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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 ongoing supply of critical heavy rare earth elements.”

According to Ucore’s President and CEO, the U.S. at present does not possess the necessary capabilities “to produce three critical heavy rare earth elements that occur naturally and in abundance in Bokan Mountain.”

The fact that the U.S. Department of Defense is focusing on domestic rare earths exploration and development is encouraging, especially considering DoD’s Rare Earths assessment study from this spring, which had largely dismissed a Rare Earths supply crisis. DoD’s conclusion had baffled industry experts, but appeared to reflect a general naiveté and lack of information, which, according to a recent American Resources study called: “Reviewing Risk: Critical Metals & National Security,” pervades government agencies when it comes to assessing our nation’s critical mineral needs. Perhaps the Department of Defense’s Bokan Mountain efforts indicate a shift at the defense establishment towards a new understanding that Rare Earths and many other metals and minerals are critical to our national security needs.

While the EU, Japan and the United States have challenged China’s restrictive Rare Earths export policies before the World Trade Organization (WTO), German Chancellor Angela Merkel appears to have chosen a less confrontational route for Germany’s bilateral relationship with China. During her state visit to China, Merkel offered to partner with Beijing in efforts to [...]

A REE World Report titled ‘Political Squeeze Play and the Rare Earth Revolution’ on Rare Metal Blog highlights the implications of U.S. dependency on foreign supplies of Rare Earths for our military. Here are some of the report’s key points: • The current WTO case brought on against China by the U.S., European Union and [...]

China has announced a series of moves designed to place additional controls on global rare earth metal supply. Meanwhile, U.S. Federal and state policymakers continue to dither over domestic mining policy initiatives. According to the National Mining Association, the US has $6.2 trillion dollars of mineral reserves, but it also has one of the slowest [...]

Earlier this year, a Department of Defense analysis stunned many with its conclusion that concerns about Rare Earths supply shortages were exaggerated. Jeffery A. Green, founder of the Strategic Material Advisory Council and American Resources expert, explains how the Pentagon misses the mark in its assessment in a new policy brief for the Center for [...]

While the U.S. Government continues to talk about critical minerals access and the dangers of foreign dependency, New Zealand’s government is taking action. According to MiningNe.ws, the New Zealand government is “looking at ways of speeding up approvals for big mining projects because endless court action is “frustrating” companies and costing them millions.” Here are [...]

China’s suspension of Rare Earth shipments to Japan in the fall of 2010 kicked off a firestorm and has largely contributed to the extensive media coverage Rare Earth supply issues have received in recent months. While shipments were since resumed, reports that Japan is diversifying its supply sources have surfaced from time to time. But [...]

U.S. Representative Mike Amodei (R, Nev.), sponsor of a bill that seeks to reduce red tape for mining permits and reduce our over-reliance on foreign mineral resources, takes on the rigid U.S. permitting process in a column for the Reno Gazette Journal. Invoking the authoritative Behre Dolbear “Country Rankings for Mining Investment” report, also dubbed [...]

In a new column featured on the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s website, American Resources principal Daniel McGroarty discusses the latest American Resources report on Critical Minerals & National Security in the context of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s latest manifestations of regulatory overreach. Here are his key points: The EPA’s activist approach to regulating natural resource [...]