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There has been much hype surrounding what has been described as the world’s wonder material – graphene. It is (theoretically) stronger than steel, more conductive than copper and incredibly flexible. Graphene is a one atom layer of carbon, a truly two-dimensional material. One mining company described it as “graphite, unfolded”.

On the face of it graphene holds the potential to change everything we do and replace many critical raw materials in numerous applications. For example, replacing indium in touch screen technology is being targeted today by producers.

In reality, however, the road to wide scale commercialisation and unlocking the true potential of graphene will be long and hazardous.

Following two conferences in Europe over the last two weeks, the global interest in graphene from the world’s biggest corporations is clear. Companies such as Microsoft, Boeing, Panasonic, and Phillips were in attendance listening to small start-up graphene developers and, in some cases, graphite miners.

Surprisingly, creating a viable, commercial production method didn’t seem the problem concerning today’s graphene pioneers. Finding real world applications and customers to buy it appears the greatest challenge.

“There is no killer app for graphene,” said one US-based developer.

To gain market acceptance, the serious developers are crying out for a standard definition and independent body to oversee this. Many are concerned the recent over-inflated graphene hype is attracting marketers that is discrediting the significant work of the materials scientists and engineers.

“Lots of people call what they make graphene. There are no standards, no definition,” Jon Myers, CEO of US-based Graphene Technologies told a delegation in Berlin. “But to be honest I’d do the same – if I had a 50 layer platelet, I’d call it graphene, to.”

Graphene clearly has a ground swell of interest on a global scale. While it may be a long time before we see true, game-changing graphene applications, the serious graphene companies must also be as effective at marketing as they are at materials science.

Industrial Minerals on Graphene:

Graphene hype won’t help, say manufacturers (FREE)

Graphene industry needs standard definition

Billion dollar material has zero market

Graphene targets $1.8bn indium market

Last week, American Resources principal Daniel McGroarty testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources Sub-Committee on Energy and Mineral Resources on the issue of “America’s Mineral Resources: Creating Mining & Manufacturing Jobs and Securing America.”

Commenting specifically on one of the bills pending in the committee, the ‘‘National Strategic and Critical Minerals Policy Act of 2013’’ (HR 1063), introduced by Congressman Doug Lamborn (R, Colo.), McGroarty stressed the importance of aligning the United States’ public policy with the goal of strengthening America’s resource sector against the backdrop of our – unnecessary – over-reliance on foreign mineral resources.

In his testimony, McGroarty highlighted three steps Chairman Lamborn’s bill would take to reduce our mineral dependencies, which include strengthening our assessment capabilities, eliminating duplication in the permitting process, and the requirement for a “National Mineral Assessment.”

Here’s an excerpt:

“The second key section in the Lamborn legislation concerns eliminating needless duplication in the mine permitting process – a process that today, in the leading independent study, earns the U.S. worst-in-the-world ranking, tied for last with Papua New Guinea, with the average mine permitting process in the U.S. taking 7-10 years. And this metric is getting worse, not better: Just 4 years ago, in 2009, the same study found the U.S. process took an average of 5 to 7 years.

And little wonder why. One day, the DoD releases a study showing 23 metals and minerals in potential shortfall, while the DoE declares a dozen minerals critical to the green-tech and clean-energy transition. But at the very same time the U.S. EPA moves to stop a proposed American copper mine – a metal whose short supply, DoD tells us, has already caused “a significant weapon system production delay” – before the permitting process has even begun.

So with so many mixed signals coming from the federal government, let’s ask ourselves: If you were an American manufacturer, dependent on metals and minerals engineered into your products, could you risk waiting for a reliable source of American supply? Or would you build your new facility where the metals are – in China, perhaps – exporting jobs and Intellectual Property, sacrificing GDP and feeding a negative balance of trade as we buy back products that could have been, should have been, made here in America?”

McGroarty’s conclusion:

“The Lamborn bill is a solid test of our seriousness on this issue. If enacted, it would provide the fact-base for a data-driven assessment of our domestic resource potential, our vulnerability to foreign supply, and the obstacles that stand between us and a greater degree of resource independence.”

To read the full testimony, click here.

Testimony presented by Daniel McGroarty – Oversight Hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources Sub-Committee on Energy and Mineral Resources, March 21, 2013 Chairman Lamborn, my thanks to you and your colleagues on the House Sub-Committee on Energy and Mineral Resources for the opportunity to testify today. I am Daniel McGroarty, [...]

In a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, a reader from Arizona responds to American Resources Principal Daniel McGroarty’s op-ed “America’s Growing Minerals Deficit.” Citing Canada-based Augusta Resources’ Rosemont copper mine project in southern Arizona as an example, the reader alleges McGroarty “overlooks one very important consideration. There isn’t any assurance that [...]

The following op-ed by American Resources Principal Dan McGroarty was published in the Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2013. The original text can be found here. America’s Growing Minerals Deficit The U.S. is now tied for last, with Papua New Guinea, in the time it takes to get a permit for a new mine. By [...]

The global race for resources has countries look for new ways to meet their mineral resource needs. We’re now used to seeing headlines about mineral riches in the Arctic, beneath the ocean seabed, and even asteroid mining. The latest region in the cross-hairs is Antarctica, with – you guessed it – China aggressively pursuing its [...]

While not making a big splash in the media, a piece of news from Germany once more underscores the relevance of critical minerals and associated supply issues. As the newly launched German Resource Alliance (Rohstoffallianz) has announced, automakers BMW and VW are officially becoming shareholders of the alliance. Founded in 2012, the Resource Alliance is [...]

A piece on the investment blog SeekingAlpha addresses the flawed perception that “the U.S. exhausted the bulk of its mineral deposits during its rapid phase of industrial growth and is now buying what it needs from countries like China out of sheer necessity,” and laments the fact that the United States’ mineral resource dependency was [...]

International supply woes for Antimony may see an easing going forward as an Italian mining project progresses. According to The Telegraph, Canada-based Androit Resources expects to get its permits for exploratory drilling in Southern Tuscany within weeks. As with virtually any mining project, there is local opposition to the project based on environmental concerns, but [...]

Metal prices may be sluggish, but type in the key words “metal theft,” and any news search will yield at least ten stories from local papers on stolen copper wires, scrap metal, or parts from street lights or a/c units. Metal theft is far more than local petty crime, however, and its far-reaching implications have [...]