Strategic Materials
Policy Tracker

Strategic Materials Policy Tracker

Understand what governments are doing about critical minerals, and what the evidence actually shows.

Start from an announcement and follow it to the legal clause, the financing record, the industrial project and the original document. Each step keeps its own status, so a pledge is never read as a payment and a paused rule is never read as one in force.

Explore published researchStart your own questionSee three worked cases

New research: Tungsten Supply Security — Research Dossier 001.

Research by Benjamin Yang.

Where the records sit along the supply chain

  • government commitments
  • control clauses
  • designations

Scroll sideways to see every stage.

  1. Exploration

    • 4 commitments

  2. Mining

    • 13 commitments
    • 8 control clauses
    • 18 designations

  3. Separation

    • 6 commitments
    • 9 control clauses
    • 1 designation

  4. Processing

    • 25 commitments
    • 10 control clauses
    • 20 designations

  5. Refining

    • 12 commitments
    • 9 control clauses
    • 3 designations

  6. Component manufacturing

    • 7 commitments
    • 7 control clauses

  7. Final manufacturing

    No records coded

  8. Recycling

    • 6 commitments
    • 4 control clauses
    • 15 designations
Distinct records at each stage across all materials, as of the revision. A record that covers several stages is counted at each; the three kinds are counted apart and never added. Commitments leave out funding options and withdrawn or lapsed rows. Also recorded outside the physical chain: research and development (4 commitments); cross-cutting (1 control clause). Browse by material and stage

Three questions the records can answer

Each case below is drawn from the published records, with statuses as of the revision. Every line opens the record it comes from.

Legal controls

What does an export restriction actually cover, and is it in force?

A headline names a measure. The legal effect sits in individual clauses, each with its own covered items, materials and status. Here one clause is traced from the measure to the issuing document.

  1. Measure

    MOFCOM & GACC Announcement No. 18 of 2025: export controls on certain medium and heavy rare-earth-related items

  2. Operative clause

    Items 1–7: export licensing

    In force from as of the revision. Covered items belong to separation, refining, component manufacturing.

    钐、钆、铽、镝、镥、钪、钇相关物项：金属、合金、靶材、氧化物、化合物及其混合物，以及钐钴永磁材料和含铽、含镝的钕铁硼永磁材料。

  3. Materials

  4. Original source

    MOFCOM/GACC Announcement No. 18 of 2025 (medium & heavy rare earths)

    Ministry of Commerce (China); original in Chinese

Not every later rule is in force

A later measure, MOFCOM Announcement No. 61 of 2025: decision to implement export controls on relevant rare-earth items located outside China, extended licensing to some items made outside China. Its clause Item 1(2) is suspended from until as of the revision, under a separate suspension announcement. Adopted but paused, usually until a stated date.

Public finance

Has the money been promised, committed or paid?

Financing headlines mix announcements, approvals and payments. SMPT records each instrument with the amount in the source's own words and a status history. These three sit at different points; their amounts are never added together.

Browse public capital records

  1. Announced as of the revision

    Australian Government: equity, up to USD 200 million

    For Alcoa-Sojitz Gallium Recovery Project

    Announced: Publicly announced; no decision or agreement is stated. This status does not itself establish a cash payment. In particular, a signed contract does not necessarily establish an obligation of funds.

    Source wording: up to USD$200 million in concessional equity finance for the project

  2. Decided as of the revision

    Export-Import Bank of the United States: loan, USD 2.906 billion

    For Stibnite Gold Project

    Decided: The provider has decided to invest, lend or award, including a conditional commitment. This status does not itself establish a cash payment. In particular, a signed contract does not necessarily establish an obligation of funds.

    Source wording: 2,906 [US$ millions]

  3. Disbursed as of the revision

    U.S. Department of Defense, Air Force Research Laboratory: grant, up to USD 59.2 million

    For Stibnite Gold Project

    Disbursed: The money has been paid out. The source-linked current status records disbursement. Check the cited history for amount, timing and scope; it does not establish physical construction.

    Source wording: $59.2 million

Comparison

How are different governments trying to secure the same supply chain?

For tungsten, governments reach for different tools at different stages: a project designation, public investment, a grant and export licensing. They are not equivalent measures, and sharing a material does not make one a response to another. Records are listed by supply-chain stage, not ranked; SMPT records what was decided, not whether it worked.

Tungsten profileAll tungsten events

  1. European Union

    Mining

    Strategic-project designation · Recognized as of the revision

    Commission Decision recognising 13 critical raw material projects in third countries and overseas countries or territories as Strategic Projects under the Critical Raw Materials Act

    · Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine

  2. United Kingdom

    Mining, Processing

    Public investment package · Announced as of the revision

    National Wealth Fund backs Tungsten West to unlock critical UK tungsten supply

    · Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine · up to GBP 71 million as stated

  3. Japan

    Processing

    Grant under a certified supply plan · Decided as of the revision

    Certification of Allied Material's critical-minerals supply-assurance plan for tungsten under the Economic Security Promotion Act

    · Allied Material tungsten reduction and carburisation facilities · about JPY 7.5 billion as stated

  4. China

    Refining, Processing

    Export licensing · In force as of the revision

    MOFCOM/GACC Announcement No. 10 of 2025 on export controls on tungsten and related items

Start your own question

Pick the kind of evidence you need. Each starting point opens a filterable view of the records.

  1. Government action

    What have governments decided, and in what legal form?

  2. Public capital

    Which public money and instruments are committed, and at what status?

  3. Projects

    What does the record show for one industrial project?

  4. Compare

    How do approaches differ across governments and supply-chain stages?

  5. Evidence

    Where does each claim come from, and what does the corpus leave out?

Or open a worked project question

Browse project investigations

Browse by material and stage

Marks show which kinds of record the corpus holds for a material at each supply-chain stage. Select a marked cell to read the records behind it.

Materials by supply-chain stage

Select a marked cell to inspect its records
Provider / issuer / designating government

Supply-chain stage · select to inspect

  • Government commitments not ended, a package once
  • Control clauses, any status
  • Designations: standing, not money
  • Area: number of records, never money
Counting rules and qualifications

What each mark counts

  • Government commitments that have not ended: capital rows in the commitment role with a named providing government. A package counts once; its parts are not counted again.
  • Control clauses of any status on 3 Nov 2026, placed at the stage their covered items belong to.
  • Both at one stage. They sit side by side; the record does not link a clause to a financing.
  • One or more project designations: standing, not money. Select a node for the number.
1369Dot area is the number of records, never money or effectiveness.

A record can occupy several stages; rows and columns are never totalled. Empty cells describe the coded corpus, not an absence of government activity. Not placed: 26 of 45 clauses, 8 designations and 8 commitment or option rows that record no stage, tracked material or providing government, and 21 rows in other value roles, such as the 5 indications.

Start with a material

Or browse by government

Evidence standards and limits

Each measure, financial instrument and control clause is its own record with a status history and a source for every field, so it can be filtered, compared and cited on its own terms.

Evidence kept in layers

A government's rationale, a legal obligation, a financing approval and a reported construction milestone answer different questions. Official framing keeps its quoted anchor and translation provenance; issuer claims keep their attribution.

Read the methodology

What SMPT does not do

No price forecasts, risk scores or effectiveness ratings, and no totals across unlike instruments. Coverage is selective; a missing record is not evidence that nothing happened.

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