From Mine to Market: Regulatory and Dispute Trends in the Global Critical Minerals Market

Critical minerals—lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, rare earths—sit at the heart of the global energy transition. As the UK, EU and other jurisdictions push forward with ambitious net zero strategies, the legal landscape surrounding extraction, processing, financing, offtake, and ESG-related accountability is becoming more complex and more contested.

Disputes in this sector increasingly intersect with:

• geopolitics and national security concerns,

• supply chain instability,

• state participation and local content regimes,

• environmental/social licensing and community impact disputes, and

• long term price volatility and project delivery risk.

Our panel will explore the global approach to the energy transition and critical disputes with a “round the world” view of recent legislation changes, regulatory approach and local issues that are impacting the extraction of critical minerals and how these changes are leading to (or resolving) disputes.