COLUMN-Beyond high-profile wars, a worldwide battle for resources

According to Pakistani media, the militants who stormed a lithium mining site in Balochistan last month had a simple message as they destroyed equipment ​and briefly detained employees: they were no longer prepared to tolerate mining operations in the region, and foreign and local mining firms should stay away. As wars ​in the Middle East and Ukraine grabbed headlines and the United States and China navigated their still largely bloodless ‌face-off, ​culminating in the meeting of President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping this week, a host of other overlapping confrontations over resources have ranged elsewhere in the world throughout 2026.

Behind the scenes, the US, European Union and Pacific governments, particularly Japan, South Korea, Australia and Taiwan, are already locked in a still-escalating high-stakes race to uncouple themselves from China when it comes to the key resources driving modern tech. Rare earths and minerals continue to fuel conflict in central Africa, while Sudan’s ongoing civil war is now largely fuelled by gold smuggling ‌that fills the coffers of groups intent on ethnic violence.

Some of that will have been discussed in New York this week at the annual United Nations General Assembly bringing world leaders together – but much of this global confrontation now takes place behind the scenes, albeit with starkly rising stakes. In the Gulf, the US-Iran conflict sparked by the launch of the US-Israeli "Operation Epic Fury" – now widened to include a worsening face-off between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthi rebels – now threatens an energy supply shock that might significantly derail global growth.

In the short term, significant amounts of the energy of the UN gathering were consumed by discussions over the safety of fast-evolving artificial intelligence models, with OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman and others briefing the Security Council. Discussions over ‌Ukraine have also included a potential suspension by both sides of attacks on energy infrastructure. In the background, however, the at least equally high-stakes confrontation taking place is over the raw materials necessary for that ongoing computing and wider technological revolution – including copper for almost every form of circuitry, lithium batteries and a host of other rarer ‌earths and other minerals.

In June, the European Commission joined the US State Department-coordinated “Pax Silica”, a Washington-led collective of more than two dozen nations that commenced with an agreement between the US and Japan in September and has expanded since to include much of Europe, as well as key Pacific allies. Still, according to consultancy AlixPartners, Beijing still accounts for up to 70% of rare earth mining, 85% of refining capability and 90% of rare earth metal alloy and magnet production. According to industry experts, the latter remains a pinch point for both aerospace and cutting-edge chip manufacturers – and so far, foreign diplomats in Washington say the US continues to struggle to regain that initiative.

That makes the battle for resources in places like Pakistan and central Asia particularly important – even while the limits of reporting and established fact can make that hard to track. What is clear, however, is that they ⁠are already very ​much part of that wider confrontation. BALOCHISTAN MINING TARGETED

According to global monitoring NGO ACLED – which stands for Armed ⁠Conflict Location and Event Data – mining interests in Balochistan have been targeted on at least 40 separate occasions so far in 2026. Local media now detail a wider range of incidents taking place almost every day, including an ambush and firefight of almost three dozen mining vehicles at the end of August that left at least 13 militants dead.

Other stories tell of suspected militants detained and then found dead, victims of suspected extrajudicial ⁠killings by government personnel or private security. Who is behind the several overlapping groups of ethnic Baloch militants remains hotly disputed. Pakistan routinely blames India’s Research and Analysis Wing intelligence agency, known as RAW, for coordinating and arming the attacks, something India denies. The region is the poorest in Pakistan, with guerrilla fighters reportedly crossing the border from Iran and Afghanistan.

What is not in doubt is their mounting opposition to ​Chinese mining interests, which has intensified sharply in recent years. The US has condemned the attacks as terrorism, but not commented in more detail – although the government in Islamabad has increasingly presented itself to the Trump administration as an appealing partner, including as a source of resources. Visiting Trump in the Oval Office in October ⁠2025, Pakistan's military chief and de facto ruler Asim Munir brought with him a wooden display case of minerals before signing a $500 million memorandum of understanding. While mining currently makes up less than 1% of Pakistani GDP, the government claims it has as much as $6 trillion in undeveloped reserves.

Amongst the largest projects is the Reko Dik gold and copper mine, unusually for Pakistan one by Canadian firm Barrick rather than a China-based conglomerate. The multi-vehicle convoy ambushed at ⁠the ​end of August was returning from the mine, due to enter production in 2029. OTHER RESOURCE FLASHPOINTS

Other nations increasingly in the crosshairs of global resource competition include those in Central Asia. In June, Kazakhstan became the first nation in that region to sign up to the US-run “Pax Silica” – but it appeared to alienate Washington by also joining the China-run World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (WAICO) barely three weeks later. That prompted an immediate warning from the US State Department that membership of the “Pax Silica” collective was irreconcilable with joining rival Chinese entities. But in reality, Washington will always seek to continue to build new resource deals with the Kazakhstan government, which oversees some of the world’s largest stockpiles of uranium as well as chromite, ⁠copper, beryllium, tantalum, lead and zinc.

The US hosted all five major Central Asian powers at a critical mineral summit last November, striking further deals with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. South Korea hosted its own critical mineral summit this month with several Central Asian governments, while Japanese media reported this week that Tokyo would launch its own strategy ⁠next year with a similar goal. Japan is also now at the forefront of what is ⁠now often described as “urban mining”.

In April, a quartet of Japanese companies announced they would use robots to recover neodymium magnets critical to computer hard drives from old air-conditioners. Other firms are pushing ahead with undersea remote mining projects to tap resources previously unreachable. The Trump administration also has a range of commercial and diplomatic outreach underway in Latin America, keen to push back against the previous dominance of Chinese extractive firms in the “Lithium Triangle” of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia – although despite that, Chinese trade with South American nations has continued to rise ‌sharply in the current year.

In the Oval Office this ‌week, Trump and Xi might have tried to look like two geopolitical titans dividing the world between them. But the reality on the ground is already considerably messier, and the scramble ​for resources in the new industrial age is only just beginning. (Editing by Alex Richardson)