that modern warfare requires.”
The warning highlights China’s dominance of critical minerals as a threat not only to western industry but to America’s military superiority, said the newspaper. US President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders since January aimed at boosting domestic mining operations, it said.
Modern warfare relies heavily on specialized metals: copper for ammunition, scandium for aerospace applications, beryllium in fighter jets, and various elements in semiconductors for advanced weapons systems. These military demands increasingly compete with renewable energy needs, particularly for copper, said the Financial Times.
“The military aspect is demanding a lot of the same metals that the greening of the world economy also needs,” said Friedland.
Industry analysts estimate military spending adds approximately 500,000 tons to annual copper demand—about 1.5% of the global total. This figure is rising rapidly, with US production of 155mm artillery rounds (containing up to 1kg of copper each) set to double again this year.
Despite this urgency, a Carnegie Endowment report revealed that US National Defense Stockpile inventories have diminished significantly since the 1950s and would cover less than half the military demand during a hypothetical one-year conflict.
