Dan McGroarty

Bearing testimony to the significance of the looming specter of China playing the “rare earths card,” CBS’s 60 Minutes this weekend aired an update to its 2015 segment on rare earths featuring ARPN principal Dan McGroarty. 

You can watch the segment on the CBS website, which also features a written transcript.

There is hope that the renewed focus on rare earths will help generate momentum for long overdue reforms in the critical minerals realm, because, as followers of ARPN well know, REEs really only represent the tip of the ice berg when it comes to our nation’s – largely home-grown – non-fuel mineral resource woes. As ARPN’s McGroarty recently argued when interviewed for a story in the Daily Caller:

“The irony, and that is an understatement, is that the U.S. has rare earth deposits capable of meeting national security needs, and ending the reliance on China. With China saber-rattling on the rare earths, this could be the time for a strong U.S. response.”

Michael Stumo, Chief executive of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, agrees. Writing for the Dallas Morning News he says:

“It’s a troubling situation. But such alarming news could finally motivate Washington to rectify a longstanding problem — America’s growing dependence on imported metals and minerals.

It may all sound a bit obscure, but these resources provide the building blocks for everything from electric motors to medical equipment. And the Commerce Department just warned that the United States has become “heavily dependent” on foreign sources for 31 of the 35 minerals designated as “critical” by the Department of the Interior. And some of the minerals considered critical by the Department of Defense are available only overseas.”

The bottom line is clear:

“If U.S. manufacturers are to supply consumers with American-made products, they’ll need more timely access to reliable mineral sources. Washington urgently needs to update rules and incentives for faster, more responsible, and more innovative extraction of mineral resources that benefit domestic workers, companies and national security.”

In the past few months, we have seen indications for a growing awareness of the need for mineral resource policy reform. Much emphasis has —rightfully — been placed on the national security aspects of our over-reliance on foreign mineral resources, as well as the nascent realization that the pursuit of the green energy transition is not feasible without critical minerals.

In a recent piece for the Rockland County Times, Tom Madison, executive director of the Cornell Program in Infrastructure Policy zeroes in on the issue from another angle. He writes:

“Mining may not always be front of mind when thinking about roadways and water systems, but addressing our infrastructure challenges simply cannot be accomplished without an efficient, responsive U.S. mining industry. The minerals and metals necessary to improve our vast array of infrastructure is truly dizzying: Millions of tons of steel to reinforce highways and erect towering bridges, silver to support aging water treatment systems, copper to conduct power across a vast web of transmission lines, and molybdenum to strengthen and enhance structural alloys. Minerals, metals, aggregates, and other resources from American mines are the essential ingredients that comprise and support the construction supplies and methods that build and maintain our infrastructure.”

While not new — ARPN’s Dan McGroarty explored the issue in a 2017 piece for Investor’s Business Daily explaining that “there’s more to the infrastructure story than cement trucks and Jersey Barriers” — it is an angle that should not be forgotten in the current discourse.

Striking a theme familiar to followers of ARPN, the comparison with fellow mining nations Canada and Australia, Madison argues that permitting reform for mining projects should be high on Congress’s priority list:

“Securing a new mining permit in Canada and Australia—nations with environmental safeguards comparable to our own—takes just two to three years. The U.S. average is seven years or more. It’s no wonder that, despite America’s incredible $6.2 trillion in mineral reserves, mining investment is fleeing to other nations. In 1990, 20 percent of all global mining investment flowed into the U.S. Today, it’s only 8 percent. (…)

Addressing America’s crumbling infrastructure simply can’t wait any longer. We need fundamental changes to the way we fund, finance, supply, and deliver projects. Including meaningful mine permitting reforms in upcoming infrastructure legislation will be enormously beneficial.”

And while national security and renewable energy are known to invite partisan bickering, the understanding that there is an urgent need to tackle infrastructure reform transcends party lines – or, as Dan McGroarty phrased it, “[i]n a time of when partisan rancor has reached record levels, infrastructure stands alone as a bipartisan refuge — one issue both parties can agree on.”

As Madison concludes:

“Let’s leverage this opportunity to self-supply a majority of the raw materials we need to rebuild our infrastructure, stanch the flow of foreign mineral imports, and keep American taxpayer dollars here at home.”

During an industry event in Melbourne, Australian Resources Minister Matt Canavan announced that Australia and the United States are going to sign a preliminary agreement to foster mineral research and development cooperation between the two countries. The announcement comes on the heels of the release of U.S. Department of Interior’s list of 35 metals and [...]

Bearing testimony to the growing importance assigned to the issue of critical minerals, the full U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will hold a hearing to “examine the Department of the Interior’s final list of critical minerals for 2018 and opportunities to strengthen the United States’ mineral security” on Tuesday, July 17, 2018, [...]

ARPN’s Dan McGroarty reports a worrisome development in the saga of EPA’s unprecedented use of pre-emptive veto power to stop Alaska’s proposed Pebble Mine even before a mine plan is presented for review: Anti-mining activists are urging EPA to dust off its veto pen again. And again. Noting a common thread between new pushes for [...]

In a comprehensive interview with The Metals Report, analyst Mark Seddon explains why Tungsten should be on people’s watch list, or, as the interview headline suggests: “Why you should look twice at an ugly duckling metal.” Like some of the other critical metals and minerals we have covered on our blog – Antimony and Cobalt come to mind – Tungsten [...]

If you think hard enough, you can find something wrong with anything. Case in point: If there’s anything remotely wrong with having an op-ed appear in the Wall Street Journal, it’s that, for some topics, sometimes 750 words just isn’t enough. So I’ll step back here to the Internet for a bit of prequel and [...]

In a column for the Wall Street Journal, American Resources Policy Network president Dan McGroarty acknowledges some positive signs coming from the Obama Administration indicating an increased focus on access to critical metals and minerals, but underscores that the “situation is actually more acute.” Citing General Electric as an example of a manufacturer that uses [...]

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 [...]

Leading up to last Friday’s second Alaska Strategic and Critical Minerals Summit in Fairbanks, the Juneau Empire spoke with our very own Dan McGroarty, who had the honor to present alongside many distinguished members of Alaska’s State government and private sector representatives. The Juneau Empire’s Russell Stigall has summarized their conversation in an article highlighting [...]