The Cipher
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The Cipher explains the stories shaping our world through data, evidence and visual storytelling.
BUSINESS · TECHNOLOGY · ECONOMICS · POLICY
LATEST INVESTIGATION · ISSUE #001
When Minerals Become Weapons
How a 2010 dispute exposed a vulnerability in the global economy, and why the US and China are still fighting over critical minerals sixteen years later.
Critical minerals are becoming an increasingly important part of the economic competition between the US and China. The latest development involves tungsten, but the story stretches back much further.
90+%
of some critical-mineral processing stages are concentrated in a single country.
When so much of a mineral’s processing is concentrated in one country, disruptions can ripple quickly through global supply chains. Building alternative capacity elsewhere can take years, turning control over processing into economic and geopolitical leverage.
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The Cipher is an independent publication exploring the forces shaping business, technology, economics and power. Through original analysis, data and visual storytelling, we go beyond the headline to understand how the systems underneath it actually work.
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