A Return to Mineral Independence

“Vast areas of federal and state acreage now forbid mineral exploration, mining, prospecting, leasing, and other activities related to minerals extraction; and for numerous reasons, including designation of wilderness areas, national monuments, habitat preservation, and military use.”

– Groundbreaking

In response to President Trump’s trade war with China, with tariffs reaching as high as 145 percent, China, unsurprisingly, retaliated by banning exports of rare earths to the United States.  Simultaneously, the US, after months of negotiation, has finally landed a mineral deal with Ukraine.  A partnership, of sorts, over their critical minerals and rare earths, this agreement is seen as a payback for the 175 billion in funds provided to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022.  With fresh memories of the failure of the supply chains during the COVID pandemic, these events should serve as a warning of the potential disruptions affecting supplies here at home should we run short of minerals, metals, and rare earth elements.

Minerals are the backbone of most nations' infrastructure and economy.  Not only is the US the largest consumer of minerals and metals, but they are also the largest importer.  With minerals as an essential element in the US economy, it has become a geopolitical vulnerability due to its overreliance on supplies from several adversarial nations.  Minerals are not only critical in infrastructure and national security efforts, but their increased use in electronics and renewable energy markets makes them a critical element for decades to come. 

In Dr. Ned Mamula and Ann Bridges’s 2018 book, “Groundbreaking,” Mamula and Bridges reveal the political, economic, and national security vulnerabilities of the US due to a declining domestic market.  In fact, with mineral mining, the US went from first to worst in less than four decades, with the US 100 percent dependent on imports of dozens of critical minerals and metals, including 15 rare earth metals.  Its shortages are the result of a lack of production, and not a shortage of minerals.    

The US has vast resources sitting untapped, with potential in every state.  Presently, of the 664 million acres under federal land management, primarily in 12 western states, 500 million acres have already been withdrawn or de facto removed from mineral exploration.  With cheaper alternatives available from Third World countries, competing in the United States has become more difficult.  Adding to that, the extensive permitting processing, created to address environmental harm, has far exceeded processing times around the world.   These delays have led to a loss in investment dollars from a high of 20 percent in 1997 to a mere 7 percent in 2016. 

Environmental policies are the major reason for the decline in domestic mining.  The permitting process for mineral and metal mining has been made impossible by climate activists who continuously delay approval until offset environmental damage can be agreed upon.  Anti-mining sentiment within US government departments that aligned with environmentalists and special interests has also added to the American mineral demise.  In the end, overregulation killed the mining goose. 

Instead, this philosophy to “leave it in the ground” and prevent interference with nature has resulted in inconvenient consequences, including the devastating wildfires across the West, which could have been eliminated or reduced through responsible land management.  This prevention approach has blocked permitting and withdrawn millions of acres of federal and state land from mineral exploration.  While some land should be preserved for parks and monuments, most could be used to benefit society and aid the domestic economy.  By managing the resources responsibly for the common good, conscientious excavation can be attained. 

The US was, in fact, mineral-dominant for its first 150 years.  Today, it is the world’s largest importer of minerals and rare earth elements, with two-thirds coming from its adversaries.  China, Ukraine, and others are taking advantage of our lack of resources by flooding the US with cheap minerals to gain geopolitical leverage.  China, as the world's largest producer of minerals and the leader in the production of renewable energy, was already producing 97 percent of rare earth elements by 2011.  As a result, the Apple corporation was forced to manufacture its iPhones in China to access these rare earths.  China not only has the most sophisticated rare earth supply chain in the world but also consumes 70 percent of the world’s rare earths itself, amassing its supply not only through its mining monopoly but also through imports and stockpiling. 

The US transformed energy markets to a rate of 60 percent domestic production and growth, making America energy independent.  The inverse exists today for minerals.  The same process is needed for mineral independence, including detailed geological mapping, more domestic exploration and mining, and a focus on processing and manufacturing.  The permitting process must be simplified to a single permit, and the reversal of land withdrawals must be reconsidered.  But the US catastrophic failures in mining are not just a mining problem, but a refining problem.  Turning minerals into commodities through a processing and manufacturing supply chain, from mine to the marketplace, must be included to secure American interests.  To further remedy the problem, the book recommends the use of more trading partners, substitutes for minerals, and increases in recycling and conservation.  A revitalized mining and processing industry would increase the GDP, with potential for hundreds of billions of dollars to the domestic economy. 

The science of the Paris Agreement called for the shuttering of coal mines in the United States while allowing hundreds of new coal plants in China.  The same illogical thinking permeates the mineral markets in the US, as the environmental movement seems content with dirty mines elsewhere, just not in America’s backyard.