In this episode, host Dee Martin sits down with Amanda Van Dyke, Founder of the Critical Mineral Hub and author of The Mineral Imperative, to explore why critical minerals have become a defining issue for the global economy, national security, and industrial strategy. Amanda breaks down what qualifies as a critical mineral, why supply chains are increasingly vulnerable, and why understanding mineral systems is essential for policymakers.<br><br>Want to learn more about the hidden minerals powering modern life? Tune in now!

The Future of Critical Minerals with Amanda Van Dyke, Author of The Mineral Imperative

Madam Policy

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Madam Policy

## Transcript

Hello, everyone. I'm Dee Martin. I'm your Madam Policy host. I'm thrilled to be joined today by Amanda Van Dyke, the author of The Mineral Imperative. And I hope everyone has a chance to take a look at this book. It is excellent. We're going to jump into that. But first, let me say, Amanda, welcome. Thank you so much.

So, folks, Amanda is an internationally recognized mining finance professional and author, as I've mentioned, and she is the founder of The Critical Minerals Hub. And that's her online platform for all things critical minerals. She also has a YouTube channel, which we're going to talk about in just a little bit, and I think has some really excellent information and explainers included there.

She's also the founder of Women in Mining UK, where she successfully advanced the business case for more women to serve on boards in the mining sector. She's a fellow of the Royal Geological Society, very exciting, and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, IOM3. In short, Amanda is amazing, very busy, and I'm excited for this conversation. So, Amanda, let's go ahead and get started.

Now, we're going to talk about your book. We're going to talk about your work, but I just want to level set here. For those uninitiated in the world of critical minerals, and I'm talking to our listeners now, start with Chapter 3 of this book. In it, Amanda, you answer the foundational question, what is a critical mineral? And then you walk readers through how these minerals are used across defense, technology, and energy, among others.

So, let's level set for everyone. What is a critical mineral, and where do we encounter them in everyday life and in national security? Critical makes people think that it's about how essential it is to something. And in actual fact, it has nothing to do with how essential it is, but how sensitive or vulnerable the supply chain or access to it is.

Every mineral is something that we need at some level for something. And when it becomes critical, when we cannot secure, we don't know that we can get enough of it for a long enough time. So, criticality is inherently regional and or industry specific.

So, if you make lots of something, a really good example is iron ore. Steel is actually, iron ore that goes into steel is by volume and actually by money, the mineral that we use more of in tons and in dollar value than anything else. Modern society as we know it needs steel in incredibly large quantities. It is truly essential to just about every industry on earth.

Like steel plays an integral role. So, you'd think, why isn't steel a critical mineral? Steel is not a critical mineral because iron ore is fairly common. And more than it's common, the world has a really well-functioning global critical mineral steel supply chain. So, we mine it in lots of places. We process it in lots of places. And the supply chain works sufficiently well that we don't have to stick ...

The Future of Critical Minerals with Amanda Van Dyke, Author of The Mineral Imperative

Transcript

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The Future of Critical Minerals with Amanda Van Dyke, Author of The Mineral Imperative

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.