Daniel McGroarty

American Resources leader Dan McGroarty will be attending the 7th Annual Military Energy Alernatives Conference in Tysons Corner, VA on March 6-8. The conference will discuss how the Department of Defense is implementing renewable technology to achieve energy efficiency and security at the operational level, as well as how renewable energy can be applied more broadly and less expensively on a strategic level.

American Resources followers know their Rare Earths from their rare metals, and that distinction is key to understanding a strategic investment that’s getting a lot of attention right now: Molymet of Chile’s $390 million investment in Molycorp, the U.S. Rare Earths miner. But while most analysts are looking for the commercial synergies in the deal, I’m intrigued by what it might tell us about the evolution of U.S. public policy on strategic metals.

What do I mean? Many metals analysts speak often of Molycorp’s mine-to-magnets vertical integration strategy; what I find interesting in the Molymet deal is the first hint of what might be a “horizontal” strategy, bringing into one company a basket of strategic metals, ranging from Molycorp’s Rare Earths to Molymet’s Rhenium and Molybdenum.

While Rare Earths, Rhenium and Molybdenum have not historically been a part of the U.S. National Defense Stockpile, all are on various DoD “study lists” of critical materials, and the establishment of a Rare Earths “inventory” is an element in Congressman Mike Coffman’s proposed bill. According to the new USGS Mineral Commodities Survey, the U.S. is 86% foreign-dependent for its Rhenium supply; Rhenium can be recovered during Molybdenum production. And as we know, even with the return of mining at Molycorp’s Mountain Pass Mine, the U.S. is still more than 99% dependent on China for its Rare Earths. (Interestingly, the Molymet investment brings Molycorp full circle, as it bought the Mountain Pass property in 1950 to mine for Molybdenum, light years before the mini-computer/Internet era tech boom would vault Rare Earths into high demand.)

Wheels are turning in the defense industrial sector on how to source critical metals. While public policy coalesces, the Molycorp-Molymet deal may offer a first hint from the private sector on how a multi-metal mining operation might position itself to meet strategic resource needs. American Resources will follow the policy debate for signs that awareness on the strategic resource issue is beginning to grow.

Just when American Resources has read its thousandth story on companies substituting around scare metals like the Rare Earths to reduce usage, along comes this Platts report on a new discovery in Russia’s RUSAL research labs, working in conjunction with a team from the Siberian Federal University.  Scientists there have fabricated a new aluminum alloy [...]

BusinessWeek today reports the findings of a new study by PwC predicting chronic shortages of 14 metals and minerals critical to major industrial sectors ranging from chemicals and  aviation to renewable energy sources like wind and solar power.  Lithium, American Resources’ metal of the month, makes the list.  The report, based on a survey of [...]

Much was made of a recent discovery of significant rare earth deposits on the seabed of the Pacific Ocean. Some were even heralding the beginning of the end of China’s rare earth near-total monopoly. Lending credibility to those cautioning against this sentiment, a new Canadian-led study published in the journal Geology concludes that “accessible supplies [...]

Well, you won’t see that headline atop of pieces like this one in the Alaskan press, but it’s a logical extension of policy actions like the one proposed to stop a copper/gold/molybdenum mine in Alaska.  In this case, we’re told that we can either allow the mine to proceed – or we can save the [...]

Reuters reports that concern over the supply shortage of key Rare Earths elements has led policymakers in the U.S., the EU and Japan to schedule an early October meeting in Washington.  According to a U.S. Government source: Experts and officials will discuss …how to team up to develop high-tech goods – such as electric car [...]

Citing a lack of technological and economic feasibility, experts, including American Resources expert Gareth Hatch, recently dispelled a myth created by some journalists that the solution to China’s stranglehold on rare earths lies in a REE discovery below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.  However, technical issues are just part of the story. Our very [...]

We have been fortunate to be able to announce several additions to the American Resources panel of experts recently, and this week is no exception: Dr. Robert Latiff, a retired U.S Air Force Major General, is Research Professor and Director of the Intelligence and Security Research Center at George Mason University.  In May, Dr. Latiff [...]

Arguing that China’s near-total rare earths monopoly is only the tip of the iceberg and an indicator of what’s to come, Michael A. Barry’s most recent edition of Morning Notes (a free subscription bulletin from DiscoveryInvesting), discusses “The Coming Resource Wars.” Barry quotes our very own Daniel McGroarty, who has said: But the Rare Earths [...]