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The election victory of leftist Peruvian presidential candidate Ollanta Humala in this week’s runoff election has instilled fears of higher taxes and new restrictive policies in the mining sector.  Peru is a leading producer of precious metals, and the U.S. relies heavily on Peruvian imports of zinc, tin, gold, copper, and silver. (To see exactly to what degree, take a look at the USGS Commodity Summaries 2011 report).

Whether or not worries of greater state involvement in Peru’s mining sector in light of Humala’s ties to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez will materialize remains to be seen, as Humala ran on a more moderate economic platform in the runoff-election than before the first round of voting in April.

The larger issue for the U.S. is that our unnecessarily high degree of dependence on foreign imports of metals and minerals leaves us vulnerable to geopolitical changes. It doesn’t take war or major political unrest, – a couple thousand of ballots could be all it takes to potentially disrupt our supply of critical resources. Unless we explore and develop the resources beneath our own soil, all we can do in such situations is sit and wait.

Rhodia Rare Earth Systems, one of only two rare earths producers in Europe, has entered into a cooperative agreement with French nuclear group Areva, according to AFP. The agreement between the two companies spells out a plan to jointly develop and exploit previously untapped deposits containing a mix of uranium and rare earths elements (REEs).

The announcement comes only days after China once again tightened its rare earths export controls, and a few weeks after Molycorp acquired a majority share in the Estonian company Silmet (the other European rare earths producer besides Rhodia).  Once more, this collaboration illustrates that this isn’t your grandfather’s rare earths sector anymore, as companies and nations will look for innovative ways to react to new economic and geopolitical realities.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Globe Metals and Mining has discovered significant rare earths deposits at its exploration site Mount Muambe in Mozambique. This positive exploration result will likely further strengthen China’s quasi-monopoly position when it comes to rare earths, as the Chinese state-owned East China Minerals Exploration and Development Bureau only two months [...]

As Reuters reports, indications are that Americans could soon be buying Zambian or Saudi Arabian copper from Canada and China. Canada’s Barrick, the world’s largest gold mining company, is attempting to win a geopolitical bidding war with its Chinese competitor Minmetal in the effort to gain control over two valuable copper mines in Zambia and [...]

With the news cycle dominated by the ongoing crisis in Japan, unrest, and war in the Middle East, and financial troubles of European Union member countries; the price of gold is soaring. As CBS News reports, investors big and small are lured by the perceived safety of the commodity, sending its price to more than [...]

As Americans are shelling out higher prices at the gas pump amidst market fears that the current uprisings in the Middle East might spill over into oil-producing countries, the public policy debate may once again shift towards the issue of U.S. reliance on foreign oil – an issue that is considered not just a matter of energy security, but also a matter of national security.