M2i Global has released Episode 4 of The Minerals & Metals Initiative, a podcast hosted by M2i President and CEO Alberto Rosende. The series explores how the global critical minerals supply chain is transforming at a moment when resilience, innovation, and responsible policy leadership are more urgent than ever.
In this episode, Alberto speaks with Mark Wexler, Co-Founder and CEO of Not For Sale, about the deep and often hidden connections between human trafficking, environmental destruction, and the global minerals supply chain. Drawing on nearly two decades of frontline anti-trafficking work, Wexler explains how illicit mining, weak governance, and opaque supply chains fuel exploitation in places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, where minerals such as coltan move from conflict zones into everyday consumer electronics.
Wexler argues that even small improvements in mineral supply chains — better labor standards, community-centered governance, environmental remediation technologies, and strict traceability — can have outsized impact. Rather than focusing only on downstream rescue, he makes the case that shifting models upstream can do more than just protect people and the planet, but enable all to thrive. The conversation highlights the partnership between Not For Sale and M2i Global as a model for aligning responsible mining, indigenous community engagement, and market incentives to turn points of risk into opportunities for durable, systemic change.
Episode 4 Highlights:
- The cost of degradation: How environmental destruction and human exploitation are two sides of the same global system.
- Discovering modern-day slavery: The personal story that led Wexler to co-found Not For Sale and confront trafficking.
- People and planet intertwined: Lessons from Peru and the Amazon on how forced labor and ecological harm reinforce one another.
- Good vs. great impact: Why fractional improvements in mineral supply chains can outweigh isolated rescue efforts.
- The DRC mineral crisis: How conflict, weak governance, and illicit mining continue to drive modern slavery.
- Governance and traceability: Why local power structures, justice systems, and transparent supply chains matter.
- One rope, three strands: People, planet, and supply chain practice as inseparable pillars of impact.
- Partnership in practice: How the M2i-Not For Sale collaboration advances responsible mining and sustainable markets.
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Episode 4: Human Trafficking, Forced Labor, and the Critical Minerals Supply Chain with Mark Wexler
Available now wherever you get your podcasts.
If you missed Episode 3, listen to our discussion with Hugo Schumann of EverMetal Capital on critical metals recycling and the circular economy. Find it here.