REFERENCE

Glossary

Plain-language definitions for the acronyms and frameworks procurement teams encounter in critical-minerals diversification.

Beneficial ownership: The ultimate natural-person owner of a corporate entity, distinct from the entity's directly registered owner. Required for FEOC compliance evidence. Sources: OpenCorporates, Companies House, SEC EDGAR, ASIC, OECD beneficial-ownership registers.
Class-1 nickel: Nickel of ≥99.8% purity, suitable for battery applications. Distinct from Class-2 (ferronickel, NPI) used in stainless steel. The LME and CME Class-1 contracts trade at premium to general nickel.
DLE: Direct Lithium Extraction. Family of technologies (adsorption, ion exchange, solvent extraction) recovering lithium from brines without solar evaporation ponds. Faster ramp, lower water footprint, higher technology risk.
DPA Title III: Defense Production Act Title III. US authority empowering grants and loans to expand domestic production of materials critical to national defence. Used since 2022 for lithium, cobalt, REE and graphite projects.
EITI: Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Global standard requiring participating governments to publish reconciled tax, royalty, and production payments from extractive companies.
EU CRMA: Critical Raw Materials Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1252). Sets 2030 benchmarks: at least 10% of annual EU consumption extracted within the EU, 40% processed, 25% recycled, and no more than 65% from a single third country for any strategic raw material.
FEOC: Foreign Entity of Concern. US Treasury terminology under IRA §30D excluding electric vehicles whose battery components or critical minerals are sourced from entities owned, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction of certain foreign governments (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea).
FID: Final Investment Decision. The point at which a developer commits capex and lifts the project from study/permitting into construction. Critical milestone for procurement planning of pre-production supply.
HPAL: High-Pressure Acid Leach. Hydrometallurgical process to extract nickel and cobalt from laterite ore. Dominant in Indonesia (Chinese-built and -operated) for battery-grade Class-1 nickel.
IRA §30D: Inflation Reduction Act section governing the Clean Vehicle Credit. Sets sourcing requirements for battery critical minerals (40% qualifying in 2024, rising to 80% by 2027) and battery components (50% qualifying in 2024, rising to 100% by 2029).
IRMA: Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance. Third-party-audited standard for mine-site environmental, social and governance practices. The most demanding ESG audit regime currently in use.
JOGMEC: Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation. Japanese government body that finances and equity-invests in upstream critical-minerals projects to secure supply for Japanese OEMs and refineries.
Light vs. heavy rare earths: Light REE: lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium. Heavy REE: europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, yttrium, others. Heavy REE supply ~99% concentrated in China and Myanmar; production economics tightly coupled.
MOFCOM export licence: Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China. Administers strategic-material export licensing. Coverage now includes gallium, germanium, antimony, graphite, REE oxides/metals and (since 2026/9) finished NdFeB magnets and motor sub-assemblies.
OFAC SDN: Office of Foreign Assets Control — Specially Designated Nationals list. US sanctions list. Any commercial dealing with a listed party requires a specific licence from OFAC.
Offtake agreement: Contract under which a buyer commits to purchase a defined portion of a producer's output, often pre-production, frequently linked to project financing. Term, volume, pricing mechanism and termination clauses are the core variables.
RMI-RMAP: Responsible Minerals Initiative — Responsible Minerals Assurance Process. Voluntary independent audit of smelter and refiner due diligence practices. Often required by Tier-1 auto, electronics and aerospace OEMs.
Spherical graphite (CSPG): Coated Spherical Purified Graphite. Battery-grade natural graphite anode material after micronisation, spheroidisation, purification and carbon-coating. Subject to USTR Section 301 25% tariff from 2027-01-01.