Jack Lifton is the Co-Chair of the Critical Minerals Institute (CMI), which was founded in 2022 and is focused on building a North American critical mineral supply chain. Recognized as one of the top critical minerals experts, he is a well-known consultant, author, and lecturer on the market fundamentals of critical minerals.
He coined the term “technology metals” at the beginning of the twenty-first century to describe strategic metals whose electronic properties make our technological society possible. These include copper, rare earths, platinum group metals, steel alloy metals, lithium, cobalt, graphite, and most of the rare critical minerals necessary for our health, safety, and technologies, both consumer and military. He serves on several technical advisory boards in the mining and metal refining sector. His consulting work is done through Jack Lifton, LLC, a consultancy founded in 1999 after his retirement as the CEO of an OEM automotive supply company specializing in the process chemistry of engineered materials and metals trading. Jack Lifton, LLC has advised governmental agencies both domestically and internationally on metals industry supply chain issues and has conducted extensive due diligence on mining, refining, and the fabrication of metals for financial institutions globally.
He is a member of numerous professional societies and frequently speaks at both professional and industry events on the markets for technology metals and materials and on the use of new and newly applied technologies for the extraction, refining, and fabrication of rare metals and materials. Jack Lifton is the Director of the Industrial Policy Institute, which advises governments on developing and implementing national industrial policies for managing critical metals and materials.
He holds a law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and a PhB in Chemistry and Mathematics from Wayne State University.