Mineral Geopolitics & Quantifying Global Critical Mineral Supply with Simon Jowitt

02/24/23 • 19 min

In episode two of my conversation with Simon Jowitt, we explore the ongoing geopolitical challenges facing the extractive sector. Whether it is global pandemics, competition with China, human rights challenges, or political insecurity in key mining regions, supply chains are facing increased political attention. It is becoming increasingly difficult as a geologist and mining engineer to be fully isolated to larger political dynamics at play across the mining sector going into the future. Simon also talks about his recent research looking at quantifying global critical mineral supply and some of the gaps and key pieces of evidence his team found during the process.

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Economic Geology with Simon Jowitt

Join us for season four of A Rock & A Hard Place! In this first episode, I sit down with Dr. Simon Jowitt, associate professor of economic geology at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. We look at the field of economic geology, or the scientific discipline concerned with the distribution of mineral deposits, the economic considerations involved in their recovery, and the assessment of the reserves available. Simon also discusses some of his latest work on looking at the impact of COVID-19 on the mineral supply chain and how the global pandemic and geopolitical tensions with China may change the way we think about raw materials and their supply chains.

Next Episode

Energy Leadership & The Nexus of Energy Policy and Material Demands with Anna Broughel

Join myself and Dr. Anna Broughel, Director of Energy Leadership at Clean Energy Leadership Institute (CELI), VP of Communications at the U.S. Association of Energy Economics, and adjunct lecturer in energy economics at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University as we discuss the importance of energy leadership and the nexus of energy policy and material demands. It is essential that aspiring young professionals recognize that all of our energy policies have material demands which can be caught up in political, social, and economic obstacles. Achieving our lofty energy goals requires us to think upstream and recognize that many of these products start in the ground with minerals, which are the building blocks of our shared energy future.