The Interior Department on Friday issued a list of rare metals and minerals deemed critical to the U.S. economy as part of the Trump administration’s agenda to support mining as a national security priority.
“Any shortage of these resources constitutes a strategic vulnerability for the security and prosperity of the United States,” said Tim Petty, assistant secretary of the Interior for water and science.
The draft list of 35 minerals published Friday are deemed “critical” to the U.S. and include such highly prized metals such as aluminum, the platinum group of metals used for catalytic agents, and rare-earth elements that are used in batteries and such high-tech devices as smartphones and missile guidance systems.
The work in compiling the critical element list was done by the U.S. Geologic Survey, an agency that “is at the heart of our nation’s mission to reduce our vulnerability to disruptions in the supply of critical minerals,” Petty said.
The list will be available for comment by industry and the public until March 19.
The National Mining Association, the lead industry group for mining in the U.S., on Friday said the list isn’t extensive enough.
Hal Quinn, the head of the mining group, urged Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to expand the scope of “criticality” by broadening the list of metals and rare earth elements to include “all minerals.”
“All minerals are ‘critical’ when we need them and can’t get them,” Quinn said. The Interior Department “should act to address the greatest threat to U.S. mineral security: the broken domestic mining permitting process.”
Quinn appeared hopeful that the Interior Department may consider a broader definition of criticality when it finalizes the list later this year, saying the Friday notice from the agency acknowledges “the drawbacks” in the methods used to define what constitutes a critical element or metal.
“More than a complex listing process, we need a simplified and efficient permitting system that unlocks the value of all our domestic mineral resources, restores our ability to compete and, once again, makes the U.S. a place where mining companies want to invest,” Quinn said.
The House Natural Resource Committee held a hearing on Republican-backed legislation that would expand the scope of what constitutes a critical resource, similar to what Quinn wants.
Republicans say the average mining project in America faces up to a decade in delays to get a permit approved, which the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act, introduced by Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., seeks to address.
Republicans at the hearing played up the fact that much of the critical minerals used in the U.S. are imported, which puts the nation at a strategic disadvantage.
“Dependence on foreign nations for critical minerals is troubling, because a disruption in the global supply chain could leave the U.S. struggling to get the commodities we use for so many facets of everyday life,” said Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.
Democrats say the bill would put no limit on what is considered a “critical mineral,” subjecting mining activities to less burdensome Interior Department permitting reviews.
“I don’t doubt the importance of sand and gravel, but we are not at risk of a strategic sand deficit or foreign companies imposing a gravel embargo,” said Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif. “This bill really has nothing to do with strategic or critical minerals as it’s defined.”
