America’s inability to extract even basic levels of necessary minerals and metals from its massive endowment is not just laughable; it puts us in danger.
America’s inability to extract even basic levels of necessary minerals and metals from its massive endowment is not just laughable; it puts us in danger.
A merica’s blessings of enormous energy supplies and a wealth of mineral ores and metals have made possible our economic stability and national defense. Now that global “resource wars” threaten U.S. mineral-import needs, policy-makers are slowly beginning to realize that mineral security means national security. That is why delaying — by 20 years, in some cases, or even longer — or purposefully disrupting the environmentally friendly production of U.S. critical minerals using modern technology is a clear and present danger to our country.
Delaying or halting hard-rock mining is no less a national-security threat than a trade restriction (or embargo) of critical minerals by a foreign country would be — except that delaying or halting domestic production is a self-inflicted wound. Given America’s three-decade-long decline in domestic hard-rock-mineral extraction and our overreliance on Chinese critical-mineral imports to fill the gap, the U.S. is clearly stuck between our rock and a hard place.
America’s burgeoning regulations complicate the development of our minerals and energy sectors at a time when clean-energy policies require an ever-increasing minerals supply. The worst stumbling blocks for miners are three long-term “policies” that over the years have mutated into a resource-development nightmare. First are unending permitting labyrinths for exploration, drilling, and mining. Second, overzealous environmental legal standoffs and malicious lawsuits have sabotaged resource extraction. Third, usually unjustifiable and often permanent land withdrawals have restricted miners’ access to mineral-rich federal and state lands.
These “strategies” to manage mineral development on federal lands were probably more justifiable 50 years ago, when there wasn’t the serious level of environmental commitment that is practiced by today’s mining and mineral companies as a routine part of their mine planning. Today, overregulation and lack of access to mineral-rich lands discourage investment in the exploration and mining sector, which now resembles gambling more than investing because of the uncertainty of final project approvals and time lines. As domestic critical-mineral needs grow geometrically, we tragically strand our own mineral wealth.
Worse, satisfying U.S. demand with critical-mineral imports from China immediately makes our supply chain susceptible to Chinese restriction or interruption. This has already occurred four times over the past year as China has restricted its export of gallium, germanium, graphite, and rare-earth-processing technology — all needed for national defense. Then, earlier this month, China restricted the export to the U.S. of another key metal, antimony, which, among other uses, is needed for manufacturing ammunition. Our policy-makers long ago decided that importing critical minerals from China, Russia, and other foreign sources — rather than encouraging domestic mining, especially on federal lands — was an acceptable policy. In light of today’s emergent resource wars, this was a poor and imprudent decision. The regulatory, legal, and political flypaper stuck to all three branches of government regarding this issue prevents the steady, uninterruptible critical-mineral production now when it’s most needed.
America’s mineral-security stumbles appear shortsighted especially to serious mining economies such as Canada, Australia, Russia, China, and South Africa. These countries and others win at America’s expense by dictating mineral prices and trade levels. Any negotiating power the U.S. once had in this market is gone. America’s inability to extract even basic levels of necessary minerals and metals from its massive endowment would be laughable if it wasn’t for its serious, direct, and growing threat to national security.
Fortunately, some American mining projects still stand at the ready. A good example is NewRange Copper Nickel, which just announced plans to assess new mining technologies that safeguard the environment. And yet, NewRange’s work in Minnesota, which would help fulfill our country’s demand for nickel — by producing enough to build 20 million electric vehicles — has been plagued by protracted permitting delays. In addition to state-level delays, the company’s NorthMet project must reapply for a wetland permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Besides the long-standing bureaucratic obstacles that have impeded U.S. mining output since the early 1990s, the mining industry also lacks representation at the federal level.
Our now-defunct U.S. Bureau of Mines — a small, highly successful, and extremely valuable agency founded in 1910 — was closed by Congress in 1996, when American mining output was near its zenith. The U.S. has been without a bureau of mines for almost three decades — and it is the world’s only highly industrialized country without one.
American policy-makers have a lot on their plate. Passing legislation to fix something as arcane as our 50-year-old permitting laws likely doesn’t seem appealing to them, nor would doing so be easy or free of controversy. However, in light of our growing domestic demand, our natural endowment, and the need to reduce our reliance on foreign and potentially hostile sources, the time to start is now.