The IEA’s Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 examines supply, demand, concentration and diversification across important minerals. Its discussion of mining, refining and recycling provides context for a broader automotive supply-chain question: where can an interruption affect the finished product?
Follow the dependency
A useful map follows the material through the processes and components needed by the vehicle programme. A list of raw-material suppliers alone does not describe every dependency between the original input and an approved part.
Product requirements, process knowledge and qualification work can affect how readily an alternative becomes usable. A nominal second supplier should therefore be considered alongside the work required to integrate its output.
Connect commercial and technical teams
Procurement, engineering, production and quality need a common explanation of critical dependencies. That explanation can record the affected programme, the assumptions behind lead times and the person responsible for resolving an exception.
Keep scenarios explicit
A scenario is most useful when its assumptions are visible. Ask what changes if one processing step is unavailable or if a substitute requires additional qualification. The aim is to understand the operating choice rather than to present a single material price as the whole risk.
Further reading: IEA, Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 (21 May 2025). The discussion above is original editorial analysis and makes no commodity-price forecast.