CPC Panel
Efgan Nifti
Caspian Policy Center Addresses US Strategic Mineral Needs in the Trans-Caspian Corridor
By Elaine Pasquini
Washington: The Caspian Policy Center (CPC) hosted a webinar on February 12, 2025, to discuss the new report by CPC senior fellow Eric Rudenshiold and his team on how to meet the strategic mineral needs of the United States. The panel of experts specifically addressed the critical mineral potential of Ukraine, the South Caucasus and Central Asia.
Following CPC President Efgan Nifti’s welcoming remarks, CPC Chairman Richard Hoagland, former ambassador to Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, began the program with questions for Ariel Cohen, managing director of the Energy Growth and Security Program at the International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC) and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.
Noting the timeliness of the discussion, Cohen pointed out President Donald J. Trump’s recent comments that “the US needs to acquire $500 billion worth of Ukraine’s rare earths” in exchange for the billions of dollars of assistance that the US provided to Ukraine.
Looking at the three regions of discussion, Cohen stated that Central Asia, and especially Kazakhstan, is a leading source of many rare earths, followed by Ukraine and the Caucasus.
Most importantly, Cohen stressed, the US is in an entirely new era of geopolitical competition, and “I think Trump gets it.” But the US is locked in a strategic competition with China, the dominant producer and melter of rare earths, along with geological exploration and mining investment. Since the 1990s, “China has deliberately dominated this sector…on which our airspace, high-tech, computers, chip production, electric vehicles, electric batteries all depend,” he stated. “Today, 70 percent of melting and processing is done in China and China does not shy away from using the rare earths as a strategic cudgel, as a weapon, just as we do with tariffs.”
Washington’s lack of interest in the region, Cohen noted, is reflected by the absence of any presidential visit to Central Asia. Russian President Putin visits the former Soviet Republics at least once a year. President Xi Jinping of China also frequently travels to the area while Central Asian leaders go to Beijing and Moscow annually.
Pini Althaus, managing director of Cove Capital, LLC (CC), established a direct relationship with the government of Kazakhstan in 2023, which enabled CC to obtain nine concessions that host everything from tailings from prior Soviet production to beryllium, tantalum, lithium and niobium, he said.
“In April 2024, Cove Capital entered into a joint venture with Kazakh mining company Tau-Ken Samruk to develop the state-owned Arkalyk rare earth deposit,” he said. The company is also involved with the government in Uzbekistan and the government of Tajikistan which is the second largest exporter of antimony.
CC has pledged to employ locals in its projects, Althaus continued. In 1993, Kazakhstan’s first president Nursultan Nazarbayev created the Bolashak scholarship program to provide students opportunities to study abroad, such as at the Colorado School of Mines. CC employs many Bolashak alumni at its mines and labs so the country can establish its own domestic expertise in this area and build a long-term mining sector from the ground up.
In addition to working with CC, Kazakhstan has signed agreements with South Korea, the UK, France, Germany and others. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s mining reforms have made it easier for US and Western companies to apply for concessions, including providing more transparency and easing jurisdictional concerns.
Looking at Ukraine, a vast percentage of its critical minerals are in the eastern part currently occupied by Russia and “whether or not Russia sees that as part of any future peace process remains to be seen,” Althaus said.
Reed Blakemore, director of research and programs at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center, expressed the need for the US to think through an effective critical mineral supply chain policy.
“This does then bear strongly on how you’re addressing the challenges within the midstream,” he said. “Processing and refining are major bottlenecks within the effectiveness of our supply chain management, and I think that warrants more attention from policymakers in Washington to really adopt the strategies that are going to enable non-Chinese midstream activity.”
Eric Rudenshiold, CPC senior fellow and former director of the National Security Council for Central Asia, noted that China’s dominance in critical minerals is not an accident, but a decades-long set of investments, which Rudenshiold argues… is a “direct threat and challenge to the United States and to our global industries that are reliant on these specific resources.”
Rare earths and critical minerals are necessary for many industries, he said, including technology, manufacturing chips, aviation, communications and renewable energy.
“Central Asia is looking to capitalize on their resources,” he continued. “If we invest with them, partner with them…there is a real opportunity and certainly Central Asia is rich in the kind of stable power that is necessary in order to be able to cost effectively process minerals.”
“This is the cusp of the moment when we can move forward building partnerships with Central Asia by investing in strategic minerals and rare earths that are going to be long-term, long-lasting,” Rudenshiold said. “Refining these long-term investments will build partnerships and security for the United States.”
In conclusion, CPC President Nifti pointed out that, with the Central Asian and Caucasus regions diversifying their economic and political relations, opportunities are emerging.
Multilateral institutions are engaged in the region, he noted, specifically the Organization of Turkic States, and also countries including Israel, the Gulf states, Korea, Japan and the European Union.
Highlighting that the majority of infrastructure investment in the region was not by China or Russia, but was accomplished by Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and the area itself, Nifti said these countries are not only “looking to become a bridge between the great economic powers,” but “the main goal is to get connected with each other” and also increase trade within the region and around the world.
(Elaine Pasquini is a freelance journalist. Her reports appear in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Nuze.Ink.)
