Critical Minerals Policy Act (US)

Grey Havoc

Grey Havoc

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...The Critical Minerals Policy Act takes commonsense steps to facilitate increased mineral production here at home. Importantly, the bill authorizes funding to improve the United States’ permitting process, which industry analysts at Behre Dolbear have ranked as worst in the world at getting applicants a timely “yes” or “no” response. Such delays strand capital and have contributed to an ongoing decline in America’s share of private investment in exploration, which dropped from 10 percent in 2000 to 7 percent in 2013 according to the Metals Economics Group. In response, the bill brings some needed accountability and resources to the federal agencies considering these permit applications.

The bill also recognizes the importance of geologic surveys, which can jump-start mining activity. The supply chains for mineral commodities begin with entrepreneurial geologists who go out and find this stuff. Sometimes they do it on their own; other times they use government data to get going. Murkowski’s bill places a particular emphasis on the latter, and it should. Up north, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada has found that every public dollar spent on geologic data generates approximately $5 in privately-funded exploration work. That’s a pretty good rate of return, even for those who balk at treating government spending as an investment.

Finally, the bill provides new direction to ongoing federal research. It is in response to these provisions that Kemp hits the mother lode of irony. His column basically block quotes the writing of government-funded scientists as a wind-up to criticizing them. Yet it is largely thanks to their work that we know any of the more salient facts found in Kemp’s column. And it has been public servants at the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey, and other federal agencies ringing the alarm bell over our mineral supply problems. At least in part, it is now on Congress to fix them.

America’s reliance on foreign mineral commodities is impeding growth in a wide range of domestic industries, and in some cases it is jeopardizing our national security. Congressional testimony, corporate annual reports, federal agency publications, and news coverage all provide ample evidence of this.

As if to emphasize this point, the same week Kemp’s column ran, the Chinese government announced further restrictions on rare earth exports. That matters because China controls almost the entire global supply of these elements, which are found in just about every form of modern technology.

This is an area where placing some faith in the government to act is warranted. For rare earths, the Obama administration and others recently won a ruling from the World Trade Organization that Chinese export practices violated their rules. And Congress proved its mettle in October by passing legislation to avert a supply crisis for the helium gas used in medical imaging, precision welding, satellite launches, and semiconductor production.

For all the commodity-specific challenges that we face, they are mere symptoms of a broader lapse in policymaking that has seen the U.S. lose control over the very foundation of our innovative energy, computing, vehicle and defense manufacturing capabilities. As the focus on growth through exports persists, it is becoming clear that a country lacking raw materials has a harder time winning the global competition to host the factories that put them to good use....
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About time this was addressed. Unfortunately for the last twenty years the West's universities have been churning out "Earth Scientists" rather than geologists with the skills in mineralogy, mapping, geophysics and structural geology. These are the skills required to find 'stuff'. Then you need mining geologists to exploit the stuff that the exploration geologists find and then you need the metallurgists and process engineers to turn the found stuff into raw materials.

Pass all the statutes you like, but with no-one to find the stuff, the Chinese will have us by the short and curlies. They've bought up Africa. The environmentalists have killed the US rare earth industry and the earth scientists are too busy looking up at the weather to go and find anything.

Me? I find stuff all the time. But I get my weather forecasts from the earth scientists.

Chris
 
Grey Havoc said:
www.reuters.com

Exclusive: U.S. Army will fund rare earths plant for weapons development

The U.S. Army plans to fund construction of rare earths processing facilities, part of an urgent push by Washington to secure domestic supply of the minerals used to make military weapons and electronics, according to a government document seen by Reuters.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com

www.reuters.com

Texas rare earths mine developers to build U.S. refinery

Developers of a Texas rare earths mine said on Monday they will build a pilot plant to refine the strategic minerals, the latest domestic processing project announced at a time when more Americans are voicing concern about China's control over the sector.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
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An oldish (May) post from another thread:

Grey Havoc said:
ca.finance.yahoo.com

China Gears Up to Weaponize Rare Earths in Trade War

A flurry of Chinese media reports on Wednesday, including an editorial in the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party, raised the prospect of Beijing cutting exports of the commodities that are critical in defense, energy, electronics and automobile sectors. The world’s biggest producer...
ca.finance.yahoo.com ca.finance.yahoo.com

finance.yahoo.com

U.S. Risks ‘Devastating’ Blow From China’s Rare Earths Monopoly

China could wreak maximum havoc by squeezing supplies of the magnets and motors that use the elements, said Jack Lifton, co-founder of Technology Metals Research LLC, who’s been involved with rare earths since 1962. “There is no such thing as an automobile sold in the U.S. or made in the U.S...
finance.yahoo.com finance.yahoo.com
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So i guess regarding this critical rare Earth mineral... the environmental regulation regarding mining of such would be relaxed ?
 
www.telegraph.co.uk

We have been staggeringly blind to China’s rare earth dominance

China’s threatened export ban on rare earths is an almighty own goal for the West
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk


yro.slashdot.org

Biden To Order Review of US Reliance on Overseas Supply Chains For Semiconductors, Rare Earths - Slashdot

President Joe Biden will direct his administration to conduct a review of key U.S. supply chains including semiconductors, high-capacity batteries, medical supplies and rare earth metals. From a report: The assessment, which will be led by members of both Biden's economic and national security...
yro.slashdot.org
 
Richard N said:
When not enough new materials are available...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyYAYtouTbg
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news.slashdot.org

Biden Signs Executive Order To Address Chip Shortage Through a Review To Strengthen Supply Chains - Slashdot

President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday meant to address a global chip shortage impacting industries ranging from medical supplies to electric vehicles. From a report: The order includes a 100-day review of key products including semiconductors and advanced batteries used in...
news.slashdot.org


www.bbc.com

Biden orders 100-day review amid supply chain strains

The United States has grappled with shortages of medical gear and computer chips, among other items.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com


I'm not optimistic, though...
 
I'm absolutely positive that US investors were not blind to certain opportunities in the global metals market.

Not long ago, I watched a few Americans with a group of African tribesmen on TV. They told them to look for certain rocks that looked like the samples they were holding. If they found them, they would be given money. These rocks were needed for cell phones. I should point out another TV program that showed African tribesmen with a large animal on a long pole. One of them scanned the ground for a few rocks, and with quick precision, he struck them together. He selected a razor-sharp shard and with quick precision, removed the animal's pelt for further use.
 
californianewstimes.com

US targets China rare earth magnets for possible tariffs - California News Times

The Byden administration is considering investigating whether imports of rare earth magnets, mainly manufactured in China, pose a national security threat that justifies the imposition of tariffs. The White House said the Commerce Department would consider whether to investigate neodymium...
californianewstimes.com californianewstimes.com

www.mining.com

USA Rare Earth to take 80% stake in Round Top project in Texas

Round Top is probably the largest heavy rare earths deposit in the world outside of China, says USA Rare Earth CEO Pini Althaus.
www.mining.com www.mining.com

qz.com

The rare earth industry is drawing supply chain lessons from the semiconductor shortage

Both are part of critical supply chains that power the high-tech economy.
qz.com qz.com
 
A little checking reveals that the United States has a good supply of mineral resources but if a company can't make money taking them out of the ground, they stay there. So no, the only "chokehold" China has is the same one American investors flocked to: cheap labor and cheap materials prices.

US Mines Produced an Estimated $82.3 Billion in Minerals During 2020 | U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. mines produced approximately $82.3 billion in minerals in 2020— about $1.5 billion lower than the 2019 revised total of $83.7 billion—the U.S. Geological Survey announced February 2.
www.usgs.gov www.usgs.gov
 
Last edited by a moderator:
On a tangent:
www.telegraph.co.uk

Macron's veiled warning as Scholz prepares to visit Xi

French president warns that the EU is acting as an 'open supermarket' ahead of the German chancellor's trip to see the Chinese president
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk

Reducing dependence on China​

In talks in Brussels on Friday, EU leaders discussed ways to reduce their dependence on China for tech equipment and the raw minerals used to make items such as microchips, batteries and solar panels.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the EU was “witnessing quite an acceleration of trends and tensions” with China. The week-long Communist Party congress has shown that Mr Xi will continue to reinforce China’s “very assertive” and “self-reliant” tendencies, she added.

“Clearly, China is continuing a mission to establish its dominance in east Asia and its influence globally,” she said. “The Chinese system is fundamentally different from ours, and we are aware of the nature of the rivalry.”

The EU talks came as US authorities accused Beijing of an “outrageous” attempt to forcibly repatriate a member of the Chinese “elite” who fled Mr Xi’s oppressive regime, as they charged seven people over a campaign of harassment and acting as agents of a foreign government.

The US attorney’s office said that a Chinese national living in America was threatened repeatedly over a number of years as part of “Operation Fox Hunt” which the FBI dubbed an illegal global effort by China to locate and repatriate alleged fugitives who flee to foreign countries.
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