In the latest episode of Fast Forward, Fastmarkets’ Andrea Hotter speaks to senior figures across government and industry, including the US Department of Energy, Rio Tinto and Lockheed Martin, to unpack how critical minerals and battery materials are being reshaped by shifting demand, policy priorities and national security concerns.

In this episode of Fast Forward, Andrea Hotter reports from the Fastmarkets Global Lithium, Battery and Critical Materials Conference in Las Vegas, exploring how the sector is shifting from an EV‑led growth story to a broader ecosystem spanning energy storage, AI and national security.

The tungsten market was changing, Fastmarkets heard in the week to Wednesday June 24, and in a trading environment that was becoming less globalized and more fragmented, alongside trade tensions between the US and China in particular, the relationship between prices within China and outside the country has shifted.

The geopolitics-led diversification of critical minerals supply chains is broadly viewed as a tailwind to the lithium market, senior executives said during the Executive Keynote Panel at Fastmarkets’ Global Lithium, Battery and Critical Materials in Las Vegas on Tuesday June 23.

Shin-Etsu Chemical, one of Japan’s largest manufacturers of rare earth magnets, plans to build a new domestic rare earths refinery in Fukui, Japan, as first reported by Nikkei Asia.

Chinese zinc ingot exporters remain on standby on Monday June 22, after months of market positioning, with traders and smelters still waiting for a clearer margin signal before moving cargoes at scale, market participants told Fastmarkets.

Naturally produced graphite offers a cheaper and more supply-chain stable alternative for battery manufacturers and consumers, Jon Jacobs, chief commercial officer of US-based mineral resources developer Westwater Resources, told Fastmarkets in an exclusive interview on Thursday June 4, as concerns over Chinese dominance in the market forced buyers to look elsewhere.

The West entered the rare earths race late as countries in general were slow to act and now China is far ahead, Mineração Taboca executive manager Ronaldo Lasmar said in an interview with Fastmarkets.

The sharp rise in demand for lithium is outpacing the growth of an independent US supply chain, Ian Rodger, chief executive officer of lithium development company US Elemental, told Fastmarkets in an exclusive interview on Wednesday June 3.

An interview with Assistant Secretary, Michael Cadenazzi at the Department of War, as it is known, and Zach Boykin, the department's technical director for strategic and critical minerals with Andrea Hotter for the Fast Forward podcast.