Summer Special | Mine Games: The Raw Material Sites You Really Shouldn't Visit This Summer

"Digging rare earths is easy. Building an industry is hard." Join us for the most important summer travel guide you probably never asked for: ten mining sites with enormous global significance, and plenty of reasons why you wouldn't want to visit any of them. In this summer special of Supply Chain Superintelligence, Prewave Director of Product (Resilience) Sarah Naber and host Thomas George create a one-of-a-kind travel guide. Together, they’ll take you on a worldwide tour of the critical material mines that prop up the world we live in. Why? Because even though they’re rarely seen by outsiders, these mines have a huge impact on the daily lives of practically everyone on the planet. Without them, the automotive, energy, manufacturing, and defence industries would grind to a shuddering halt – with huge consequences for western economies and security. Thomas and Sarah’s journey takes you from a remarkably pleasant rare earth operation in the Australian outback to a lithium desert that has never seen rain. From America's comeback mine in the Mojave Desert to an active civil war zone in northern Myanmar. The thread they keep pulling on: rare earths just aren’t that rare. Scarcity is almost never caused by the rock itself – but everything else that’s built around it. Without the capacity to turn raw materials into the magnets, batteries and components that the world depends on, the mines alone will never be enough. Key insights: Real leverage sits in refining, processing and magnet manufacturing, not in the deposits themselves A small number of sites, including one inside an active conflict zone, underpin the global EV, wind and defence supply chains China dominates the midstream, refining roughly 91% of the world's rare earths and making around 94% of its magnets Most companies cannot see this far down their own supply chain, and that blind spot is the real risk Chapters: 0:00 Intro: the travel guide you never asked for 1:36 No. 10: Bushveld Complex, South Africa 3:49 No. 9: Mount Weld, Australia 6:48 No. 8: Sangdong, South Korea 10:16 No. 7: Mountain Pass, USA 13:53 No. 6: Spruce Pine, USA 16:50 No. 5: Salar de Atacama, Chile 19:41 No. 4: Kipushi, DR Congo 24:12 No. 3: Bayan Obo, China 29:28 No. 2: Katanga cobalt belt, DR Congo 34:57 No. 1: Kachin State, Myanmar 39:27 Outro: the Mind Games report Download Mine Games: This episode draws on Prewave's Mine Games report, a field guide to the critical mineral sites the modern economy depends on, and the concentration, chokepoints and conflict risk hiding within them. Read the Mine Games report: https://www.prewave.com/reports/mine-... About Thomas George: Thomas George, host of the Supply Chain Superintelligence Podcast, is Prewave's Lead Risk Editor and co-author of The Taiwan Complex, Magnetic West, and many more. His focus on the intersection of geopolitics, supply chains, and strategic risk brings niche supply chain topics to the public eye. About Sarah Naber: Sarah Naber is Director of Product (Resilience) at Prewave, helping the world’s leading companies anticipate, manage, and quantify supply chain risk. She brings a product-minded perspective to how disruption is detected, prioritised, and acted on, using her unique insight to bring flagship reports like The Taiwan Complex, Magnetic West, and Mine Games to life. Resources & Links: Visit Prewave: https://www.prewave.com/ Don't Miss Out: Follow the Supply Chain Superintelligence Podcast for more expert conversations on geopolitics, resilience, and the forces shaping the future of global supply chains.