EP 119 — Baker Institute's Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes On Why Critical Minerals Are The Weakest Link In Western Defense Supply Chains

Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes drilled the first unconventional wells in Argentina for ExxonMobil, built a nickel mining company in Western Australia, then served as DOE Deputy Director for Batteries and Critical Materials. Today she advises on critical mineral policy as a Nonresident Fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute and invests across the critical supply chain through her family office, Smoketree Resources.Ashley lays out a three-step framework for breaking Western dependence on adversarial-controlled supply chains, starting with an allied definition of adversarial capital and ending with import controls on finished goods in defense and semiconductor applications.Topics discussed:How China weaponized copper smelting economics through zero TCRCsWhy 99% of global crude gallium production sits in ChinaA three-step framework for bifurcating critical mineral marketsWhy public markets are rewarding supply chain security storiesThe difference between critical minerals and rare earthsWhy government backstopping alone cannot scale to 60 mineralsReimagining smelter revenue models through capacity-based agreementsBuilding a mining company from scratch in Western AustraliaListen to more episodes: Apple Spotify YouTubeWebsite