Critical mineral processing will go global in 2026, experts say

From clean tech to critical minerals, China dominates the green economy. Its government policies incentivize Chinese companies to manufacture renewable infrastructure like solar panels (and process the minerals to make them), in addition to batteries and other energy technologies.

But foreign and private-sector efforts to diversify the critical mineral supply chain are picking up steam—and experts told Tech Brew that 2026 will be all about unseating China as the primary processor of such materials.

Private progress: Even though critical minerals can be mined all over the world, processing the materials hits a bottleneck in China. In response, many companies outside China are pioneering ways to refine critical minerals. This includes pH7, a company that refines critical minerals by recycling the chemicals it uses for extraction. This process is an alternative to smelting—aka heating up mineral ores in order to separate the metals.

Mohammad Doostmohammadi, ph7’s founder and CEO, told Tech Brew the company is hoping to help regionalize metal processing by building plants in the US and Europe in addition to its operational plant in Vancouver.

“As long as the processing is happening in South Asia, in China, they’re going to own the market because they own the metals,” Doostmohammadi said. “Regionalizing and localizing the metal processing is going to be the key for the next few years.”

Government programs: Government initiatives will also be a huge impetus for regionalization, Tina Tosukhowong, investment director at tech startup investment firm TDK Ventures, told Tech Brew. What’s more, 2025 has seen cross-border governmental partnerships—Germany and Canada as well as the US and Australia have teamed up in pursuit of critical mineral procurement and refinement—which Tosukhowong thinks there will be more of.

“There are more grants and more collaborations going on,” she said.

In that same vein, Tosukhowong said the Trump administration needs to continue strengthening the domestic supply chain of critical minerals, lest it “fall behind” other countries like Japan and India, which are trying to do the same.

This year, critical minerals have been one of the administration’s biggest priorities: President Trump signed an executive order in April that greenlit deep sea mining for mineral resources, and in August, the Department of Energy rolled out a host of new programs to reshore critical mineral mining and processing.

The DOE’s latest venture, however, has been zeroing in on expanding the critical minerals workforce in the US “in order to usher in the golden age of America,” as DOE Senior Advisor Joe Gollinger said at a livestreamed event this month. During the livestream, DOE higher-ups touted its employment development programs and new resources aimed at creating a “workforce that is motivated and trained to excel and drive [the critical minerals] industry forward,” Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson said.

“Industry leaders, government support and government agencies, academic institutions, labor unions, local communities, apprenticeship programs,” Robertson continued. “All of these different entities need to collaborate for us to cultivate and align educational pathways with the needs of this specific industry as it comes back to America and as we intend it to grow.”