Europe’s critical minerals shortfall is framed by economic geologist Dr Nicholas Vafeas as a policy choice, with the EU funnelling roughly €380 billion per year into tightly scripted, mission-oriented R&D that favours climate and digital themes but leaves little room for speculative processing, refining and separation technologies. On a comparable $500 billion R&D spend, China files about 1.8 million patents—over 3,500 per $1 billion—buying “optionality” in areas like graphite processing, rare earth separation and lithium refining long before they became strategic. For miners and processors, the message is that control over midstream capabilities, not just new deposits, will define Europe’s leverage in future supply chains.

Western Australia has completed a major overhaul of its digital environmental approvals system for mining and petroleum, with the final release of the Resources Online platform now live. Core environmental lodgements have been migrated from the legacy Environmental Assessment and Regulatory System, consolidating submissions, tracking and regulator interactions into a single online interface. Operators can now lodge and manage mining proposals, environmental plans and compliance reports digitally, which should shorten approval timelines and give project teams clearer visibility of assessment status and information requests.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to rebuild between two and five nuclear reactors in the 2040s, rising to a total of 11–14 units by the 2050s as part of its long-term power mix strategy. The programme will focus on replacing ageing plants built mainly in the 1970s–80s with new-generation reactors designed for higher seismic resistance and improved passive safety systems. Civil and geotechnical teams can expect major foundation upgrades, tsunami and flood defences, and extensive seismic retrofitting at existing coastal sites.