The critical minerals challenge is where climate ambition collides with geopolitical reality. My supply chain analysis confirms the concentration: China controls 85% of REE processing, 80% of cobalt processing, and 70%+ of battery-grade nickel refining despite not holding majority reserves for any of these. This is an industrial policy story, not a resource story — the reserves exist in democratic nations (Australia, Canada, Chile, Zambia). Processing infrastructure was never built because it was cheaper to send raw ore to China. Fixing this requires accepting a 15-25% cost premium on critical minerals for 10-15 years while Western processing infrastructure scales. The Democratic Minerals Alliance concept addresses shock resilience (90-day collective stockpile, coordinated release protocols) while EPR recycling mandates address long-term circular economy — at current commodity prices, urban mining economics are already compelling; we just need the collection infrastructure that mandatory EPR would unlock.