Land and environmental defenders at risk as Canada, the US and UK pursue critical minerals for weapons
Published by Brent Patterson on May 15, 2025
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In a joint policy briefing released May 15, 2025, seventeen organizations, including Peace Brigades International, warn that the UK government’s drive to secure minerals like cobalt, nickel and lithium could “fuel environmental destruction, human rights abuses and deepen global inequalities.”
Their briefing cautions: “The mining and processing of critical minerals is frequently linked to severe human rights violations including violation of Indigenous rights including the killing of land and environmental defenders.”
Mining is deadly for environmental defenders
In September 2024, Global Witness senior adviser Laura Furones also highlighted: “It’s very difficult to establish direct links between the murder of a defender and a specific corporate sector. However, what we have been able to identify for 2023 is that mining came up as the largest corporate sector linked to defenders. And this is also true for our historical data. Mining sector is number one over the last 12 years.”
The UK “almost wholly dependent on imports”
The British Geological Survey (BGS) has noted: “The UK Critical Minerals List, published in 2021, includes the following: antimony, bismuth, cobalt, gallium, graphite, indium, lithium, magnesium, niobium, palladium, platinum group metals, rare earth elements, silicon, tantalum, tellurium, tin, tungsten and vanadium.”
The BGS then highlight: “The UK and the EU [European Union] are almost wholly dependent on imports of these materials.”
The US pushes for critical minerals
In March 2025, CBC News reported: “The Ring of Fire in northwestern Ontario has become a key figure in the battle to control critical minerals, which experts say is the heart of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada.”
The Government of Ontario has highlighted: “The region has long-term potential to produce chromite, cobalt, nickel, copper and platinum.”
These critical minerals have multiple military applications.
Chromite can be used for aircraft engines, cobalt for munitions, high-temperature aerospace alloys, high-capacity batteries, nickel for armour plating in tanks and anti-aircraft firearms, batteries for propulsion and storage, copper for wiring, guidance systems, ammunition and naval vessels, and platinum is used in the production of missiles, jet engines, and a vast array of military electronics.
CBC journalist Alexander Panetta has also speculated that “a new economic and security arrangement with the United States” to now to be negotiated by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government and the Trump administration could include “ramped-up talk about developing Canada’s critical minerals”.
Along with chromite, cobalt, nickel, copper and platinum, critical minerals commonly needed for military production include antimony, arsenic, bismuth, gallium, germanium, indium, natural graphite, tantalum and tungsten.
Many critical minerals can be found across Canada.
The US military says it needs critical minerals
In January 2025, US Department of Defense (DOD) News noted: “Secure sourcing of critical minerals is critical to the defense industrial base, which uses them to produce virtually every Defense Department system, from unmanned aerial systems and fighter jets to submarines, said Adam Burstein [technical director for strategic and critical materials in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy].”
That article adds: “Earlier this year, Congress added the United Kingdom and Australia as domestic sources, in addition to Canada, for purposes of the Defense Production Act [DPA]. …Last year, the U.S. issued multiple DPA awards to projects based in Canada, which also received joint funding from the Canadian government. These projects are targeted to increase the secure supply of key materials, including cobalt, graphite and tungsten, [Burstein] said.”
Critical minerals needed for “military operations”
In April 2025, RBC Wealth Management also stated: “A typical artillery tank requires over 20 different critical minerals across navigation, communications, and combat systems… Batteries and semiconductors are also increasingly important to military operations, along with more traditional needs to strengthen artillery, naval and aerospace (antimony, beryllium, titanium, among others).”
Critical minerals and “border security”
RBC also notes: “[With] border security; tungsten is used in automobile x-rays and germanium within thermal imaging and night vision goggles.”
Rare earth minerals needed for F-35s
Rare earth elements are a subset of critical minerals.
Mining.com has noted: “Each F-35 Lightning II aircraft … requires approximately 920 pounds of rare-earth materials, according to a 2013 report from the U.S. Congressional Research Service. …Other uses are for Stryker armored fighting vehicles, Predator drones and Tomahawk cruise missiles.”
Rare earth elements include scandium, praseodymium, yttrium, samarium, lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, europium, terbium, dysprosium, erbium and lutetium.
Multiple critical minerals are also needed for the production of F-35s.
Image from UWA Defense Security.
NATO identifies critical minerals
In December 2024, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) published a list of 12 defense-critical raw materials essential for military production.
NATO highlights: “Aluminum, for example, is pivotal in producing lightweight yet robust military aircraft and missiles, enhancing their agility and performance. Graphite is crucial for the production of main battle tanks and corvettes due to its high strength and thermal stability. In submarines, graphite is used in the construction of hulls and other structural components, significantly reducing acoustic signatures and enhancing stealth capabilities. Cobalt is another critical material, essential for producing superalloys used in jet engines, missiles, and submarines, which can withstand extreme temperatures and stress.”