There are no easy solutions when it comes to our current mineral financing challenges. Discussion on price support mechanisms have surged, but the tradeoffs are complex.
On December 9, SAFE’s Center for Critical Minerals Strategy hosted its latest webinar, Price Support Policies for Critical Minerals. SAFE brought together an esteemed panel of experts to outline the main price support mechanisms available to policymakers, provide grounding in how these tools function in current market conditions, and examine how and if they can complement other policy measures such as tariffs, traceability, and procurement preferences.
SAFE also released its latest issue brief, Critical Minerals Pricing Mechanisms, on the same day. The issue brief details the potential for pricing mechanisms, like price insurance, forward contracts, and tariffs, to provide critical relief to domestic producers facing artificially depressed critical minerals prices. But it warns that this relief is near-term only, and that these mechanisms should not be policymakers’ first consideration, as they do not meaningfully address the deeper structural distortions engineered by China.
Panelists included:
- John Moolenaar, Chairman Select Committee on the CCP, U.S. House of Representatives
- Zubeyde Oysul, Senior Policy Analyst, SAFE’s Center for Critical Minerals Strategy
- Jasper Jung, Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives, Global Public Policy, General Motors
- James McClements, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Resource Capital Funds (RCF)
- Tom Albanese, Co-Chair, SAFE’s Center for Critical Minerals Strategy
- Moderated by: Abigail Hunter, Executive Director, SAFE’s Center for Critical Minerals Strategy
