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As Commodities Now reports, a new Bloomberg New Energy Finance report anticipates that China’s power sector will go through substantial changes through 2030.

As part of these expected changes, the country will “add 88 GW of new power plants annually from now until 2030, which is equivalent to building the UK’s total generating capacity every year.” While coal will likely remain a dominant source of power through to 2030, China has started a shift towards renewable energy sources and is committed to head towards a “cleaner future.”

These looming changes will have an impact that will be felt far beyond China, says Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance:

“It is hard to underestimate the significance of China’s energy consumption growth and its evolving generation mix. The impacts will reach far beyond China and have major implications for the rest of the world, ranging from coal and gas prices to the cost and market size for renewable energy technologies.”

However, the implications are not limited to the energy sector. Renewable energy technologies require significant amounts of critical non-fuel minerals. For example, the copper content of an industrial-size wind turbine weighs in at more than three tons, and copper also yields selenium, a little-known metal which a key component in next-gen solar panels.

In our 2012 report “Reviewing Risk. Critical Metals and National Security” we found that China is a top provider of 18 metals and minerals for which the U.S. is 91 to 100% import-dependent. The country also leads the pack of lead suppliers for metals for which our import dependency is smaller. Thus, any change in China’s willingness to export – be it for geopolitical reasons or due to increased domestic demand as China’s power shift towards a “cleaner future” evolves, will be felt in the U.S., and the rest of the world.

How the numbers break down remains to be seen, but prudence would dictate that we take steps to reduce our overreliance on foreign minerals, and particularly Chinese supply. With an estimated $6.2 trillion worth of key minerals beneath our own soil, this should not be out of the question.

In a comprehensive interview with The Metals Report, analyst Mark Seddon explains why Tungsten should be on people’s watch list, or, as the interview headline suggests: “Why you should look twice at an ugly duckling metal.”

Like some of the other critical metals and minerals we have covered on our blog – Antimony and Cobalt come to mind – Tungsten lacks the “sex appeal that made investors fall for the rare earth story.”  Says Seddon:

“One of the big differences between tungsten and REEs is their applications. Tungsten is a very industrial metal. It’s mainly used as a carbide or “hard metal” in drilling and cutting tools used in heavy industry. Tungsten is not sexy in that sense. It’s a very solid industrial market. This contrasts with REEs, which are used in a lot of newer, high-tech applications that are much easier for the investment community to make into an exciting story.”

While Tungsten may be used in industrial applications that don’t get people as excited as, say, green technologies, there are no viable substitutes at this point.

Meanwhile, there is a strong geopolitical aspect factoring into the Tungsten narrative:  As is the case with Rare Earths, most of the world’s Tungsten comes from China, which accounts for roughly 80 percent of global Tungsten output, a fact that invites similar challenges as the ones manufacturers relying on REES have seen in the past.

Further complicating the supply picture for domestic manufacturers is the fact that Tungsten from the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and surrounding regions, another main source of supply, has been labeled a conflict mineral and subjected to a series of (confusing) reporting requirements under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law and respective rules handed down by the SEC in 2012.

A partial solution to at least some of the challenges may lie in the domestic development of our Tungsten supplies, which would allow for reducing our overreliance on foreign minerals and allow for “conflict-free” sourcing.  In any case, however, the Tungsten narrative once more shows that critical resource policy cannot occur in a vacuum, as the strategic implications of our supply issues stretch far beyond the now often-discussed Rare Earths story.

In a recent op-ed for the Pueblo Chieftain, National Mining Association president and CEO Hal Quinn and Colorado Mining Association president Stuart Sanderson discuss the U.S. Administration’s recent decision to take more than 300,000 acres of federal public lands in six Western states, including Colorado, off limits for mineral exploration. Embedding it into the context (…) more

We’re thrilled to announce the latest addition to the American Resources panel of experts. G. Randy Keller is not only Professor and Edward Lamb McCollough Chair in Geophysics at the University of Oklahoma, he is also the Director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey. During his extensive academic career, he has published over 270 scientific papers (…) more

Arizona State Geologist and blogger Lee Allison has an interesting post up pointing to the recently-released U.S. Department of the Interior Economic Report 2012. The agency calculates that the “FY 2012 value added and economic contribution associated with production and activities on DOI [ie. public] lands are estimated to be $210 billion and $371 billion, (…) more

With August generally being the slower part of the news cycle, one of the bigger stories last week was that the installation of solar panels on the roof of the White House had begun. Administration officials say in retrofitting the White House building to make it more energy efficient, the President is delivering on a (…) more

An article in the latest issue of the Journal of Turkish Weekly indicates that when it comes to metals and minerals exports, Iran is becoming a force to be reckoned with. According to the piece, Iran has acquired the technology necessary to produce Antimony ingots – an indispensible component for many sectors, including the electronics, (…) more

The following is a guest post by American Resources expert Simon Moores. Wide-reaching controls on China’s natural resources continue to be at the forefront of its shift to a high value economy. Already industries like rare earths and phosphate fertilizer are tightly controlled by government-forced regulation. The question remains whether graphite – the 9th most (…) more

In a post on ARPN expert Tracy Weslosky’s website InvestorIntel.com, Daniel McGroarty discusses the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s decision to take land in six states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah – off limits for mineral exploration for the next twenty years. Essentially placing it in the same category of Federal (…) more

A recent ABC News story suggests that a “modern mother lode” —tailings of old mines containing Rare Earth Elements (REEs) – could yield a potential “rare earth bonanza” as “modern extraction techniques would now permit their recovery.” However, as MetalMiner’s Stuart Burns points out, the story is missing the point. Burns argues that while USGS (…) more