⭐ NNN NATIONAL SECURITY SERIES — EPISODE 1 ⭐
Thanks to Vizsla Copper Corp for sponsoring today’s video. You can get their latest presentation here on their website: http://vizsla-investor-deck.com/the-next-news-network
Tickers: OTCQB: VCUFF | TSX-V: VCU.V
Welcome to the premiere episode of the Next News Network National Security Series hosted by Gary Franchi. What you are about to discover is the hidden arsenal that powers every single piece of American military hardware and why we are dangerously vulnerable right now. This is not about tanks and troops. This is about the minerals that make our jets fly our missiles launch our satellites orbit and our hypersonic weapons function. Copper titanium lithium rare earth elements cobalt gallium germanium indium and barite. Without them nothing works. And here is the terrifying truth. China and Russia control most of the global supply.
Our guest Craig Perry is a strategic mining executive who has founded and led companies valued at over 20 billion dollars. He is now working on domestic projects that could change everything about American mineral security. His message is blunt and alarming. America is caught with our pants down. We have not done enough exploration or mine development over the last 15 to 20 years and now we are paying the price. China has a 35 year head start on rare earth mineral production and we simply cannot compete under current conditions.
The numbers are staggering. In the next 15 years the world needs to produce as much copper as has been mined in the previous 10000 years combined. Perry says flatly we cannot do that. The silver market is in 20 percent fundamental undersupply right now with demand at 1.1 billion ounces and global supply under 900 million. His company is building the worlds biggest silver mine producing 20 million ounces per year but he says we need 100 more mines like it to meet demand by the end of this decade. Silver has already jumped from 25 dollars to 95 dollars per ounce in the last 12 months and Perry predicts copper will hit 30 to 40 dollars per pound within five years.
What makes this interview essential viewing is the connection between these minerals and actual weapons systems. An F35 fighter jet is essentially a flying periodic table requiring aluminum titanium high strength steel with niobium graphite and semiconductors that depend on germanium and gallium. Missile guidance systems need germanium gallium and indium. Sensors require cadmium germanium and tin. Hypersonic missiles stealth aircraft electric military vehicles and secure communications all depend on minerals that China dominates. If they cut us off during a conflict our military production grinds to a halt.
Perry explains how China became so dominant. They made major rare earth discoveries in the 1980s including the giant Bao Tower deposit. They have spent 35 years developing not just mining operations but extraction capabilities that produce these minerals at a fraction of Western costs. Meanwhile American mining projects take 15 to 20 years to permit while China can go from discovery to production in under five years. Environmental regulations around things like sage grass have paralyzed development of critical projects for decades.
The good news is that the Trump administration appears to understand the crisis. Executive Order 14241 signed in October 2025 directed federal agencies to accelerate domestic mineral production including the Ambler Road project in Alaska. David Copley a former Newmont executive was appointed head of mining for the National Energy Dominance Council and has since been promoted to senior director at the National Security Council. Perry says this promotion signals that the White House is moving to a war footing on mineral security. Copley announced at the Future Mining Forum in Saudi Arabia that approval times need to drop from years to months.
The Palmer Project in southeastern Alaska represents exactly the kind of domestic solution America needs. Located just 30 kilometers from tidewater near the Port of Haines it contains copper zinc silver gold barite gallium and germanium. It was listed as number one on the dossier that Alaska’s governor provided to the White House. The southeastern Alaska corridor contains over 124 known mineral deposits but currently has only one operating mine. This district could become a primary supplier to American military and industrial needs for decades.
Perry delivers a final warning that should wake up every American. We are massively behind China. If you see them as our competition they are so far in front that there is us and then distance. Without dramatic changes in regulatory frameworks and investment in domestic mining America will remain dependent on adversaries for the minerals that power our entire defense infrastructure. The revenge of the miners is coming but only if we let them actually mine.
