CRITICAL MINERALS SUPPLY CHAINS AND U.S. STRATEGIC INVESTMENT IN CENTRAL ASIA’S MINING SECTOR

Abstract

Geoeconomic competition over the most important minerals - especially tungsten or molybdenum and other materials crucial in defense, aerospace, technology production and clean energy, has become one of the most characteristic geoeconomic challenges in the past 10 years. The United States stepped up between 2015 and 2025 to no longer rely on China but in mineral supply chains and found Central Asia (Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) as new and value partners.

This paper revitalizes and builds upon earlier discussion of U.S. investments in the mining industries of Central Asia, incorporating recent events, including the C5+1 Summit of 6 November 2025, in which critical minerals were an item of high discussion. The paper will analyze the geopolitical explanations of the U.S. choice to invest in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and how host country reform boosts foreign capital inflows and evaluates the approach of long-term effects on global supply chain resilience by use of qualitative content analysis of policy documents, reforms in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and commentary by scholars and institutions.

These include a table on major U.S. Central Asia mineral agreements and a conceptual map on the C5+1 system of resource diplomacy. On the whole, the results indicate that the U.S. engagement is motivated by security risks, supply chain weakness, and competition with China, whereas Central Asian states use this focus to speed up the mining reforms, draw in investment, and make their geopolitical standing more solid.