JP Natural Resources

The resources a modern economy cannot do without, and that one or a few hands control. Each of the 28 here passes three tests: it is essential, its supply is concentrated, and it is deniable, meaning someone can withhold it. What decides power is where control sits: at the source, where a country holds the deposit or the crop, or at processing, where a country refines what others dig. For most it is processing, and for most the processor is China; the exceptions say as much as the rule. Click any resource for the full picture.

No.	Material	Top miner	Refining chokepoint	Held by

Reading the table

The number that matters is the refining share, not the mining share. A country can open a new mine in a few years; a refinery or a separation plant takes far longer and far more capital, which is why the processing step is where control concentrates and stays. Figures marked est. come from industry analysts rather than official statistics, and are labelled as such. Copper's 44 percent is the firmest number here, backed by hard tonnage from the US Geological Survey; graphite's 90 percent is the softest.

A family reads this the way it reads the chokepoints: as a map of what a rival can withhold. The narrows, the money, the resources, and the cables that carry the data are the same question asked of different things. The Sovereign Family states the household version.

Cite this publication

Journal for Jurisdiction Planning (2026). JP Natural Resources, v1.0. jurisdictionplanning.org/materials. Last reviewed 20 July 2026.