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***Posted by Daniel McGroarty***

“The current coronavirus pandemic has exposed significant supply chain challenges associated with our over-reliance on foreign (and especially Chinese) raw materials,” — writes ARPN’s Sandra Wirtz in a new piece for The Economic Standard:  

“PPE has become the poster child, but whether it’s smart phone technology, solar panels, electric vehicles, or fighter jets — critical minerals are integrated into all aspects of U.S. supply chains. And, in spite of the fact that the United States is rich in mineral resources, we have maneuvered ourselves into a situation where we often find ourselves at the mercy of China.”

Outlining the genesis and extent of our over-reliance on largely Chinese-sourced mineral resources, Wirtz argues that while the main focus has been on rare earths, our supply chain vulnerabilities stretch far beyond, as evidenced most recently by the findings of the new World Bank report on “The Mineral Intensity of the Clean Energy Transition.”

With COVID as the catalyst, that message is resonating with U.S. policymakers, in the Cabinet Departments and at the White House. Wirtz outlines several current policy initiatives aimed at alleviating our supply chain vulnerabilities:

• U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s Onshoring Rare Earths Act of 2020, or ORE Act, which defines ‘critical minerals’ as the 17 Rare earths plus four key minerals underpinning battery tech;  
• the expansion of the Department of Energy’s “target list” for project proposals to develop next gen extraction, separation and processing technologies for five rare earths plus cobalt, lithium, manganese and natural graphite; and

• two new Executive Orders which would promote domestic mineral resource development. 

She closes:

“All of which is to say that, after long period of inaction, the U.S. Government seems to be viewing strategic materials and critical minerals issues with a new seriousness.  That’s a welcome development.  COVID, with its sudden disruption of supply chains, should be the last warning the U.S. needs to bolster our mineral resource security going forward.”

Read the full piece here.

Re-shoring is the word of the hour.  If the current coronavirus pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that we will need to rethink where we source and produce in the aftermath of COVID — an issue ARPN’s Daniel McGroarty zeroes in on in a new piece for The Economic Standard.

Citing the excitement over the recent announcement of Arizona as the site for Taiwan Semiconductor’s new next-gen semiconductor factory to manufacture their new 5-nanometer (5nm) chips, McGroarty reminds readers that “supply chain starts with supply:”

He points out that production of 5nm chips requires at least three minerals of which the United States currently produces exactly zero (indium, gallium and arsenic), and two others others for which our import dependence is greater than 50%  (antimony and germanium) plus one for which data is “notoriously harder to come by” (hafnium). And — you guessed it — “China is the global leader or top U.S. supplier for all six.”

McGroarty argues that one way to alleviate the problem of our over-reliance on China for our critical mineral supplies would be to extend Defense Production Act (DPA) designation the President invoked last summer to address our nation’s rare earths dependency not just to the metals and minerals required to the metals and minerals required to produce 5nm chips, but also to the other seven metals and minerals for which the U.S. is also 100% import-dependent. 

He closes:

Read the full piece here.

Did you turn on the TV to watch the SpaceX Crew Dragon take off en route to the International Space Station yesterday only to be disappointed?  The long-awaited historic first launch of American astronauts from U.S. soil in nearly nine years has been postponed due to weather, but there’s a still good chance we will (…) more

“Cancelled.”  It’s a word we’ve become all to familiar with in recent week.  Sports.  Concerts.  Conferences.  As a consequence of the current Coronavirus pandemic, we’ve seen a slew of festival cancellations in recent weeks.  Thankfully, 21st Century technology (powered by critical metals and minerals) has made it possible to shift over to virtual get-togethers, and (…) more

Earlier this month, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), long one of the leaders on Capitol Hill pushing for a comprehensive overhaul of our nation’s mineral resource policy, addressed the challenges of our nation’s over-reliance on foreign – and especially China-sourced critical metals and minerals against the backdrop of the current Coronavirus pandemic in a post (…) more

Over the past few weeks, the spread of the coronavirus has exposed the supply chain challenges associated with an over-reliance on foreign raw materials.   With the effects being felt across broad segments of manufacturing, supply chain security — for medical devices, for personal protective equipment (PPE), pharmaceuticals, and beyond — is (finally) becoming one (…) more

At ARPN, we have long argued that the current push towards a lower-carbon future is not possible without mining, as green energy technology relies heavily on a score of critical metals and minerals. The World Bank’s latest report, entitled “The Mineral Intensity of the Clean Energy Transition,” published earlier this week in the context of the (…) more

Known and appreciated already by the Ancients for its antimicrobial properties, Copper has recently entered into the discourse over how to fight the current coronavirus outbreak and future pandemics.   A case in point is a new Assembly bill in New York, which seeks to reduce the spread of infection by requiring all new construction (…) more

The current coronavirus pandemic will have a lasting impact on many aspects of social life and public policy. With nations struggling to secure critical medicines and other supplies, many of which are sourced from China, the global crisis is increasingly exposing the challenges associated with supply chain security — for medical devices, for personal protective (…) more

Legislation introduced in the State Assembly of New York, a state that has been hit particularly hard by the current coronavirus pandemic, would require publicly funded construction projects to use antimicrobial copper. The bill, introduced by Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon (D-Marcy), would “require all new construction projects receiving state funding to use copper alloy touch surfaces (…) more