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Courtesy of the current coronavirus pandemic, we wash our hands – perhaps more frequently and thoroughly than before, and contactless shopping is becoming the norm for many.  Disinfectant has become more than a household staple, and we find ourselves constantly sanitizing everything from light switches over door handles to groceries.  

To borrow a quote from beloved (or, depending on how many times you have had to watch the movie if you’re a parent, barely tolerated) Olaf, the snow man in Disney’s Frozen II: “We’re calling this ‘controlling what you can when things feel out of control.’”

And in fact, these preventative measures are some the most effective precautions we can take. However, as a group of senior students from Vanderbilt University have recently pointed out, “[w]hat many people don’t realize, however, is that there is something we touch as often as our faces, and many times before our faces. That thing is our phone.”

Arguing that the average smartphone user touches their phone about three times per minute, and that “[w]ith over 25,000 bacteria per square inch, it is a virtual petri dish — dirtier than your typical bathroom flush handle,” they have developed a new phone case that, as they say, effectively “washes” itself.  And, as follower of ARPN you may have guessed it — there’s a critical minerals angle here: They’re leveraging the antimicrobial power of copper.

The case developed by the seniors, who just founded a startup company, has a copper alloy surface harnessing copper’s properties and inhibit the buildup of disease-causing bacteria and other germs, properties ARPN previously discussed here, here, and here.

While getting their startup off the ground, the seniors are currently working alongside Vanderbilt University Medical Center to equip 250 “frontline medical workers” with their antimicrobial copper phone cases.

While the case will not “diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent coronavirus, COVID-19, or any other illness,” and “is in no way intended to substitute for precautions or other guidelines suggested by the CDC, such as social distancing and hand washing” its construction is based on scientific evidence, most recently confirmed by the National Institutes of Health, CDC, UCLA and Princeton University, showing that while SARS-CoV-2 was stable “for up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel,” it was only detectable on copper surfaces for four hours.  

Based on these findings, the phone case may well become another tool in the arsenal to fight COVID-19 and future pandemics — alongside, perhaps the copper-infused fabrics ARPN’s Dan McGroarty recently discussed in his piece for The Economic Standard.

As McGroarty concluded in that piece, 

“Hard as it is to envision, this won’t be our last pandemic. COVID, or some mutant cousin, will make a return visit this fall, next winter, or next year. Now is the time for smart moves to respond to this threat and prepare for future ones. New public spaces—and particularly the touch-points of human contact within those spaces—must become our first line of protection. Anti-microbial metals like copper are an indispensable weapon in this war.” 

With our phones having effectively become an extension of our hands, encasing it in a copper alloy represents one such “smart move.”

In a new piece for The Economic Standard, ARPN’s Daniel McGroarty argues that while the “intellectual shrug” of “who could have seen this coming” tends to be a common reaction to our new normal of sheltering in place and social distancing, there were warning signs for a coming crisis we failed to recognize for what they were, and act accordingly.

McGroarty tells the story of what he calls a “Red Swan” based on COVID-19’s point of origin in Wuhan, China — a leaked classified cable sent by the U.S. State Department in 2010 revealing “Critical Infrastructure/Key Resources” outside of the U.S. “whose loss could critically impact the public health, economic, and/or national and homeland security of the United States.” On it, under the heading for China: “Polypropylene Filter Material for N-95 Masks” — which, as McGroarty points out, are “[p]recisely the ones the federal government and states are scrambling to source right now. […] The U.S. Government knew in 2009 that N-95 masks were critical, came from China… And did nothing about it.”

However, and this is where followers of ARPN may perk up, this is not all.  

As McGroarty writes, the classified list in the cable also included a series of mines in China that were deemed critical, developing critical materials ranging from fluorspar and germanium over graphite to Rare Earths, tin and tungsten — for all of which the United States is greatly import-dependent, with degrees of reliance ranging from 63% for tungsten to 100% for fluorspar, graphite and rare earths. 

Writes McGroarty:

“As a warning unheeded, the cable makes for interesting reading in light of today’s COVID pandemic – and as U.S. policymakers embark on a rolling series of multi-trillion dollar spending bills, the next of which will include infrastructure projects. 

At issue is not just one but three layers of risk:  Maybe the metals and minerals produced by the Chinese mines will be withheld in time of conflict, as Beijing seeks to leverage access for American concessions. Maybe the metals and minerals will soon be prioritized for internal Chinese consumption, under its Made in China 2025 program to drive Chinese technology dominance, with little left for export to the U.S. or elsewhere. 

Or maybe – as the leaked cable presciently notes – the Chinese mines will be disrupted by a pandemic, slamming on the supply chain brakes for a U.S. economy dependent on critical materials that go from arriving “just in time” to “not at all.”

In any case, the warning could hardly be more clear. The U.S. has a choice:  It can take immediate steps to reduce its dangerous dependency on a Chinese supply chain for critical technology metals. Or we can hope COVID 2.0 will not disrupt supply in a second global shut-down – or that Beijing won’t one day decide to curtail access to these critical materials in time of crisis.

But here’s one thing we can no longer do:  If an act of nature or of man cuts off U.S. access to vital technology materials, we can’t claim to be surprised by the appearance of a Red Swan. We’ve seen it coming.”

Testifying before the U.S Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in February 2019, ARPN expert panel member and managing director of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Simon Moores sounded the alarm on the supply chains of metals and minerals that are key components of battery technology and energy storage. Arguing that we were in the middle (…) more

In a new piece for the National Journal, Brian Dabbs takes a closer look at efforts on Capitol Hill to address the United States’ “strained” supply chain for pharmaceuticals and medical devices and beyond. He reports that a push to pass “legislation to boost U.S. production of dozens of minerals to stave off similar crises in the future,” — (…) more

With much of the world still in lockdown, China appears to rev up its engine to move past the coronavirus.  The City of Wuhan, the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic, has re-opened, factories have restarted their operations, stores are reopening and people are leaving their confined quarters to venture outside.  With coronavirus having exposed (…) more

As the U.S. grapples to flatten the curve of the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, large swaths of public life have come to a grinding halt. However, as North of 60 Mining News publisher Shane Lasley points out in a new piece for the publication, “it remains imperative for the nation to maintain the critical (…) more

In a new piece for The Economic Standard, ARPN’s Daniel McGroarty zeroes in on the anti-microbial properties of Copper as a potential weapon in the fight against COVID-19 virus and future pandemics. We previously discussed the issue here and here. Read the full piece courtesy of The Economic Standard: Copper Beats Corona: A New, Old (…) more

In a new piece for RealClearDefense, ARPN’s Daniel McGroarty argues that as it formulates a response to the current coronavirus pandemic,  the United States has a choice to make: Whether to allow this public health crisis spiral into a strategic resource crisis as well, or to confront China’s anticipated grab for market share head on (…) more

Earlier this month, ARPN’s Daniel McGroarty argued that while the current focus on ending the dangerous dependence on critical medicines needed to combat COVID-19 is more than warranted, Congress and the administration “may want to broaden their focus from critical medicines to critical minerals.” In a new piece published in the Duluth News Tribune, Michael Stumo, (…) more

Last week, we discussed the antimicrobial properties of copper, the re-introduction of which experts argue could help the fight against Coronavirus and future pandemics — particularly in hospitals and other public spaces.  Taking the notion of a new idea often being an old one further, an Israeli scientist has taken the mainstay material copper, and (…) more