Securing mineral supply: backwards vertical integration for technology companies

Abstract

The demand for minerals has increased with the growing production of standard technologies, such as EV car batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels. However, major mining companies need help to satisfy the demand at the current rate, leading to inconsistent and expensive supply chains and environmental and geopolitical concerns. Technology companies should consider backward vertical integration strategies to mitigate against risks associated with supply chain issues, which would merge upstream processes essential to companies' value chains. By doing so, they can mitigate the mine's health, safety, and ecological impacts by employing the latest mining technologies.