India, Sept. 15 -- BRICS New Delhi declaration promises value addition to resource-rich countries. The question is who will teach them to separate what they mine

Inside the 45 pages that BRICS leaders adopted in New Delhi this weekend sits a paragraph and it's about critical minerals, and it says they should move through supply chains that are "reliable, responsible, diversified, resilient, fair, sustainable, and just".

Seven adjectives. Then comes the part I think matters more than anything else the summit produced: the declaration says those chains should deliver benefit sharing, value addition and economic diversification in the countries that actually hold the minerals.

Value addition. Two ordinary words. I want to explain why I th...