G7 Critical Minerals Strategy Targets Lower Dependence on Single Suppliers

G7, critical minerals

G7 critical minerals strategy will seek to reduce dependence on any single supplier outside member and partner countries for rare earths and permanent magnets to below 60% by 2030. The group aims to lower that exposure further to 50% as soon as possible.

G7 critical minerals strategy combines mining, processing, recycling and trade measures rather than focusing exclusively on new mines. Governments are considering price-gap subsidies, joint procurement, quotas and price floors to support alternative supply chains.

G7 critical minerals strategy also signals a shift toward coordinated industrial policy. More than €64bn has already been committed to 195 critical mineral projects in 2026 through public and private investment.

The objective is to build enough non-dominant supply across the value chain to reduce vulnerability to export controls, geopolitical disruption and excessive geographic concentration.

Rare Earths and Magnets Become the Core Diversification Target

Rare earths and permanent magnets are at the centre of the G7 plan because processing and downstream manufacturing remain highly concentrated.

The proposed below-60% dependency threshold introduces a measurable supply-chain objective rather than a general diversification commitment. Reaching 50% would require substantial new capacity across separation, metallization, alloy production and magnet manufacturing.

Mining alone will not be sufficient. Alternative producers must be able to convert concentrates into qualified materials that automotive, defence, aerospace, electronics and energy manufacturers can actually use.

The G7 also plans to improve transparency and traceability. Lithium and nickel will serve as the first pilot minerals, with another five minerals expected to be added each year.

Traceability can help governments identify where concentrates, refined materials and intermediate products originate. It could also support future local-content rules, procurement standards and trade measures.

Rare earths are expected to receive particular attention as the system expands because of their importance to high-performance permanent magnets.

The framework could therefore make mineral provenance increasingly important to commercial competitiveness, not simply regulatory compliance.

Price Floors and Recycling Could Reshape Critical Mineral Markets

The G7 is considering intervention on both the supply and demand sides of critical mineral markets.

Price-gap subsidies could compensate producers when market prices fall below levels needed to sustain non-dominant supply. Price floors could similarly protect strategic projects from being undermined by lower-cost production elsewhere.

Joint procurement could aggregate demand from governments and industrial consumers, providing the long-term purchase commitments needed to finance new mines and processing plants.

These measures address a fundamental problem in critical minerals. Governments want diversified supply, but private investors often struggle to finance projects that must compete against established producers with lower costs and greater scale.

However, intervention carries risks. Subsidies and price floors can increase public spending and downstream material costs if they are poorly designed.

The G7 therefore needs to balance supply security with competitiveness for manufacturers using lithium, nickel, rare earths and permanent magnets.

Recycling offers another route. Higher recovery rates can reduce demand for newly mined materials while creating domestic secondary feedstock for refiners and manufacturers.

A coordinated circular economy strategy could become especially important for magnets and batteries as larger volumes of end-of-life products become available.

The Metalnomist Commentary

The G7 is moving from identifying critical mineral risks to actively managing market structure. The decisive test will be whether coordinated demand guarantees, processing investment and recycling can create commercially sustainable alternatives rather than permanently subsidy-dependent supply chains.