host sponsor
GOLD SPONSOR
OVERVIEW
Turning geopolitical tides have highlighted the essential nature of the mining ecosystem, lying as it does at the intersection of national security and global energy demands. At this crucial juncture, collaboration among nations is essential to building the secure, value-added supply chains needed to drive their rapidly shifting economies. Great strides are being made, but much remains to be done to bolster the Western world’s mining, processing, and supply chain capabilities and secure its economic future.
The Commodities Innovation Forum: Metals + Mining takes a deep dive into the key forces—geopolitics and policy, industry trends, economic drivers, capital markets, and technological innovation—shaping the global mining ecosystem. Through focused panels and presentations, we’ll explore the forces driving global minerals demand, the strategies that governments and industry are deploying to build resilient supply chains, the cutting-edge innovations transforming mining and processing operations, and the creative financing mechanisms required to turn strategic vision into operational reality.
For stakeholders, the innovation imperative at this critical juncture is clear. The purpose of this event is to inform, connect and frame a narrative for the ecosystem’s future.
STRUCTURE + audience
- Format: Half-day (afternoon) event followed by a networking reception, hosted at Clifford Chance’s offices in New York.
- Sessions: The agenda will feature a mix of panel discussions, fireside chats, and keynote presentations focused on the evolving mining and metals ecosystem and the innovation imperative driving change within it.
- Attendees: Expect ~100+ senior attendees from across the ecosystem: policymakers and government officials, mining and mineral processing company executives, battery technology and manufacturing leaders, OEM leaders, capital markets leaders, and professional services. This diverse audience of stakeholders across the ecosystem ensures a rich exchange of insights and connections across the value chain.
- Objective: The purpose of the forum is to take a deep dive into the key forces—geopolitics and policy, industry trends, economic drivers, capital markets, and technological innovation—shaping the global mining ecosystem.
THEMES + AGENDA
11:45 AM – 12:50 PM: REGISTRATION + NETWORKING LUNCH
12:50 – 1:00 PM: OPENING REMARKS
1:00 – 1:50 PM | The advancement of minerals & materials security in the U.S.: demand trends, geopolitics, and the strategic imperative
- Demand drivers: How the data center boom, the recalibration of green technology policy, the modernization of U.S. defense and aerospace infrastructure, and other trends are reshaping the outlook for minerals and materials demand across the Western world
- Shifting tailwinds: The key opportunities and challenges emerging from the shift in emphasis from price to policy in the materials industry
- M&A and portfolio strategy: How global mining companies are using acquisitions, divestitures, and portfolio diversification to compete with China and position for the new geopolitical reality
- Sovereign partnerships and allied cooperation: How the U.S. is leveraging bilateral agreements, development finance, and trade negotiations — as seen in deals from Ukraine to the Western hemisphere — to build supply chain resilience
- Canada’s strategic value proposition: The resources, infrastructure, and the regulatory and ESG frameworks that make Canada a preferred partner for Western minerals development
1:55 – 2:45 PM | The forces shaping Western supply chains: corporate strategy, supply chain realignment, and the allied industrial network
- A new geopolitical architecture: How procurement mandates, bilateral offtake agreements, stockpiling, and public-private partnerships are reshaping mineral flows — and where the gaps between political ambition and commercial reality remain
- The business case for diversification: The real risk-adjusted math behind broadening exposure across refining and processing geographies, and which strategies for building more resilient, multi-source supply chains are actually delivering results
- Regulatory momentum and its limits: Where executive orders are moving the needle for U.S. mining projects — and where permitting remains the binding constraint for operators
- Allied industrial partners: How corporates like Mitsubishi Materials are investing in U.S. processing and recycling capacity, and what a durable allied industrial partnership actually looks like in practice
- R&D: The progress being made to build circular pathways and shorten supply chains
2:45 – 3:05 PM: break
3:05 – 3:55 PM | Capital, clean tech, and the new metallurgy: financing and scaling Western processing capacity
- Underwriting the unknown: How venture capital, strategic corporate funds, and dedicated critical materials vehicles each price the simultaneous technical, offtake, and policy risks of minerals and metals processing projects
- Clean processing as competitive advantage: Where novel extraction, refining, and metallurgical technologies are genuinely closing the cost and performance gap with incumbent processing — and where the gap remains
- The offtake imperative: Who is signing long-term supply agreements, on what terms, and how the demand side is evolving its approach to securing processed materials supply
- Allied capital, allied supply: What role can coordinated Western investment play in building a processing and supply web that is genuinely resilient — and what stands in the way?
4:00 – 4:50 PM | Innovation in financing: the structures, instruments, and markets drawing capital back into mining
- A new era for mining finance: How the institutional capital drought is reshaping the sector’s financing landscape — and what it will take to bring large pools of capital back into metals and mining at scale
- The visible hand: How companies are leveraging government support as a financing tool — and what it takes to access that capital
- Bridging the funding gap: The hybrid and alternative capital structures being deployed to move projects from early-stage development to bankable, large-scale production
- Canadian capital markets:How flow-through shares, the TSXV, and a deep ecosystem of royalty and streaming capital give miners a unique financing toolkit — and why Canada remains a critical on-ramp for Western minerals development
4:50 – 5:00 PM: Closing Remarks
5:00 – 6:00 PM: NETWORKING RECEPTION
host sponsor
GOLD SPONSOR
SPONSORSHIP
Partner with The Legal Innovation Forum to engage senior legal leaders and innovators shaping the future of the industry.
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