Department of Energy

Against the backdrop of mounting supply chain concerns for critical minerals, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has officially added copper to its critical materials list in the context of the agency’s 2023 Critical Materials Assessment.

The annual report assesses the criticality of materials to the supply chains in the renewable energy technology sector and focuses on key materials with high risk of supply disruption.

The incorporation of copper into this year’s list marks the first time a U.S. government agency has added the material on one of its official “critical” lists.

While copper is included in several other national lists, including India’s, Canada’s, South Africa’s, and Brazil’s, as well as the European’s most recent critical minerals list, the official comprehensive U.S. Government Critical Minerals List, last updated in 2022, has yet to incorporate copper.

This is not for the lack of pushes to afford the material “critical minerals” status — ranging from public comments submitted to USGS during the drafting process (see Daniel McGroarty’s submission here) over congressional lettersand legislation.

As such the inclusion of the material in the DOE Critical Materials Assessment list represents an important acknowledgement of copper’s key role in 21^st Century technology and the green energy transition.

As Copper Development Association (CDA) CEO Andrew G. Kireta, Jr. said in a statement on the announcement:

“Copper is a major contributor to US economic and national security, and with copper demand projections doubling by 2035, primarily due to plans for the clean energy transition, electrification and clean water infrastructure. The nation would be defenseless without electricity and copper’s vital role in its generation, transmission, and distribution.” 

So copper is now a DOE Critical Material – but not (yet) a U.S. Government Critical Mineral: A bureaucratic distinction that ARPN will watch with interest, as copper demand in a net zero world continues to rise.

The U.S. will not achieve complete lithium battery supply chain independence by 2030, but the country could capture 60% of the economic value consumed by domestic demand for lithium batteries by that year, generating $33 billion in revenues and creating 100,000 jobs, if it implements a series of recommendations put forth in its just-released action plan, says Li-Bridge, a public-private alliance convened by the Department of Energy and managed by Argonne National Laboratory.

Created in 2021 and dedicated to accelerating the development of a robust and secure domestic supply chain for lithium-based batteries, the consortium released an action plan entitled “Building a Robust and Resilient U.S. Lithium Battery Supply Chain” containing 26 recommended actions to bolster the domestic lithium battery industry with the goal of putting the United States on a competitive path in the global battery value chain.

According to the Argonne National Lab, “the report complements a series of recent government initiatives designed to strengthen the country’s battery and semiconductor industries including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law or BIL) and the CHIPS and Science Act, which together represent some of the most significant industrial policy initiatives in U.S. history.”

Recommendations range from investments into R&D and, removing barriers to market-entry to strengthening partnerships with other countries, and Congressional action to accelerate U.S. domestic mineral mining and processing projects. The report goes on to argue that Li-Bridge should be formalized to execute on its recommendations, effectively creating a public-private partnership to coordinate efforts across state, local and federal governments with private enterprises.

Deputy U.S. Energy Secretary David M. Turk believes that “[t]he public-private partnerships described in this report will be crucial to realizing that safer, cleaner future that will benefit generations of Americans to come.”

With public-private sector cooperation having long both fueled and fed off the materials science revolution, which has been transforming the ways in which we use and obtain metals and minerals, placing a stronger emphasis on these cross-sector collaborations only makes sense.

In part fueled by the above referenced government initiatives, new partnerships between the public and private sectors to bolster the battery supply chain have sprung up, especially at the state level.

Recent cases in point:  the construction of battery plants in Coweta County, Georgia, and Van Buren Township, Michigan.  States like Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas have also attracted EV battery makers as automakers scramble to lock down supplies and policy stakeholders work to create frameworks conducive to attracting investment into these critical industries.

ARPN has featured several of these efforts — along with other initiatives and projects specific to the individual battery criticals (graphite, manganese, cobalt, nickel and lithium) in a series of posts.

As stakeholders step up their efforts, ARPN will continue to feature more examples of state level public-private cooperation or formalized public private partnerships (PPPs) to sustainably strengthen the domestic battery supply chain.

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