Securing Critical Minerals: Building a Strategic Reserve for U.S. Industry

Critical minerals form the foundation of modern defense and commercial technologies, from fighter aircraft and missile systems to satellites, batteries, and advanced electronics. As global supply chains remain vulnerable to disruption and critical mineral processing remains concentrated overseas, securing reliable access to these materials has become an increasingly important challenge for the U.S. industrial base.In this episode of Emerging Tech Horizons, Dr. Arun Seraphin speaks with Brett Lambert, Executive Chairman of VaultCo and Managing Director of the Densmore Group, about the effort to strengthen U.S. access to critical minerals. They discuss Lambert’s experience shaping manufacturing and industrial policy at the Pentagon, the creation of Project Vault and VaultCo, and how a public-private approach can help address vulnerabilities across critical mineral supply chains.Key topics include:- How critical mineral dependencies can create vulnerabilities across the defense and commercial industrial base.- How VaultCo’s demand-driven model is designed to create a strategic “stock buffer” of critical minerals and connect industry demand with available supply.- The differences between VaultCo’s approach and traditional government stockpiles, and how it complements other federal efforts to strengthen critical mineral supply chains.- Why expanding domestic and allied processing capacity will be essential to building a more resilient industrial base, and how government and private-sector investments can work together to address these challenges.NDIA Emerging Technologies Institute: https://www.ndiaeti.orgBe sure to follow us on social media for updates, early access to upcoming events, inside scoops, & more:LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4htROo0Twitter: https://bit.ly/48LHAx3Facebook: https://bit.ly/47vlht8And for more podcasts, articles, & publications covering all things emerging tech, visit: ndiaeti.org#CriticalMinerals #DefenseIndustrialBase #SupplyChain #NationalSecurity #EmergingTechnology