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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 of the decision’s purported goal – to advance solar power development – they argue that the administration’s decision overlooks the fact that mineral exploration and renewable energy technology can coexist, and in doing so, it increases the United States’ vulnerabilities:

“Limiting domestic minerals exploration and development jeopardizes the very technologies the government is trying to nurture while increasing our reliance on foreign sources of minerals — a tenuous position to be in when it comes to resources so vital to our nation.

As it stands, the United States is already 100 percent import reliant for 18 key minerals. The U.S. imports $6.9 billion worth of mineral materials from foreign countries annually, despite having $6.2 trillion worth of key minerals within its own borders. Despite this, the government already restricts or prohibits new mining operations on more than half of all federally owned public lands.
Heavy import dependence and lagging domestic mineral development is limiting our economy’s potential and hampering national security efforts.”

And, considering the amounts of copper and nickel used in solar and wind technologies, the bottom line is simple: without minerals, there’s no solar technology — that is, at least none that’s made in America.

When discussing critical mineral supply woes, Rare Earths are always the first minerals to come to mind. However, we at American Resources have consistently made the point that our mineral resource dependencies stretch far beyond the Rare Earths. Antimony is a case in point. A recent Resource Investing News piece argues that while not a “sexy” metal like Rare Earths, Gold or Silver, Antimony is making its way on people’s radar due mostly to an undersupplied market:

“While most people have never heard of antimony, it is without a doubt one of the most vital materials due to its primary use as a fire retardant. Compounded as antimony trioxide, antimony is used in fire-retardant bedding, children’s clothing, toys, aircraft and car seat covers — a sector that makes up about 60 percent of the antimony market. Antimony is also consumed in alloys for batteries, plain bearings and solders. Future applications include use as a component in phase-change memory, which could lead to a dramatic increase in computer transfer speeds… The British Geological Survey in 2012 named antimony the most at risk of a supply disruption due to the high concentration of production in one country: China.”

While the U.S. House of Representatives has the chance to take a step towards a strategic minerals strategy soon by taking up Rep. Mark Amodei’s (R, Nev.)” National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2013” (H.R. 761) soon, this should serve as another reminder why a more strategic approach to minerals and mineral resource security is imperative.

Compliance with federal law and a new SEC rule regarding the sourcing of so-called conflict minerals — Tungsten, Tin, Tantalum and Gold from the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and surrounding regions — remains challenging. For U.S. manufacturers to navigate and properly follow the new guidelines is just one piece of [...]

The following op-ed by American Resources Principal Dan McGroarty was published in the Wall Street Journal on July 5, 2013. The original text can be found here. A Potential Copper Bonanza Runs Afoul of the EPA The metal is essential for wind turbines, but a proposed mine in Alaska has set off Keystone-like alarms. By Daniel [...]

Two days before President Obama is set to unveil his overhauled climate change agenda, the editorial board of the Washington Post has offered its take on what one of the paper’s own headlines has called: “one of the most important environmental decisions the president faces in his second term” – the Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment. [...]

In a column for the Washington Examiner, Ron Arnold, executive vice president of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, asks why President Obama won’t “let the Defense Department face the rare earth security risk,” stemming from the severity of our mineral resource dependency on China. He cites Congressman Mike Coffman, sponsor of Federal [...]

Washington Post calls issue “the biggest environmental decision…you’ve never heard of…” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has officially extended the public comment period for its draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment – a review released in April in response to calls from anti-mining groups for the EPA to issue a preemptive permit veto under section 404(c) [...]

According to news reports, former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson will be joining Apple Inc. as vice president of environmental initiatives. As part of her new position, Jackson will coordinate many of the company’s environmental practices. Jackson hailed Apple’s environmental record stating that “Apple has shown how innovation can drive real progress [...]

Dear Reader, We are writing to warn you of a federal action that could dramatically impact America’s domestic supplies of natural resources. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its revised draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment last month in response to calls from anti-mining groups for the EPA to issue a preemptive permit veto under [...]

In a recent opinion piece for Politico, Brigadier General John Adams (U.S. Army, ret.) author of “Remaking American Security” and President of Guardian Six Consulting, and Scott Paul, President of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, zero in on the national security implications of our mineral dependencies. Citing Hellfire missiles and night vision goggles as examples, [...]