Category: Supply Chain Transparency Initiative

Nuclear Power is Tribal Power 3/19/2024

Nuclear Power is Tribal Power

Payne Institute Native American Mining and Energy Sovereignty (NAMES) Initiative Program Manager Rick Tallman, Fellow Richard Luarkie and Director Morgan D. Bazilian write about how with the newly found bipartisan political will for American nuclear power, the U.S. is poised for a uranium mining boom once again. As the inevitable debate ensues, what is often not appreciated is the essential need to gain support from our Native American communities from the very start and through the developments.  March 19, 2024.

Projecting demand for mineral-based critical materials in the energy transition for electricity 3/18/2024

Projecting demand for mineral-based critical materials in the energy transition for electricity

Payne Institute Student Researcher Gabriel Collins, Faculty Fellow Carol A. Dahl, Student Researcher Maxwell Fleming, Student Researcher Michael Tanner, Student Researcher Wilson C. Martin, Kabir Nadkarni, Fellow Sara Hastings-Simon and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how mapping the changing energy landscape toward net zero and understanding the critical material needs to support the transition are essential for demanders and suppliers as well as policy makers seeking to orchestrate the transition. They provide such decision makers for electricity markets with a transparent tool that can be easily understood and modified as our transitional knowledge improves.  March 18, 2024.

The U.S. Military and NATO Face Serious Risks of Mineral Shortages 2/12/24

The U.S. Military and NATO Face Serious Risks of Mineral Shortages

Payne Institute Communications Associate Greg Wischer writes about how critical minerals undergird great power competition and war. These nonfuel minerals and mineral materials are vital to countries’ defense industrial bases, enabling the production of military platforms like tanks as well as munitions and artillery shells. Therefore, mineral supplies can help sustain military power, while mineral shortages can severely undermine it. February 12, 2024.

Ignoring Indigenous rights is making the green transition more expensive 2/2/2024

Ignoring Indigenous rights is making the green transition more expensive

Payne Institute Native American Mining and Energy Sovereignty (NAMES) Initiative Program Manager Rick Tallman contributes to this article about how as more companies look to build wind and solar farms or mine minerals for renewable energy, failing to recognize Indigenous sovereignty could make the clean energy transition a lot more expensive and much farther away.  February 2, 2024.

Biden’s EV agenda hits mining world’s boom-and-bust cycle

Biden’s EV agenda hits mining world’s boom-and-bust cycle

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Ian Lange contributed to this article about how President Joe Biden’s electric vehicle agenda could be in for a roller coaster ride, but this time it can’t be blamed on thorny politics, range anxiety or the effect of falling temperatures on chargers. Instead the focus now is on the price of lithium. The price of the key EV battery ingredient plummeted in recent months, not because of any policy action but due to the simple laws of supply and demand.  January 31, 2024.

Building Trust through an Equitable and Inclusive Energy Transition 1/17/2024

Building Trust through an Equitable and Inclusive Energy Transition

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributed to this report by the World Economic Forum that provides a framework and 10 critical questions, aiming to build trust, encourage collaboration and guide policy-makers and business leaders in the energy sector towards advancing a just, equitable and inclusive energy transition.  January 17, 2024.

Analysis of world trade data with machine learning to enhance policies of mineral supply chain transparency 1/13/2024

Analysis of world trade data with machine learning to enhance policies of mineral supply chain transparency

Umut Mete Saka, Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Sebnem Düzgün, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how utilizing machine learning to help the integration of supply chains worldwide and the establishment of resilient material flows emphasize the significance of transparency on mineral supplies. As regulations and policies around mineral supply become more stringent, organizations are actively seeking effective tools to assess the transparency of their supply chains.  January 13, 2024.

Comparing methods for criticality and security in minerals for clean energy 1/13/2024

Comparing methods for criticality and security in minerals for clean energy

Mines Advanced Energy Systems Student Eliza Hotchkiss, Maria Paz Urdaneta, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how energy security goals, supply chain risks, production growth, and market dynamics will shape the future of critical mineral methodologies.  This paper reviews two methodologies employed for critical mineral identification from nations committed to clean energy transitions.  January 13, 2024.

Saudi Arabia wants to be the Saudi Arabia of minerals 1/11/2024

Saudi Arabia wants to be the Saudi Arabia of minerals

Vice President for Global Initiatives John Bradford contributed to this article about how Saudi Arabia is eyeing to fuel its post-oil future with mineral resources.  On January 10th the government revised its estimate of the value of its buried mineral wealth from $1.3trn to $2.5trn. This includes deposits of gold, copper and zinc.  January 11, 2024.

Lithium nexus: Energy, geopolitics, and socio-environmental impacts in Mexico’s Sonora project 12/22/2023

Lithium nexus: Energy, geopolitics, and socio-environmental impacts in Mexico’s Sonora project

Vlado Vivoda, Payne Institute Director Morgan D. Bazilian, Asmaa Khadim, Natalie Ralph, and Ghaleb Krame write about how the global transition to low-carbon energy systems has dramatically increased the demand for lithium, essential for energy storage and transport electrification—with lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries as the dominant technology in both market segments.  Enter the Sonora Lithium Project in Mexico, home to what could be one of the world’s largest lithium deposits.  This paper delves into these challenges using the Sonora Project as a lens, aiming to provide clarity and insights for various decision-makers, stakeholders, and researchers.  December 22, 2023.