Materials Data Series

18 materials, one dashboard each

Where each material comes from, who controls the supply, what it is used for and what it costs. Every dashboard is built from its own reproducible pipeline: cited figures into documented CSVs, then into the charts you can click through below.

Energy transition and critical raw materials

The materials the low-carbon transition depends on, and where the supply is concentrated.

LithiumThe battery metal. Production has climbed faster than almost any other commodity.Open dashboard →CobaltBattery cathodes, with supply concentrated in a single country.Open dashboard →GraphiteThe other half of a lithium-ion cell. Every battery needs an anode.Open dashboard →NickelSplits between stainless steel and the batteries competing for it.Open dashboard →Rare earthsPermanent magnets for motors and turbines. The textbook concentration risk.Open dashboard →ManganeseMostly steel, increasingly batteries.Open dashboard →SiliconChips and solar cells both start here.Open dashboard →CopperElectrification runs on it, and demand is rising faster than supply.Open dashboard →

Structural and industrial metals

The metals everything is built from, and the energy that goes into making them.

SteelThe most used metal on earth, and a large share of industrial emissions.Open dashboard →AluminiumLight, abundant, and expensive in electricity.Open dashboard →TitaniumStrength to weight for aerospace, at a price.Open dashboard →MagnesiumThe lightest structural metal, with concentrated production.Open dashboard →TungstenHardness and a very high melting point. Cutting tools and alloys.Open dashboard →ZincMostly galvanising, quietly protecting the steel around you.Open dashboard →TinSolder holds electronics together, and tin holds the solder.Open dashboard →

Precious and nuclear

Materials where value, electronics and energy policy meet.

SilverThe best conductor there is, and a growing share goes into solar.Open dashboard →GoldReserves, jewellery, and the electronics nobody thinks about.Open dashboard →UraniumNuclear fuel, and a supply chain shaped by policy as much as geology.Open dashboard →

How each one is built

Every dashboard follows the same pipeline, so the numbers can be traced rather than trusted. Figures are pulled from cited public sources into documented CSV files, transformed in Python, and rendered into an interactive dashboard covering production, supply concentration by producing country, end uses, prices and physical scale. The code is public, so anyone can check the path from source to chart.

Sources and their limitations are noted in each project. Production and reserve figures vary between agencies, and where they disagree the dashboard says so rather than picking a winner.

The code on GitHub The Lab