The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Bill targeting modernizing domestic mining policies draws broad support
The United States is richly endowed with a broad range of metals and minerals critical to national security, green energy and modern technology but is often overly-reliant on foreign sources for these same commodities. This was the resounding message from miners, manufacturers, regulators and analysts who testified on U.S. Senate Bill 883, "The American Mineral Security Act of 2015."
Introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, S.883 aims to reduce the United States' heavy reliance on mineral imports by addressing key bottlenecks in the domestic supply chain.
"The mineral security of our nation directly affects everything from our economic competitiveness to our national security," Murkowski said during a May 12 hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which she chairs.
Over the past several years, Alaska's senior senator has beat the drum for the need to modernize domestic minerals legislation.
"This is the third consecutive Congress now that I have introduced legislation on this subject. I think this is the best version yet, but I also believe that passage of this legislation is probably more important now than ever," Murkowski said.
America's electrical manufacturing sector, which uses a broad range of minerals and metals in the products it produces, agrees that modernizing mining policies is needed.
"U.S. dependence on China for rare earths is well documented by the U.S. Geological Survey, but our industries' usage of minerals goes well beyond rare earths," testified Vice Admiral (Ret.) Kevin Cosgriff, president and CEO, National Electrical Manufacturers Association.
He said a ready and reliable source of minerals is an important factor when deciding whether to build manufacturing facilities in the United States or overseas.
"To state the obvious, it is important to note that, just as enterprises do not engage in extraction or processing of mineral resources if they believe there is no market demand, a firm will not design and plan to manufacture a product without some reasonable assurance that the inputs necessary will be available to ensure predictable production at a reasonable cost," he informed the committee.
Vast minerals
In recent decades, American manufacturers have increasingly had to look overseas to find the minerals and metals critical to contemporary living.
"I've said this before, and I will say it again. I think that we have a real problem on our hands, as a result of our nation's borderline-insidious reliance on mineral imports, and it's not just the rare earth elements," Murkowski observed.
According the U. S. Geological Survey, the United States imported at least half of its requirements for 43 minerals in 2014, 19 of which it was 100 percent reliant on foreign sources.
The USGS notes that these figures have risen significantly since it began tracking imports in 1978.
"Our over-reliance on imported minerals, however, is certainly not due to an absence of resource potential. In fact, many U.S. regions contain significant potential for strategic and critical minerals," testified Alaska Department of Natural Resources Deputy Commissioner Ed Fogels.
The known key minerals under U.S. soil are estimated to be worth US$6.2 trillion.
Fogels said Alaska alone is a trove of energy, base, precious, strategic and critical minerals.
The USGS estimates that roughly 17 percent of the coal; seven percent of the gold; four percent of the zinc; three percent of the copper; three percent of the lead; and 1 percent of the silver on Earth is in Alaska.
In addition, Fogels noted that more than 70 rare earth element occurrences have been identified across the state, from Bokan Mountain, a rich source of the critical heavy REEs on the Southeast Panhandle, to Graphite Creek, a large graphite deposit found in the Northwest.
The DNR deputy commissioner showed the committee members a map of Alaska that is dotted with dozens of strategic and critical mineral occurrences.
Fogels said the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys has embarked on a multi-year program aimed at furthering the understanding of the Far North State's strategic and critical mineral endowment.
"We expect that continued exploration will lead to additional discoveries, and we welcome federal initiatives to stimulate this exploration," said Fogels.
In addition to geological assessments being carried out at the state level, the American Mineral Security Act directs the U.S. Geological Survey to work with fellow federal agencies to determine what minerals are critical, based on potential supply restrictions and the importance of minerals to energy, defense, currency, agriculture, consumer electronics and health care.
Once a list of critical minerals is established, the bill tasks the USGS with identifying and quantifying known domestic sources of these elements, and assessing the potentiality of yet-to-be discovered critical mineral resources in the United States.
USGS Acting Director Suzette Kimball told the panel that her agency already completes many of the tasks required by the American Mineral Security Act and stands ready to meet further goals of the legislation.
"We do think the goals embraced in S. 883 will advance those priorities, and we really commend you and the committee for elevating this very important issue," she said.
Unlocking potential
Having the minerals in the ground is one thing; mining them so that they are available further down the domestic supply chain is another thing altogether.
"While the United States has extensive mineral resources and is a leading global materials producer, it is dependent on imports for many materials that are critical inputs to manufacturing," testified Richard Silberglitt, Ph. D., a senior physical scientist at RAND Corp. "While, as an independent and non-partisan organization, RAND does not endorse or oppose legislation, we note the parallels between some aspects of the American Mineral Security Act of 2015 and our recommended actions."
Expeditious permitting for exploration and development of critical minerals while continuing the high environmental standards of the U.S. is top among the parallels listed by Silberglitt.
It is estimated to take seven to 10 years to permit a mine in the United States. When you add in another two to four years for construction after the permits are in-hand, and several years of geological, engineering, environmental and economic studies before permit applications are filed, the timeline from discovery to a useable mineral in the United States is typically measured in decades.
S.883 aims to reduce this nearly decade-long timetable for permitting a mine in the United States by prompting the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service to find ways to make the permitting process more efficient.
The legislation also would designate proposed critical minerals mines as infrastructure projects as described by Presidential Order 13604, "Improving Performance of Federal Permitting and Review of Infrastructure Projects."
Tagging critical minerals mines to the Presidential Order is expected to further streamline the permitting of these projects.
Red Conger, president of Freeport-McMoRan Americas and chairman of the National Mining Association, thanked Murkowski for advancing legislation aimed at tackling "a slow and inefficient permitting process for the mines that produce the minerals essential for our basic industries, technology, national defense and the products made here in America."
The American Mineral Security Act also has language to continue programs aimed at recycling and seeking alternatives to minerals deemed critical; build upon the nation's capacity to forecast critical mineral trends; and develop critical mineral curriculum and establish graduate and undergraduate programs for American colleges.
Speaking for NMA, Conger urged Congress to advance policies aimed at unlocking America's vast mineral potential.
"If we do not, and become increasingly marginalized as a supplier of these essential resources, the consequences are severe for our nation's global competitiveness," he warned.
S.883 currently is favored to move out of the natural resources committee and GovTrack.us gives the bill a 30 percent chance of being enacted.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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