The Power Current with Chris Berry

While the war in Iran has put a spotlight on oil prices and the risk of a global energy shock, a number of critical chemical inputs are also under threat. One of the most important — and least talked about — is sulfuric acid. As the West races to scale up mining projects, reliable access to inputs like sulfuric acid is essential.

So what happens if that supply is disrupted or cut off entirely? Consider that 70% of sulfuric acid is produced from elemental sulfur, and 80% of that elemental sulfur is a byproduct of oil and gas production — meaning a single geopolitical shock could ripple across multiple industries simultaneously. Are there viable substitutes? How do other industries that depend on sulfuric acid respond to a supply crunch? And does limited supply simply go to the highest bidder?

Here to address these questions and more is Sangita Kannan, a PhD candidate at the Colorado School of Mines. Sangita is a chemical engineer turned mineral economist whose research sits at the intersection of mineral economics, public policy, and the technical fields surrounding the manufacture of critical materials.

Last week I was visiting investors and companies on the West Coast of the US for a project I’m working on and the predominant topic was Geopolitics. Specifically, how to interpret it, how to price it, and how to build a business in a highly strategic sector as the rules seemingly continue to change. Metals prices are broadly WAY UP so equity investors should be happy and the companies themselves should also be taking advantage of this moment and raising as much capital as is prudent.

That said, there’s still a sense of concern in the markets and it rests at the foot of government. Talk of stockpiling and price floors is all the rage, but beyond the Beltway here in DC there are legitimate concerns that these policies are optimal and will not cause unintended consequences. With those questions in mind, my guest today is Bryan Bille, Head of Geopolitical Risk and Policy Analysis at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

If you enjoyed this discussion, please share it far and wide and don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.

Thanks again and we’ll see you next time.

Hello and welcome back to this episode of The Power Current. The Power Current is a podcast that tries to provide clarity around what happens when commodities, geopolitics and technology all collide. The Power Current is a production of the Clear Commodity Network.

Today we're looking at company building in the critical metals space in Saskatchewan with Christopher Hopkins, CEO of Canadian Energy Metals Corp or CEMC. CEMC is a privately held company developed being a project in Saskatchewan focusing on alumina and downstream products such as high purity aluminum and others. Christopher is a leader in the resource sector and has decades of experience in the markets and environmental sciences. Before becoming CEO of CEMC, Christopher successfully led multiple projects in the oil patch.

Our discussion covers lessons learned from company building, Canada-US dynamics, how the company differentiates itself through processing, and how to choose the right partners to build a resilient and dynamic company. Since we discuss companies in this episode, I or family members may own securities in any companies mentioned. As always, please do your own extensive due diligence. If you enjoyed this discussion, please share it far and wide, and don't forget to like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.

Thanks again and we'll see you next time.

Industrial policy debates around critical metals continue to rage in national and financial capitals. What works best? Price floors? Export controls? Tariffs? A mixture? I wanted to flesh out these and other questions with two individuals that have been steeped in the policy and financial questions that the markets are struggling to answer: Arnab Datta and Alex Turnbull. Arnab is the Managing Director of Policy Implementation at Employ America and Alex is a well-known investor and researcher in the energy transition ecosystem.

After getting their thoughts on the general state of play in the critical metals markets, we delve into price floors, the proper balance between the public and private sector, cost of capital, the MP Materials deal challenges, and what the next five years might look like.

As a reminder we do mention companies in this episode so please do your own due diligence before making any investment decisions.

If you enjoyed this discussion, please share it far and wide and don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.

Thanks again and we’ll see you next time.

Today, we’re taking a deep dive into green technology with Graham Bain, the Principal Analyst for Energy Transition Research at Enverus. Graham has a background as a geologist and now runs a team covering CCUS, geothermal, and direct lithium extraction technologies.

One constant in investing is that technology is a profoundly deflationary force that creates many more opportunities than it destroys despite the luddites out there that may disagree. Graham walks us through the tech landscape here and the potential impacts these technologies can have on society.

This pod turned out to be a great tutorial on these technologies as we haven’t covered them in depth before.

If you are a fan of green technologies and enjoyed this discussion, please share it far and wide and don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.

Hello and welcome back to the first episode of 2026 of The Power Current with me, your host Chris Berry. The Power Current is a production of the Clear Commodity Network.

With the metals markets defying gravity, we’ve seen some obvious no-brainers like lithium and copper and some surprises like gold and silver.

Despite that, coming into 2026, the market consensus for one metal in particular was quite bearish. This metal is nickel and it’s the topic of today’s discussion. Prices have rallied as much as 25% YTD and given the presumption of oversupply, tariffs, and batteries shifting away from nickel-heavy cathodes, I think it makes sense to look into what’s happening in this market.

Should we heed the words of Warren Buffett who said “When they’re cryin’, you should be buyin’ and when they’re yellin’ you should be sellin’?”

Here to answer that and other questions is today’s guest, Olivier Masson, Principal Mining analyst at FastMarkets who covers nickel as well as other battery metals. During this pod we look at the history of the nickel market, nickel’s outperformance YTD, supply and demand, pricing volatility, and the likelihood that this rally continues. I learned a lot here and hope you do as well.

If you are a nickel nerd and enjoyed this discussion, please share it far and wide and don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.

Thanks again and we’ll see you next time.

Today’s guest is long-time friend, author, and Director at 3-Legged Capital David S Abraham. I first met David in 2012 after I read and reviewed his book The Elements of Power. Since then, David has worked throughout both government and the private sector and is an adjunct professor at Boise State University.In today’s pod we discuss how the battery and magnet supply chains are evolving given the fluid geopolitical dynamics and also some of the major changes between the Biden and Trump Administrations. Is the US becoming Chinese? Should the US operate a sovereign wealth fund? Is State-led investment such as investment by the DoD in MP or an equity stake in Lithium Americas the only way forward? We tackle these and other big questions today in an effort to shine some light on a fast-moving and dynamic sector.If you liked what you heard today, please don’t forget to like and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you next time.

In today's pod we take a closer look at the boron market with Paul Weibel, CEO of 5E Advanced Materials. In recent weeks we’ve looked at ferrosilicon, advanced anode materials, and so I wanted to examine a market like boron which is underfollowed relative to some of the more familiar materials like lithium or cobalt. I was surprised to learn just how ubiquitous boron is in multiple sectors of the economy and clearly governments agree with both the US and UK classifying Boron as a critical metal. We discuss these dynamics as well as 5E's place in the boron ecosystem, major players, and supply and demand trajectories moving forward.

As an aside, 5E Advanced Materials is a publicly traded company and so please be aware that nothing that is said during the course of this discussion should be considered investment advice and please as always do your own due diligence.

If you enjoyed this discussion of the state of play in boron, please share it far and wide and don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.

My guest today is Vikram Handa, Managing Director at Epsilon Advanced Materials. Epsilon Advanced Materials is a global manufacturer of high performance and high-quality anode and cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. The company has ambitious plans to build much needed anode capacity in the US, Finland, and India and in today's discussion, we cover all of this and other topics including the background of the company, the need for vertical integration, anode technology, and the increased importance of LFP in building an ex-China supply chain.

If you enjoyed this discussion of the anode world and Epsilon's place in it, don't forget to like and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time.

In this episode of The Power Current, host Chris Berry interviews economist Adrián Godás at the Fast Markets Conference in Las Vegas. They discuss the current state of the lithium and cobalt markets, the challenges of supply and demand, and the role of recycling in the battery supply chain. Godas shares insights on market dynamics, pricing expectations, and the importance of government policy in supporting the industry. The conversation concludes with a light-hearted discussion about vacation spots in Spain.