American Mining Industry Must Be Reinvigorated
We are living in the most mineral and metal-intensive age in human history. From smart phones, lithium-ion batteries to F-35s, the volume and variety of minerals we use to produce the essential technologies of today, and tomorrow, has never been so great.
But despite the incredible and growing importance of materials supply chains, mining is often ignored or overlooked when we discuss groundbreaking technologies or the biggest and most consequential policy ideas. That’s a glaring mistake.
Now, more than ever, mining policy is manufacturing policy, energy policy, trade policy and defense policy. It’s policy we must get right if the U.S. economy is going to remain competitive and if U.S. energy and resource security are to become strengths in the years ahead, not glaring weaknesses.
Unfortunately, U.S. mineral import reliance has grown to alarming levels. Despite vast domestic mineral resources – estimated at a value of $6.2 trillion – U.S. mineral import reliance has more than doubled over the past two decades. In 1995, we were 100 percent import dependent for just eight minerals. Today, we are 100 percent import reliant for 18.
The supply of many of these minerals – too many – is controlled by geopolitical rivals or unstable nations. Irreplaceable defense technologies are now dependent on a supply of rare earth minerals controlled by China. More than 60 percent of the world’s cobalt production, essential to lithium-ion batteries at the heart of the electric vehicle revolution, comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Russia and former Soviet States now hold a dominant position in the production and supply of the world’s uranium. The U.S. – the birthplace of commercial nuclear power and home to the world’s largest nuclear navy – is expected to be 99 percent import reliant for uranium by the close of this year.
Our alarming mineral import reliance is untenable but it’s a vulnerability largely of our own making. For too long, U.S. policy has taken an adversarial approach to hardrock mining. That must change.
Not only do we need more mining to meet the mineral demands of today and tomorrow, but we must also recognize the maturation of U.S. mining practices. The environmental protection, commitment to safety and inclusion of leading-edge technologies, have made modern American mining second to none. This is an industry we should encourage, not deter.
Yet, the hurdles in the way of increasing U.S. mineral production and reversing our import reliance are high and in need of attention. While the Trump administration has made great progress in bringing focus to the challenges and implementing import administrative changes, we also need action from Congress.
Our overly burdensome and redundant mine permitting process is case in point. It regularly takes 10 years, or more, for U.S. mines to gain the permits needed to begin operation. In Canada and Australia, nations with comparable environmental standards, the mine permitting process takes just two to three years. Bringing commonsense reform to a broken process need not mean jeopardizing our unwavering commitment to environmental protection and safety. We can and should do far better than we are.
At risk from inaction is not only a deepening mineral import reliance, and the national security concerns that follow, but the competitiveness of entire industries dependent on the minerals and metals we should be producing and processing here but largely aren’t.
The supply chains for the industries of tomorrow are rapidly coalescing and the U.S. is being left in the dust. We can no longer afford to let the status quo continue. The urgency to reinvigorate American mining has never been more acute. Now’s the time to answer the call.
Rich Nolan is president and C.E.O. of the National Mining Association.
