One country figured out you don't need to OWN the mine. You just need to own THE ROAD OUT of it. That country now processes almost EVERY critical mineral on earth. Australia does the digging for lithium. Congo does it for cobalt. Chile sits on the reserves. Cool. China just processes all of it. 65% of lithium. 74% of cobalt. 100% of graphite. Literally all of it. 90% of rare earths. Your EV battery, your AI chip, your wind turbine, that fighter jet your government is bragging about. All of it touches one country before it becomes anything useful. The west looked at mineral refining, said "too dirty, too expensive" and handed it over. China said thanks. Now every country trying to build the future has to call the same guy. Mines are leverage. Processing is control.