Stockpiling Is Not Security: Critical Minerals, Strategic Inventories, and the Difference Between Buffering Shocks and Building Capacity

This commentary argues that critical-mineral stockpiling is useful but insufficient as a complete security strategy. Stockpiles can buffer shocks and buy time, but they do not build mines, refineries, recycling systems, processing capacity, or legitimacy. Using Wang, Vespignani, and Smyth on EV battery mineral security as the technical anchor and the prior NEP MIN friend-shoring commentary as the conceptual bridge, the article distinguishes emergency buffering from structural capacity building.

Keywords: critical minerals; stockpiling; strategic inventories; mineral security; recycling; supply chains; refining; processing; industrial policy; mining economics; NEP MIN; resource governance