Pakistan’s first shipment of rare earth and critical minerals in 2025 signalled a choice: either remain a raw ore exporter or climb the mineral value chain. The answer is clear, but it requires urgent action.

The recent rare earth and strategic metals deal with a US partner brought export receipts and diplomatic goodwill with Washington. In the Gulf, the Qatar Investment Authority bought a stake in the Canadian miner Ivanhoe Mines for an exploration project in the Democratic Republic of Congo—at a time when the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) is actively investing in the country’s socio-economic development. In both cases, “goodwill” follows the transaction to sweeten the deal. It also represents a strategic repositioning around critical minerals.

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This comes at a time when the race to achieve technological dominance is at its peak, and so intense that it is causing fissures in the rules-based geopolitical order. New projects in Greenland are tying mineral supply to domestic production requirements. Central Asia is moving towards closed export alignments. China has narrowed antimony and tungsten exports through licensing rules that slow delivery without........

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