Six metals underpinning semiconductors, defence alloys and autocatalysts where China or Russia controls supply, making export restrictions a primary geopolitical weapon.
A platinum-group metal supplying roughly 85% of gasoline-catalytic-converter demand globally; Russia's Nornickel controls 40% of world output, making palladium a geopolitically exposed critical mineral.
full dossier ›Russia's largest mining company and the world's dominant palladium producer, whose Arctic ore bodies and sanctions exposure make it a structural variable in global critical-mineral supply chains.
A platinum-group metal mined overwhelmingly in South Africa and Russia, supplying diesel autocatalysts, industrial processes, and green-hydrogen electrolysers, with global supply in structural deficit since 2023.
The rarest platinum-group metal and the catalyst that strips NOx from vehicle exhaust; over 80% mined in South Africa's Bushveld Complex.
The EU's 20th sanctions package closed one export channel but Global Witness found gaps; Q1 2026 palladium output fell 10-11%; Nornickel is negotiating a 2Mt/year copper concentrate JV with Xiamen C&D