Circus AND Circuit: Unraveling Global Trade with Kate Foronda
”Circus & Circuit: Unraveling Global Trade” is a podcast hosted by Kate Foronda, a businesswoman, serial entrepreneur, and educator with over 20 years of industry experience. Kate delves into the structured systems and unpredictable challenges of international business, sharing compelling stories of market triumphs and setbacks. Each episode offers valuable insights, real-life experiences, and practical strategies to help listeners navigate the complexities of global commerce. Whether mastering the order (the ‘Circuit’) or adapting to unpredictability (the ‘Circus’), this podcast is educational, engaging, and free.
Circus AND Circuit: Unraveling Global Trade with Kate Foronda
Episode 19: Mining the Future: Rare Earths, Critical Minerals & Geopolitics
In this episode, Kate Foronda explores the minerals that quietly power our world from lithium and cobalt to aluminium and rare earth elements. These resources drive electric vehicles, renewable energy, and artificial intelligence, but they also carry enormous environmental, social, and geopolitical costs.
Kate shares insights from her travels across Chile, where she saw how mining has shaped communities from the oil fields of the south to the lithium basins of the north. She unpacks how the demand for critical minerals is transforming trade routes, global alliances, and environmental policies.
The episode examines who controls the supply chains, why global finance is investing heavily in mineral extraction, and how countries like China, Australia, and Chile dominate this new strategic race. Kate also looks at the risks — from water depletion in South America to labor issues in Africa — and asks whether technology, especially artificial intelligence, can help manage environmental damage or simply make extraction faster and more efficient.
“Mining the Future” is a reflection on power, sustainability, and accountability in the age of electrification.
Now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.
@ Katsiaryna "Kate" Foronda
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Tune in now to discover what’s ahead in the Circus & Circuit of global trade!