Supply Chain Transparency

Understanding how the future energy system will impact the global supply chain and associated effects on markets, communities and the environment

The global supply chain continues to grow at an incredible rate, but within that growth, a lack of transparency undermines many industries and consumers as they struggle to understand the effects of the supply chain on the markets, communities and the environment.

Payne Supply Chain Transparency works with the Critical Materials Institute, the U.S. government, and policy other stakeholders to better understand the challenges and opportunities related to growing critical mineral demand.

Low-carbon scenarios often have—implicitly or explicitly—high and diverse material needs, depending on what assumptions are made about the nature of future energy systems. As certain technologies become more prominent, it becomes easier to identify what materials will be needed in the near term.

It is important to acknowledge the inherent tensions that exist between building a sustainable future and not managing or understanding the sources and materials with which it is built.

For more information about the Supply Chain Transparency Initiative at the Payne Institute for Public Policy, please contact our Deputy Director, Gregory Clough, at gclough@mines.edu.

NEWS

SLB Eyes Lithium Extraction in Egypt 1/15/2026

SLB Eyes Lithium Extraction in Egypt

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian is featured in this article about meeting with SLB’s Head of Mining, Nicholas Lugansky, with Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, discussing cooperation with leading global universities in mining sciences to develop and upskill Egyptian human capital. January 15, 2026.

Waste Not: Reimagining Mine Liabilities as Energy Assets 1/14/2026

Waste Not: Reimagining Mine Liabilities as Energy Assets

Payne Institute Student Researcher Sravan Lavudya and Geothermal and Low Carbon Technologies Program Manager Anna Littlefield write about how as the US looks to minimize its reliance on foreign critical minerals, we must contend with the implications of increased domestic extraction and processing, neither of which are low impact. They explore how operators are reimagining the pieces of the process, turning mine tailings into assets and repurposing existing mine infrastructure. January 14, 2026.

Venezuela’s Coltan and the Quiet Fragility of Tantalum and Niobium 1/13/2026

Venezuela’s Coltan and the Quiet Fragility of Tantalum and Niobium

Macdonald Amoah, Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, Fellow Jahara Matisek, Research Associate Isabel Guajardo Retamales, and Deputy Director Greg Clough write about how Venezuela shows how optionality in tantalum and niobium—not scale—could reduce US exposure to highly concentrated, geopolitically fragile supply chains. January 13, 2026.

Greenland’s harsh environment and lack of infrastructure have prevented rare earth mining 1/11/2026

Greenland’s harsh environment and lack of infrastructure have prevented rare earth mining

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Ian Lange contributed to this article about how critical raw materials are metals and minerals important for high-tech products and the green economy. Greenland has significant deposits but most of the territory is encased in ice and unexplored. January 13, 2026.

Powered by Place 1/8/2026

Powered by Place

Payne Institute Native American Mineral and Energy Sovereignty (NAMES) Director Richard Luarkie, Shane Seibel, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how Native Nations stand at the threshold of a rare and defining opportunity because the global energy landscape is reorganizing the economy, and the lands Indigenous peoples have collectively owned for thousands of years now sit at the center of what the world needs. January 8, 2025.

How to Fix America’s Broken Arsenal 1/8/2026

How to Fix America’s Broken Arsenal

Macdonald Amoah, Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, and Fellow Jahara Matisek write about how the defense establishment has severe knowledge gaps about its own, aging industrial base. The United States cannot build what it needs because it does not have the workforce, the factories, or the partnerships to do so. January 8, 2026.

Articulating Value in Tribal Mineral Development 1/7/2028

Articulating Value in Tribal Mineral Development

Payne Institute Native American Mining and Energy Sovereignty (NAMES) Research Associate Alex Brunson writes about how in Indian Country federal investment at historic levels and global demand for critical minerals accelerating, the question is no longer whether resource-based development in Indian Country can occur, but how it will be structured; extractively and short-term, or sovereign, research-driven, and value-added. January 7, 2026.

Maduro’s Capture Won’t Disrupt Global Oil Markets 1/6/2026

Maduro’s Capture Won’t Disrupt Global Oil Markets

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how Maduro has been captured, but the lion’s share of the impact will be in the political and diplomatic arenas of world politics. January 6, 2026.

The Superalloy Dilemma: Can America Break Its Mineral Dependency? 1/5/2026

The Superalloy Dilemma: Can America Break Its Mineral Dependency?

Macdonald Amoah, Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, and Fellow Jahara Matisek write about how America’s technological dominance in terms of military hardware risks being put in jeopardy if it cannot access the rare earth minerals needed to construct it. January 5, 2026.

What Happens If the U.S. Can’t Get Enough Magnesium? You Don’t Want to Find Out. 12/23/2025

What Happens If the U.S. Can’t Get Enough Magnesium? You Don’t Want to Find Out.

Payne Institute Fellow Jahara Matisek, Alex Grant and, Morgan Bazilian write about how the U.S. will finally start refining magnesium again. Earlier this month, two companies announced a joint venture in Arkansas. It would be the first credible attempt in years to restore domestic control over a material the Pentagon must have to fight a modern war. December 23, 2025.

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