mining

As reported by Resourceful Earth, two Alaska mining projects may begin production ahead of schedule thanks to priority permits granted by the U.S. Forest Service.  The agency approved exploratory drilling permits for Ucore Rare Metals Inc.’s Bokan Mountain site in Southeast Alaska, which is expected to develop rare earths as well as potentially high grade uranium, and another mining prospect on Woewodski Island.

At a time when China’s stranglehold on rare earths has cost for downstream industries soaring, this is a welcome development one would hope to see replicated for other mining projects, as the underlying structural problem of a rigid permitting process continues to hurt the United States’ economic and strategic future.

We will examine the bureaucratic regime that has given the U.S. the dubious honor of being tied with Papua New Guinea for the longest approval process for mining permits among the top 25 mining countries in the world in a forthcoming policy paper.  Be sure to connect with us on Facebook and Twitter so you get to read it first.

Making national headlines this week, the Elk Creek, Neb. rare earths and niobium prospecting site (we’ve talked about it here and here) may finally be getting the attention it deserves.  The Northwest Mining Association also recently covered this topic on their blog at TheMoreYouDig.com.  With all of this newfound attention, however, comes the larger issue of domestic non-fuel mineral resource development.

As the Washington Times reported, preliminary results from test drilling came in with promising results last week, and increase the likelihood of Quantum Rare Earth Development Corp.’s prospecting site becoming the first rare earths mining operation in the U.S. since 2002, when California’s Mountain Pass Mine was shut down.

Despite the U.S. holding roughly 13 million metric tons of REEs beneath its soil, according to the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, China has since become the predominant rare earths owner. The nation’s stockpile accounts for roughly 97% of the world’s output.

The current rare earths shortage, a result of China having tightened its export restrictions in recent months, has downstream industries that rely heavily on these strategic minerals reeling, with GE Lighting being only one end user sounding the alarm.

In large part, the United States’ unnecessary and potentially dangerous dependency on foreign mineral resources, which is not limited to rare earths, is home-made, and must be attributed to the difficulty of obtaining mining permits.  According to National Mining Association spokeswoman Carol Raulston:

One of the key problems that investors tell us about is that the permitting regime in this country is so complicated and time-consuming that it has hurt investments here in the United States.

In fact, in the Behre Dolbear Group’s 2011 Ranking of Countries for Mining Investment or “Where Not to Invest,” the U.S. is tied with Papua New Guinea for the dubious honor of having the longest approval process for mining permits among the top 25 mining countries in the world.

With the next round of the debt debate pushed off into November, lawmakers would be well-advised to use the interim to focus their attention on “America’s looming resource deficit,” which legislation approved by the House Committee on Natural Resources aimed at facilitating domestic resource development would begin to address.

Hopefully page six of the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries tops lawmakers’ summer reading list during the Congressional recess.

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 [...]

Over the 4th of July weekend, reports about a group of Japanese scientists who have discovered significant rare earth deposits on the seabed of the Pacific Ocean have made quite a splash, leading some to talk about a challenge to China’s rare earth near-total monopoly. ARPN expert Gareth Hatch cautions that while the research is [...]

In this story hitting the East Asia news wires, Showa Denko, a leading Japanese metals fabricator, announced it will be moving its Rare Earths manufacturing facility to China. This is an alarm bell for anyone who believes the U.S. must stake a leadership claim in the green-tech sector. Coupled with decreased Chinese exports, access to [...]

We’re thrilled to announce that Fred McMahon and Jean-Francois Minardi from the Canada-based Fraser Institute have joined the ARPN expert panel. McMahon is Vice-President of Research, International, at the Fraser Institute, and, among other things, co-author of the Fraser Institute’s annual Survey of Mining Companies.  Minardi is Associate Director of the institute’s Global Natural Resource [...]

A new piece in the New Scientist underlines the importance of strategic metals to our new economy — from tech toys like the iPad and smart phones to green-tech applications ranging from solar panels to wind turbines. The Tellurium in the title is an element critical to new solar panel applications. As New Scientist puts [...]

In less than two minutes, this short, but informative, video clip on the BBC’s website does a great job of getting to the heart of the rare earths crunch that puts the U.S. at the mercy of China. Ending our dangerously high degree of resource dependency is possible, but it all boils down to the question [...]

On Tuesday, May 24, 2011, I testified on behalf of American Resources Policy Network before the House Committee on Natural Resources’ Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, which held a hearing on the issue of “domestic minerals supplies and demands in a time of foreign supply disruption.” (Read my testimony here and watch my remarks [...]

The New American recently provided an in-depth look at Chinese investments into the world’s minerals and metals supply. I’ve included an excerpt below, but I recommend you click here to read the full article. While the piece was certainly compelling, I want to point out a few key facts that were not included. The author, [...]