The rise of electrification, renewable energy, and digital infrastructure has made minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and rare earth elements critical to both economic and national security.

Every electric vehicle, smartphone, and missile guidance system depends on them.

The United States possesses significant deposits, yet lags behind in production and, more importantly, processing capacity. We’ll return to oil and gas, but events in recent weeks have called for a follow-on discussion of critical minerals for oil and gas professionals.

Here’s the issue:

• China currently controls over 90% of global rare earth processing, giving it extraordinary leverage over Western economies and militaries.
• In October 2025, Beijing imposed export restrictions on rare earths and magnet technologies, exposing the fragility of U.S. supply chains and the flawed belief that trade would stay open during conflict.
• The result is clear: a single Chinese policy decision can paralyze entire American industries.

Download our presentation from the Denver Association of Professional Landmen about the meaning of other minerals.

ABOUT HOLLIDAY ENERGY LAW GROUP

At Holliday Energy Law Group, our core purpose is to create massive, outsized value but what does that mean? Value is defined as, “the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.” We not only strive to create massive value in everything we do, but we want to create massive, outsized value in ways that make us indispensable to our clients, partners and team members. We do this by sharing our  knowledge and expertise.