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The 2012 MINExpo International was held in Las Vegas in mid-September. The event, sponsored by the National Mining Association is the world’s largest mining show and featured 1,890 exhibitors across 860,000 square feet. Over 58,000 people attended, an increase of 45 percent from the previous conference in 2008.

Industry equipment, including engines, communication technology, pollution control items, and robotics, were on full display. One exhibit even gave attendees the opportunity to get a birds-eye-view from the cabin of a 2,600 ton haul truck.

Check out remarks from the opening session here.

In a three-part interview series with Metal Miner, American Resources principal Daniel McGroarty discusses resource nationalism, the role of China in global resource wars and lessons for the United States’ mineral resource strategy against the backdrop of the East China Sea territorial dispute between China and Japan over a tiny group of islands, with outsized importance in terms of seabed rights.

Outlining the takeaway for U.S. policy as it relates to domestic rare earth mineral/resource policies, McGroarty argues:

“I do believe there is an impact on the US – the question is, to what extent? What form does that impact take? Can we affect it in a positive way? From a security standpoint, we have a treaty relationship with Japan that requires us to come to their defense and will guarantee that our policymakers will watch this closely. Longer-term, it reminds us that resources will be fought over (metaphorically and hopefully not militarily) and can be used as a policy tool. This conflict should give us pause to develop [the United States'] own strategic rare earth resources. We need to cover our own dependencies.”

Click here to read part one, part two, and part three of the interview.

As the Canadian daily Chronicle Herald reports, the U.S. Department of Defense is conducting a study of Canadian mining company Ucore’s rare earth-rich Bokan Mountain property in southeast Alaska. Under the auspices of the Defense Logistics Agency, the study will “focus on the possible development of Bokan Mountain to meet defence department requirements for an (…) more

As the usage of specialty or “tech metals” grows with their ever-diversifying utilities, so do related supply issues. One of the most popular and most frequently mentioned options to address such challenges is recycling. However, a Forbes Magazine piece points out that as Barbara Reck, research scientist at Yale University’s Center for Industrial Ecology, School (…) more

According to Mining.com, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is funding a study to evaluate the feasibility of asteroid mining. The announcement comes five months after private investors, among them legendary movie director James Cameron, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt of Google and former Microsoft exec Charles Simonyi, launched a company called Planetary (…) more

We’re happy to announce that the American Resources panel of issue experts continues to grow. The latest addition, H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D. hails from the National Center for Policy Analysis, where he is a senior fellow, and the lead analyst of the Center’s E-Team – one of the largest collections of energy and environmental policy (…) more

In an article this week, Resource Investing News is asking: “Will the U.S. Produce Graphite?” As the piece points out, with China producing roughly 80 percent of global graphite output, and the U.S. not producing the metal in spite of the fact it is considered a critical mineral, “it is imperative that the US find (…) more

A piece on Pro Edge Newswire, the re-branded and expanded home for Rare Metal Blog, asks if Tin is a “critical metal.” And indeed, in spite of the fact that it has been mined since 3000 BC, it appears to have all the makings of a critical metal with its many new applications and a (…) more

Two years after China’s Rare Earths embargo on Japan and subsequent supply shortages put the until-then largely obscure group of critical minerals on the map, tensions between the two countries are reaching new heights, with the specter of war looming. At the heart of the current tensions lies a territorial “tug-of-war” over five tiny – (…) more

According to MiningWeekly.com, the government of Queensland, Australia, is looking to reduce regulatory burdens and operating costs for mining companies by establishing a Cabinet committee aimed at “clearing project approval backlogs.” While the move’s benefits may to some degree be counterbalanced by controversial plans to hike coal royalties, cutting red tape and minimizing permitting delays (…) more