EP 119 — Baker Institute's Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes On Why Critical Minerals Are The Weakest Link In Western Defense Supply Chains

Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes drilled the first unconventional wells in Argentina for ExxonMobil, built a nickel mining company in Western Australia, then served as DOE Deputy Director for Batteries and Critical Materials. Today she advises on critical mineral policy as a Nonresident Fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute and invests across the critical supply chain through her family office, Smoketree Resources. Ashley lays out a three-step framework for breaking Western dependence on adversarial-controlled supply chains, starting with an allied definition of adversarial capital and ending with import controls on finished goods in defense and semiconductor applications. Topics discussed: How China weaponized copper smelting economics through zero TCRCs Why 99% of global crude gallium production sits in China A three-step framework for bifurcating critical mineral markets Why public markets are rewarding supply chain security stories The difference between critical minerals and rare earths Why government backstopping alone cannot scale to 60 minerals Reimagining smelter revenue models through capacity-based agreements Building a mining company from scratch in Western Australia Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website