Critical industrial metal: China controls 57% of global smelting capacity, Guinea's bauxite dominance and Russia's Rusal sanctions keep aluminium supply chains under active geopolitical pressure in 2026.
Russia's UC Rusal controls roughly 6% of global primary aluminium output and holds key European refining assets, making it central to EU sanctions and critical-minerals supply debates.
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From Chilean brine fields to Congolese copper pits, fifteen companies mine and refine the lithium, copper and cobalt the energy transition depends on.
OCCRP and Irish Times reporting in May-June 2026 documented that alumina from Rusal's Irish refinery was flowing back to Russia; the Irish Taoiseach resisted closure citing 1,000 jobs, while Belgium's foreign minister pushed for EU action