Stumo opined in mid-2019 that Americans became aware of the news that China is threatening to cut off supplies of “rare earth” metals to the United States. It’s a troubling situation. But such alarming headlines could finally motivate Washington to rectify a longstanding problem—America’s growing dependence on imported metals and minerals.It may all sound a bit obscure, but these resources provide the building blocks for everything from electric motors to medical equipment. And the Commerce Department just warned that the United States has become “heavily dependent” on foreign sources for 31 of the 35 minerals designated as “critical” by the Department of the Interior. And 14 of the minerals considered “critical” by the Department of Defense are only available overseas.
We use many of these minerals every day as feedstocks in building products. The average smartphone contains copper, gold, platinum, silver, graphite and tin oxide. Solar panels require gold and silver. Electric vehicles need cobalt, zinc and lithium. And wind turbines use copper and molybdenum. [All of them use REEs]. Fortunately, America possesses an estimated $6.2 trillion in mineral reserves — and our reliance on China and other countries shouldn’t even be happening. America’s mining sector also uses more environmentally responsible practices, and is under more stringent regulation, than competitors in China, Kazakhstan, Turkey and many other countries.
China also utilizes subsidies for state-influenced companies, shoddy environmental practices and market manipulation to drive U.S. competitors from the market. Beijing can drive prices down to put others out of business, then restrict supplies and control prices at will, [and in other words a one-time Communist country has learned to use pure Capitalism against us. Now it uses the name of Communism as only decoration covering for a new system of oligarchs, like Russia and other so-called "peoples republics."] As a result, less than half of the minerals used by America’s manufacturers are actually produced domestically. Back in 2014, a survey found that 90 percent of U.S. manufacturing executives were concerned about obtaining needed minerals in a timely manner. The problem has only grown worse. [The same is true for uranium, which fuels our 90-some nuclear reactors. Almost 90% come from overseas, much of which from potentially unfriendly nations once under the direct control of the Russian oligarchs. There is a move underway, however, in Washington to support the U.S. uranium mining industry, but everything associated with the current administration seems to fail or becomes contaminated with corruption big and small. A Democrat-dominated congress has in the past not been too friendly to the mining industry either, reflecting liberal bias toward windmills and solar farms, and rampant wilderness preservation, But, interestingly, solar farms and windmills are also a form of mining a natural resource (the wind's force and sun's rays) but requiring huge expanses of taken land to build and operate, which impacts wildlife much more than any mining operation of today.].
In 2010, Beijing used market control as a weapon, cutting off rare earth mineral shipments to Japan. And the World Trade Organization has ruled that China gives preferences for mineral supplies to its own state-owned manufacturers while discriminating against the U.S. and other countries. Complicating matters is that it now takes as long as seven to 10 years for a U.S. mining operation to get the permits needed to launch new operations. In contrast, mine permitting in countries like Australia and Canada — with comparable environmental standards — takes only two to three years. Washington must find ways to streamline this process in order to begin responsibly extracting the key resources needed for the products we use every day. [However, Washington (federal regulations) is (are) only part of the problem. Back home, the NIMBY attitude is rampant in many communities, where anti-mining groups and influential local individuals press their state and congressional representatives to make mining difficult in their areas under the banner: Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY). How have far too many Americans become so ignorant, misinformed/misled is beyond belief of this Editor. Meme-mongering parochial schools and home schooling can be blamed in part.]
If U.S. manufacturers are to supply consumers with American-made products, they’ll need more timely access to reliable mineral sources. But many of the nation’s existing mines are reaching the end of their useful lifespan, [but other mineral deposits will likely be discovered, albeit deeper than those discovered at the surface years ago. Also, Alaska is a storehouse of minerals to be discovered and mined with today's' environmentally sound methods, see one example (more)]. Washington urgently needs to update rules and incentives for faster, more responsible and more innovative extraction of mineral resources that benefit domestic workers, companies and national security.
Original working URL: https://trib.com/opinion/columns/stumo-reliance-on-foreign-mines-an-environmental-and-national-security/article_62ba1f25-9947-5a8c-94bc-347736c39dd1.html
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