Welcome to the first of the DCDR PRO Research reports: long-form analysis of something that’s important to decision-makers, giving them the background and context on the issue along with some insight into how things might develop.

These reports will be part of the upcoming PRO subscription that starts soon.

Where possible, these reports also include applicable mitigation measures where there are across-the-board steps that every organization can implement. That way, you’ll understand the issue, can start determining what it means for your organization, and start taking action as quickly as possible.

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This report looks at the main suppliers of various essential elements and assesses the risks associated with each location and what the near-term situation might look like. This will help those more exposed to the production end of the chain to better identify and respond to the risks and opportunities they face. 

The last part of the report considers the non-operational issues associated with the extraction of these elements, which affects users and consumers further along the supply chain. Included is a framework for the ethical mining and sourcing of these elements to help organizations at every stage of the process source these minerals responsibly and manage the reputational issues associated with some producing countries.

I - Why are these important?

Rare earth minerals (REMs) and base metals are crucial for a wide range of applications, particularly in high-tech industries. These are the essential components that help us produce more than 200 products, ranging from smartphones and electric cars to advanced military equipment and many clean energy technologies. They are also vital for the production of high-tech materials used in industries such as petrochemicals, energy and transportation. 

These elements are essential to the world we live in today, and critical to our desire to move towards a highly connected, zero-carbon world.

However, the supply chains for these materials are complex.

In many cases, a single country dominates the production or supply of these elements. For example, China controls a significant proportion of all REMs produced, while the world's largest supply of cobalt is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This concentration presents two levels of supply chain risk.

First, there’s a single point of failure or bottle neck where one country is the main supplier of an element. An accidental -- or deliberate -- disruption to production is hard to overcome from other sources. 

Second, the internal and local conditions at the source have a knock-on effect at all stages of the supply chain. These include domestic or regional tension that physically interrupt supplies and drive up prices. However, environmental, social, and labor issues can also harm the supply of materials and affect the reputation of users, even those far removed from the source.