The Power Current with Chris Berry

The global economy runs on infrastructure most of us will never see. Beneath the world's oceans lies a vast network of undersea cables and pipelines carrying internet traffic, financial transactions, energy, and electricity. But what happens when that infrastructure becomes a target of geopolitical conflict?In this episode of The Power Current, host Chris Berry welcomes Elisabeth Braw, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and author of Undersea War: The Battle to Control the Cables and Pipelines That Connect Our World.Braw explains why the seabed is emerging as a new geopolitical battleground, where sabotage, espionage, economic competition, and national security increasingly collide.The conversation explores mysterious cable disruptions in the Baltic Sea, the Nord Stream sabotage investigation, the growing technological rivalry between the United States and China, and the possibility of an emerging "Iron Curtain" beneath the oceans.They also examine why no single country or international organization is responsible for protecting this critical infrastructure, how NATO is responding with new underwater surveillance technologies, and what the conflict involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz could mean for the future of global connectivity.

My guest today is Will Thompson, Founder and Managing Partner of Massif Capital. I had originally wanted Will to come on the pod and talk copper, but as you’ll see this conversation quickly branched out into something much deeper. Will is a former investment banker and has worked in political risk insurance and with NATO in Afghanistan. This conversation was one of my favorites, and we easily could have gone on for hours. We cover a host of topics including: capital cycle analysis, parsing political and geopolitical risk, position sizing, the types of resource companies the fund likes to hold, the lithium, copper, and tungsten markets, why buying is so much easier than selling, and best and worst investments and what he learned.I think you’ll really enjoy this discussion and if did, please share it far and wide and don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.Here is the Fund webiste: https://www.massifcap.com/ During the podcast, we do discuss a number of publicly traded companies. As always, it’s vital to remember to do your own due diligence and nothing you hear on this podcast should be thought of as investment advice.Thanks again and we’ll see you next time.

This is a solo episode and is a primer on the tungsten market. We haven't published any episodes without a guest, so if you like this (or don't!), let me know and we can mix in more of these types of pods. In the critical metals space, tungsten has become the topic du jour.The narrative around critical mineral investing has shifted in recent years away from ESG and green growth and towards national defense supply chains. Due, in part, to this shift certain metals associated with the theme have grabbed investor attention. This is where the tungsten story begins. I want to walk through the basics, the nuances, and the misunderstandings of this unique metal. Thanks almost exclusively to policy choices in Beijing and Washington, tungsten's price has exploded and bifurcated into two distinct markets. The free flow of tungsten materials is, for now, a thing of the past. Just ask a toolmaker in Japan how things have changed and you’ll get an idea. So given this pricing anomaly and tungsten's indispensable role in certain sectors of the economy, taking a closer look seems prudent to say the least.This is meant to be a shorter primer on the metal of war. If you found it useful, share it with someone who wants to understand tungsten better. Also, don't forget to like and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.

Our guest today is Andre Zeitoun, CEO of Ionic Mineral Technologies. Ionic is a US-based developer of rare earths and other critical minerals projects and is positioning itself as a vertically integrated “hub”. We cover a lot in this pod including Andre’s unique background in finance and how it shaped how he runs Ionic, the leverage in partnerships, clay-based mining, competing with China, dealing with Washington, and what Andre would and wouldn’t change if he were a policymaker.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.

My guest today is Joe Lowry, aka Mr Lithium. I have known and respected Joe for a number of years and so it was great to have him back on.This podcast is really a “two-parter”. In Part 1, we discuss the response Joe has received to his book, “Lithium Confidential” and go deeper into his history around how he first got into lithium, his experiences in Asia, the impacts it had on his family, why “trust compounds faster than capital”, and why getting let go from FMC was the best thing to ever happen to him.We talk about his approach to podcasting and the unintended benefits he’s experienced as a part-time podcaster. Part 2 is a deep dive into the dynamic lithium world and we look at a host of issues including the disconnect between demand and share prices, how China outworked both Japan and Korea en route to dominating the supply chain, contract pricing dynamics, some of the biggest retail and institutional investor misunderstandings of lithium, and what needs to happen in the supply chain today to avoid falling behind in several years.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.