CNBC Television
Critical Metals CEO: Hoping to supply the world within two years
11/6/2025, 8:25:30 PM
Economic Summary
- Critical Metals (project) has received its license and environmental approval and aims to break ground in Q3 next year, targeting first product sales within about 12 months after construction, potentially supplying markets within two years.
- The deposit is extremely large (around 4.7 billion tons), homogenous, and located ~250 meters from deep water, enabling low-logistics extraction via a floating dock and potentially lower capital requirements and faster time-to-market for CRITICAL METALS.
- Rare earths in the deposit—examples mentioned include hafnium, gallium, and dysprosium—are critical to nuclear reactors, smartphones, electric vehicles, and aerospace; companies like NVDA and TSLA (and firms in space/defense) depend on secure supply.
- Global market dynamics: China currently dominates processing (>90%) and lithium supply (~80%), giving it pricing power; Western efforts to diversify supply are supportive but only partially and temporarily mitigate that dominance.
Bullish
- Massive 4.7 billion ton homogeneous ore body implies long-term supply potential.
- Site is 250m from deep water; floating dock minimizes logistics and infrastructure needs.
- Growing demand from tech, EVs, and nuclear reactors should increase rare-earth prices.
- Western push to reduce China dependence favors new domestic/Western sources.
Bearish
- China controls >90% of rare earth processing, creating pricing and supply bottlenecks.
- Project currently has no production; timeline to first shipment is optimistic and could slip.
- Previous owner invested heavily but never developed the deposit, suggesting execution risk.
- Dependence on specialized processing and global refining capacity could delay revenue.
Bullish tickers
CRITICAL METALSNVDATSLA
Bearish tickers
CRITICAL METALSSPACEX
CRITICAL METALS
Bullish
Huge 4.7 billion ton deposit near deep water with licenses and environmental approval, enabling relatively quick, low‑logistics production to supply global rare-earth demand.
Bearish
No current production and optimistic timeline; prior owner did not develop despite sizable personal investment, exposing execution and market-access risks.
NVDA
Bullish
As a major tech/hardware player, NVDA benefits from diversified rare-earth supply to support continued demand for advanced chips.
Bearish
Supply-chain concentration in China for rare earths could create material input cost or availability risk.
TSLA
Bullish
Increased Western rare-earth production would support TSLA's motor and EV supply security.
Bearish
EV supply chains are vulnerable to rare-earth processing bottlenecks dominated by China.
SPACEX
Bullish
A stable, diversified supply of specialized rare-earths would support aerospace and space-exploration hardware needs.
Bearish
Space and defense demand could face volatile pricing if processing capacity remains concentrated in China.
People mentioned
Tony SageDonald Trump