Through proactive policies to make deep sea mining easier, the federal government has the power to both strengthen national security and increase economic output. Today, these efforts are hampered and wind-up benefiting China while allowing foreign nations to search the oceans for valuable minerals which are needed by American enterprise. The United States should seek to encourage competitive efforts with the Chinese in this field.
China beats the United States hands down in the strategic use of deep-sea minerals, as Americans do not have a level playing field. For America to rely on a potential adversary like China for rare minerals to be used in military hardware and renewable energy technologies is a serious national security concern. The federal government needs to find opportunities to make it easier, not harder, for American companies to capitalize on mining of deep-sea minerals.
Over the next few months, Congress will draft and pass the annual authorization bill for the defense department – the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). U.S. defense readiness necessitates access to all sources of critical minerals and because of that, the Pentagon must incorporate seabed resources, such as polymetallic nodules, in any strategic plan for national security. The term polymetallic nodules, in simple and comprehensible terms, is a battery within a rock in the ocean. These rocks contain concentrations of base metals which can be extracted to make batteries. Right now, America faces a mineral deficit which threatens military preparedness and technological superiority over our adversaries. The NDAA is an opportunity to start debate on enacting policies which will aid military readiness and address the lack of domestic sources for these necessary minerals.
Should Congress take the opposite route and pass new policies which curtail or eliminate the use of deep-sea metals, the result would be the U.S. industrial base and American business would be even more dependent on imports. China already dominates land-based markets for these critical minerals, refining 68% of the world’s nickel, 40% of copper, 59% of lithium, 73% of cobalt and 90% of manganese. Manganese is the element that is most abundant in nodules and the U.S. imports 100% of manganese from foreign nations. While China holds 5 out of 31 International Seabed Authority (ISA) deep-sea mineral exploration contracts, with three for nodules, the U.S. cannot participate directly; however, we can counter by investing in required processing infrastructure to convert deep-sea minerals into materials used in defense and clean energy. On policy grounds, it makes no sense that our great nation has become so reliant on imported minerals.
Environmentalists do themselves no favors, because policies which discourage American engagement in this space do not translate into a cleaner planet. The not-in-my-backyard mentality of many environmentalists should encourage, rather than discourage, support for deep-sea sourcing, avoiding further destruction of domestic lands and communities abroad through land-based mining. The environmental benefits of deep-sea mining are well documented, and it is a far more environmentally friendly way to extract metals than traditional mining. Mineral rich nodules lay unattached atop the sea floor in areas with orders of magnitude less life than land, so sea-based mining avoids both the generation of copious waste rock and deforestation which plague land-based mining. The practice of mining from the ocean also allows for the preservation of indigenous communities, reduces risk to workers and dramatically reduces CO2 emissions (by as much as 80%). Support of this effort should be a priority for environmentally friendly Members of Congress.
For example, The Metals Company (TMC) is poised to support the United States to secure these critical minerals. The company is a polymetallic nodule exploration company which has proven capable in managing both the collection as well as the processing technology to provide nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese for U.S. defense and national security through cleaner, lower-impact deep-sea sourcing. Support for policies to expand the American footprint in this area of the economy would allow companies like The Metals Company to expand and will result in a less dependent America on imports while also expanding economic growth.
While global demand is skyrocketing, American companies can provide the raw and processed materials to support domestic companies seeking to break supply chains coming from China. Much like the U.S. is seeking to find solutions to increase domestic energy extraction to avoid reliance on OPEC, we need to do the same with these minerals. Policies to encourage more domestic companies exploring and securing minerals used in batteries and so many other products make sense for the economy, environment as well as keeping the Pentagon from becoming dependent on China for imported minerals used in military technology to defend our nation.
Peter Mihalick is former legislative director and counsel to former Reps. Barbara Comstock, Virginia Republican, and Rodney Blum, Iowa Republican.
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