A trusted voice on critical minerals
Speaking topicsA hundred billion dollars and then what? The state of critical materials in 2030.
Your company relies on materials you never heard of. What every board should know before the next cutoff.
What DC won’t tell you about critical minerals, and what Wall Street doesn’t know.
From blue specs to five nines: Why China dominates critical material production and what’s next.
Why book David?
Real reporting with depth and substance.
He anticipated today’s critical minerals competition back in 2011, and literally wrote the book on it in 2015, laying out the arguments analysts use today.
Firsthand experience, not desktop analysis.
David's been on the ground, from fifth-tier cities in China to processors in Brazil and mines in Indonesia. He's advised investors, mining companies and governments.
Backed by facts with zero marketing hype.
David says what's real, what's priced in, and what to expect. The market runs on stories, and David cuts through them and gets to the heart of the issue.
Recent public talks
Project Blue, Critical Materials Forum: Seoul, October 2026
Rare Earth Industry Association Annual Conference, Frankfurt, June 2026
Minor Metal Trade Association Annual Conference, Vancouver, April 2026
Project Blue, Critical Materials Conference: Aerospace & Defence, Washington, April 2026
Metal Events First North American Rare Earth Annual, Vancouver, April 2026
Mines and Money, Hong Kong, April 2026
Metal Events Rare Earth Annual Conference, Kuala Lumpur, November 2025
Rare Earth Industry Association Annual Conference, Toronto, June 2025
Metal Events Rare Earths and Scandium, Toronto, June 2025
In the media
Advisory & Board Roles
Materium Strata works the commercial end of critical minerals.
Investor diligence
Which projects and companies survive contact with the market. Independent, practitioner view.
Policy and market intelligence
Briefings for governments and funds on where the minerals race is actually heading.
Supply and off-take
Sourcing, scrap flows and magnet supply for companies that need material, not forecasts.
About David
David is the Managing Director of Materium Strata, an advisory supporting the development of the global critical minerals industry through investment analysis and sourcing, and an Affiliate Professor at Boise State University.
He advises governments, exploration firms, and manufacturers on how to secure the materials underpinning the energy transition. For over fifteen years he has briefed company boards and spoken at conferences, universities, and policy forums on rare earths and strategic materials.
His award-winning book, The Elements of Power (Yale University Press, 2015), was published in five languages--a revised edition is forthcoming in 2027.
He anticipated today’s minerals competition in a 2011 paper written while working at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry.
He has published five New York Times op-eds and additional bylines in Bloomberg, The Financial Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist, with television and radio appearances on NPR, CNN, MSNBC, and Bloomberg TV.
David has testified before the U.S. Congress and in Europe and is an advisor to the Rare Earth Industry Association. He previously worked on Wall Street, at Lehman Brothers and RBS Sempra Commodities, and at the White House Office of Management and Budget.
He has worked in the field across Brazil, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Europe, and operates from Bangkok, Vilnius, and Washington DC.
The Elements of Power
Our future hinges on a set of elements that few of us have even heard of. In this surprising and revealing book, David S. Abraham unveils what rare metals are and why our electronic gadgets, the most powerful armies and indeed the fate of our planet depend on them. These metals have become the building blocks of modern society; their properties are now essential for nearly all our electronic, military, and "green" technologies. But their growing use is not without environmental, economic, and geopolitical consequences.
Abraham traces these elements' secreted paths from mines to our living rooms, from the remote hills of China to the frozen Gulf of Finland, providing vivid accounts of those who produce, trade, and rely on rare metals. He argues that these materials are increasingly playing a significant role in global affairs, conferring strength to countries and companies that can ensure sustainable supplies.
Just as oil, iron, and bronze revolutionized previous eras, so too will these metals. The challenges this book reveals, and the plans it proposes, make it essential reading for our rare metal age.
Forthcoming in Q2 2027 with an update reflecting the current state of policy and critical mineral markets.