Davos: Why Resilience Starts with Mineral Sourcing

At Davos, leaders tackle the critical mineral scramble. Amid geopolitical shifts, global supply chain resilience hinges on new sourcing models and AI.

When nearly 3,000 government and industry leaders descended upon the snow-capped Swiss Alps for the World Economic Forum's 2026 Annual Meeting, supply chain vulnerabilities emerged as a defining theme amid mounting geopolitical tensions.

The gathering in Davos, themed "A Spirit of Dialogue," unfolded against intensifying geo-economic confrontation and a shifting world order. For supply chain professionals, the implications could prove far-reaching as procurement strategies and logistics networks face unprecedented pressure from material scarcity and geopolitical realignment.

Within this high-stakes environment, a panel titled "The Geopolitics of Materials" addressed a fundamental challenge: the energy transition and AI revolution represent hardware problems, not merely software challenges. The race to secure critical minerals has emerged as a primary driver of supply chain reconfiguration and industrial policy.

Ravi Agrawal, Editor-in-Chief of Foreign Policy, opened the session by framing the current period as an "AI revolution" that has triggered a "new scramble" for materials in a world increasingly defined by protectionism and shifting alliances.

Copper shortfall threatens infrastructure buildout

Jonathan Price, CEO of Teck Resources, outlined the stark mathematical reality confronting global supply chains.

"By 2035, we expect to see a doubling in the copper that is required relative to today and based on known supply forecasts, we expect to fall 30% short by then," Jonathan warns.

"And that's a huge problem because supply and demand always meet. And if the metals aren't available, it means that we can't build the grid that we need or we can't develop the data centres that are required."

This supply-demand gap could represent a substantial obstacle to infrastructure development globally, potentially limiting grid expansion and data centre construction essential for the AI revolution. For supply chain leaders, the copper deficit underscores the need for strategic sourcing partnerships and long-term contract negotiations to secure material availability.

Regulatory timelines impact procurement planning

Saudi Arabia, represented by Minister Bandar Alkhorayef, is positioning mining as its third industrial pillar alongside oil and petrochemicals. The Kingdom is addressing supply bottlenecks by streamlining bureaucratic processes that impact time-to-market for new mineral sources.

"Now in Saudi Arabia, it takes between 30 and 90 days [to have a permit]," Bandar says, contrasting this with mining-rich Canada where the process can take a decade.

"Mining does not have a good reputation globally and for good reason."

However, he positioned mining as essential for diversifying the Kingdom's economy, noting that "more than 50% of our GDP is actually coming from non-oil revenue."

The variance in permitting timelines across jurisdictions could influence supplier diversification strategies and long-term sourcing decisions for procurement teams managing critical mineral supply chains.

African beneficiation could reshape sourcing models

Boitumelo Mosako, CEO of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, emphasised that for the continent, critical minerals represent "strategic assets" rather than commodities. She advocated for moving beyond the colonial "pit to port" extraction model toward local processing, or beneficiation.

"What is key for us as a continent is to ensure that the previous models of extraction are not adopted. We actually need to negotiate the terms of how [we are] going to take advantage of this opportunity together." - Boitumelo Mosako DBSA CEO

This shift toward in-country processing could require supply chain leaders to reconfigure procurement networks and establish relationships with African processors rather than relying solely on traditional extraction-export models.

Jack Hidary, CEO of SandboxAQ, suggested that technology – specifically AI and quantum computing – could reduce reliance on scarce materials by enabling the design of alternatives.

"We can now ask the question of the software, help us design a different alloy, an alloy of other materials that are readily available that were already mining, already have permits already at scale and already plentiful that can give us the performance of a neodymium base magnet," Jack explains.

He also challenged current processing concentration, noting that "85% of all the batteries in the world are made in one country... 92% of all the lithium for those batteries is processed in China."

According to Jack, the future lies in "sovereign battery production" enabled by robotics and automation, potentially reducing geopolitical vulnerabilities in supply chains.

In a Davos defined by raw power dynamics and shifting borders, the panel's message emphasised that supply chain resilience could depend on securing innovative and equitable supply chains for critical materials.

Source: Supply Chain Digital

Image Source: Dreamstime

Video Source: YouTube WEF