

Mint Explainer: Can Pax Silica, with India's backing, break China’s dominance in critical minerals?
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : US officials are increasingly pushing India to join the Pax Silica initiative aimed at challenging China's dominance in the critical minerals supply chain. On 6 February, Jacob Helberg, under secretary of state for economic affairs, told reporters that the US is excited to invite India to join the initiative, as it is perhaps the only country in the world that can challenge China's dominance in terms of the volume of human talent.
Mint examines whether such an initiative can succeed, and why it is important. The initiative aims to bring together countries across continents to collaborate on diversifying the supply chains of critical minerals such as lithium, rare-earth elements, gallium, germanium, palladium, and indium, among others, which are used in sectors ranging from artificial intelligence infrastructure to automobiles. Launched by the US in December 2025, it will look to collaborate across the entire supply chain: from technology to mining to the processing of critical minerals.
Currently, the initiative has nine official signatories: Australia, Greece, Israel, Japan, Qatar, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Non-signatory partners include countries like Canada, the European Union, the Netherlands, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and Taiwan. Be it artificial intelligence, green energy, or electric vehicles, all depend on the availability of critical minerals—many of which are heavily concentrated in China.
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