The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives

Book Introduction | The War Below

The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives

Ernest Scheyder | Atria Books / One Signal Publishers | 2024

If oil was the most strategically important resource of the twentieth century, many argue that critical minerals will assume a similar position in the twenty-first century. Lithium, copper, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements are not merely industrial raw materials; they constitute the physical foundation of the future economy. Without these resources, electric vehicles, energy storage batteries, wind turbines, and many of the technologies designed to move the world away from fossil fuels would not be possible. This reality serves as the starting point of Ernest Scheyder’s The War Below.

Ernest Scheyder, a senior Reuters journalist covering the energy transition and critical minerals, has closely followed developments in this field for years. In this book, he seeks to explain one of the defining contradictions of the current era: in order to build a greener and lower-carbon world, humanity must extract unprecedented quantities of minerals from the Earth.

In many common narratives, the energy transition is portrayed as a clear and inevitable path toward a cleaner future. However, Scheyder demonstrates that this transformation is accompanied by a complex set of challenges. The extraction of critical minerals can contribute to environmental degradation, damage to sensitive ecosystems, conflicts with local communities, and political disputes. In other words, the path toward a green economy is not necessarily a cost-free one.

One of the most compelling sections of the book examines real-world examples of these tensions. Scheyder explores lithium extraction projects in Nevada, rare earth element mines in the United States, copper projects in Arizona, and mineral supply chains across Africa and Latin America. In each case, a similar question emerges: can the fight against climate change and the expansion of clean technologies justify the expansion of mining activities? And if so, at what cost?

However, the importance of the book extends beyond environmental debates. The War Below is also a book about geopolitics. Scheyder demonstrates that competition over critical minerals has become part of the broader rivalry among major powers. Just as semiconductors have emerged as a central arena of U.S.-China competition in recent years, critical minerals are gradually acquiring a similar strategic importance.

China occupies a particularly important position in this discussion. One of the recurring themes of the book is Beijing’s dominant role in the extraction, refining, and processing of many critical minerals. This advantage has encouraged Western countries to seek ways to reduce their dependence on supply chains controlled by China. According to Scheyder, many of the United States’ recent industrial and mineral policies cannot be fully understood without recognizing this reality.

Another major strength of the book is its rejection of simplistic narratives. Scheyder does not fully advocate for mining expansion, nor does he align himself with opponents of resource extraction. Instead, he attempts to present the complexity of the issue. Without expanding mineral extraction, the energy transition will face significant obstacles; however, if extraction occurs without environmental and social considerations, it can generate severe consequences. This represents the fundamental dilemma confronting governments, corporations, and societies around the world.

For audiences interested in technopolitics, the central value of the book lies in its shift in perspective. Many works in this field focus on advanced technologies, artificial intelligence, or semiconductors. Scheyder reminds readers that all of these technologies are built upon physical resources and raw materials that must be sourced from somewhere. From this perspective, competition over critical minerals represents one of the hidden but fundamental layers of great-power competition in the technological age.

If Chip War was the story of the battle over semiconductors, Power Metal examined the importance of minerals in the future economy, and Chokepoints explained the logic of economic warfare, The War Below reveals a deeper layer: a battle that begins before the production of chips, electric vehicles, or artificial intelligence systems. It is a struggle over resources located beneath the Earth’s surface—but ones capable of determining the future of technology, energy, and global geopolitics.