It may not be brand new, but this video serves as a good reminder of  why the long overdue mineral resource policy reform debate now underway is so critical.

Last Friday, pursuant to December’s Executive Order 13817, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke released his draft list of “35 Minerals Deemed Critical to U.S National Security and the Economy,”  kicking off a month-long comment period.

While we value the list as a critical first step in the right direction, we have to note that of the five Gateway Metals only two – Aluminum and Tin – appear on the draft list, even though the other three (Copper Zinc and Nickel) are “Gateways” to more than a half-dozen minerals that do make the list.

As we’ve previously pointed out, harnessing the interrelationship between Gateway Metals and their Co-Products, many of which are increasingly becoming the building blocks of 21st Century technology, should be a focal point of any to-be-formulated critical mineral resource strategy.

We are encouraged by the fact that, while stopping short of including Copper, Nickel and Zinc, the draft list specifically acknowledges the co-dependency between Gateway Metals and their Co-Products.

Citing Copper as a key example, witnesses during a Congressional Hearing on Congressman Mark Amodei’s H.R. 520, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act, also stressed the important interrelationship between Gateway Metals and the tech metals they “unlock.” 

Here’s hoping that this important theme will be expanded upon in the coming weeks – and ultimately find its way into our nation’s comprehensive federal action plan to encourage domestic resource production, through mining, recycling and reclamation.