Baker McKenzie’s Global Guide to Critical Minerals examines the status and strategic legal background for critical minerals across a number key mining jurisdictions, as well as the applicable legal and regulatory framework for their extraction, highlighting the rapid change in the critical minerals space as the energy transition accelerates.
The global metals and mining industry has a vital role in energy transition, with responsibility falling on the industry to source the metals and rare earth minerals used in clean energy projects, manufacturing capacity, electric vehicles and other sustainable solutions. It is a complex role as well, with years of low profitability, capital constraints and underinvestment posing risks to the industry’s ability to address expected demand. Mining companies have also been faced with the challenge of rationalising operations and limited research budgets with growing stakeholder demands and regulatory pressures for improved environmental, social and governance (“ESG”).
In this Guide, we examine the status and strategic legal background for critical minerals in fourteen key countries. We look in brief at the part each country is playing in terms of critical minerals, as well as the applicable legal and regulatory framework for their extraction.