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China’s aggressive pursuit of mineral resources around the globe continues with Africa being a “key destination for meeting China’s resource acquisitiveness,” according to a presentation given at the Coaltrans Southern Africa conference earlier this month.

As outlined in an article on MiningWeekly.com, China’s quest for resources in Africa, which centers on oil, gold, platinum, copper, nickel and manganese, has led to seven major partnership agreements between Chinese and African stakeholders in the second half of 2011 alone.

Meanwhile, China is also a key supplier nation for many critical metals and minerals, and has a near-total monopoly on strategic minerals like Rare Earths so much so that it is in a position – and has done so on several occasions in the past – to use its restrictive mineral export policies as a geopolitical weapon.

Needless to say, China’s role is being examined in the forthcoming American Resources Policy Network report entitled “Reviewing Risk: Critical Metals & National Security.” As the proverbial “Elephant in the Room,” China will also be a topic of discussion at the Strategic Minerals Conference 2012, taking place on June 6, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

For more information including related video from some of the conference participants, and an updated agenda as the event date draws closer visit www.strategicmineralsconference.com.

Having honored those who have served our country on Memorial Day yesterday, this week may be an appropriate time to note that our military servicemen and –women could not fulfill their mission to protect the homeland and project American power around the globe as effectively as they do if it wasn’t for a broad range of critical metals and minerals. These non-fuel materials are essential not only to our commercial manufacturing base and our aspirations to transition to a green-energy economy, but also to advanced weapons systems and other military applications, and are thus a matter of national security.

While given that, one would expect that formulating a coherent national mineral strategy to ensure such access would be a public policy imperative, a new study by the American Resources Policy Network finds that this, unfortunately, is not the case.

The study, to be formally released at the The Strategic Minerals Conference 2012, taking place on June 6, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, attempts to give a snapshot of the federal government’s approach to the United States’ mineral supply needs by reviewing recent government literature on the issue. The report will be available at www.americanresources.org after the conference.

The key questions guiding our research for the report -

1. Is there a consensus on which metals or minerals are “critical and/or strategic?”
2. What is our supply risk or import exposure (drawing on USGS data)?
3. How do we square private market activity with public policy to reduce resource dependency where possible and ensure surety of supply?

- will also be taken up and elaborated upon by a formidable lineup of speakers and panelists at the June 6th event.

For more information including related video from some of the conference participants, and an updated agenda as the event date draws closer visit www.strategicmineralsconference.com.

Two copper mines in Silver City, New Mexico are proving to be a real boon to the local economy. Employment at the Chino and Tyrone copper mines has increased dramatically since 2009 thanks to increased production, with the Chino mine now employing 1,500 people. The economic benefit, however, stretches beyond local families and businesses profiting (…) more

Sounding the alarm on the possible impact of hypothetical mining — in spite of the fact that no permit application or specific plans have been submitted — the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a cursory review of the Bristol Bay Watershed in Alaska. The EPA’s unprecedented early action is part of the agency’s effort (…) more

American Resources Principal Dan McGroarty appeared on the Lars Larson show and Charles Payne’s PayneNation to discuss the EPA’s latest bid to stop the prospective Pebble Mine in Alaska before the project has a chance to be reviewed. Check out the interviews below. more

If you haven’t lived under a rock lately (pun intended), you are probably aware of the fact that there is growing concern regarding the supply of mineral resources. While American Resources has consistently argued that the U.S. has subjected itself to a troubling degree of non-fuel mineral import dependency, which is often greater than our (…) more

Underscoring the timeliness of the American Resources-sponsored Strategic Minerals Conference 2012, Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis, has a piece on The Hill’s Congress Blog outlining how current domestic mining policies threaten our national security and economy. A few of Burnett’s key points: · The latest WTO case filed (…) more

Take a few minutes to read Congressman Mike Coffman’s piece today in the Washington Times. The Colorado Congressman, co-chair of the House Rare Earths Caucus and lead sponsor of the RESTART rare earths bill, notes that the popular Call of Duty video game’s newest version – Black Ops II – incorporates a geo-political tug of (…) more

ARPN’s Tungsten Month is over, but we will make an exception in the case for investment legend Warren Buffett. It seems one of his investment arms is taking a position in the re-commissioned tungsten mine in the United Kingdom, last operated as part of the industrial war effort during World War II. As American Resource (…) more

A recent announcement concerning plans to mine asteroids has sent the media into a frenzy, but is it possible? Consider the challenges: asteroids have no gravity, meaning miners and equipment will have to anchor themselves to the ground. Add to this the minerals that will fly off into space once excavated and the staggering temperatures (…) more