Security Council LIVE: Can critical minerals fuel peace and prosperity instead of conflict?

Artisanal miners carry large sacks of minerals on a rugged hillside at the Mudere mine in the North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Security Council is meeting now in New York to debate critical minerals — the lithium, cobalt and copper powering the clean energy transition. Demand is set to triple by 2030. The question: will this mineral wealth build peace and prosperity, or fund conflict and corruption? Follow live updates throughout the day.

“No State can prevail in isolation,” said Roberto Kury Pesantes, Ecuador’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility. He called for “acting at every link” of the supply chain, pressing the Council to promote a binding mechanism for traceability, certification of origin and corporate due diligence in destination markets.

In Latin America, he said, illicit gold rivals drug trafficking for profitability, leveraging a porous borders and a lack of regulation around financial tools such as cryptocurrency. He highlighted Ecuador’s “total offensive” against organized crime, narco-terrorism and illegal mining, launched last June under the National Comprehensive Security Plan.

International cooperation is “no longer battle transnational mafias alone”, he insisted, underscoring that more than 1,000 illegal mine shafts have been destroyed nationwide this y

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Source: The UN