Who Mines vs Who Refines

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 same six things great powers fight to control run through the Journal's instruments, the narrows, the money, the materials, and next the cables that carry the data. The Sovereign Family states the household version.