Critical Minerals: Power, Risk, and Opportunity
From defense systems and advanced weaponry to AI infrastructure and next-generation semiconductors, critical minerals are the foundation of modern technological and national security capability.
This is more than a story about mining.
Critical minerals power modern life – but global supply remains dangerously concentrated in a handful of countries. This episode of The Innovation Report explores the growing geopolitical race to secure these essential resources before shortages become crises.
At the center is tungsten, a metal critical to aerospace, defense, manufacturing, and emerging technologies. After China restricted tungsten exports in 2025, the vulnerability of global supply chains became impossible to ignore.
Through expert insights, field exploration, and firsthand accounts from mining leaders and geologists, the film examines the intersection of mining, innovation, national security, AI-driven exploration, and clean energy, and asks a defining question: who will control the materials powering the future?