Heavily quoting from ARPN’s statement on the issue, The Daily Caller’s Michael Bastasch earlier this month reported on the Department of the Interior’s finalized list of minerals deemed critical for U.S. national security. Writes Bastasch:

“President Donald Trump’s administration’s release of a list of 35 critical minerals highlights just how reliant the U.S. is on foreign imports, according to mining advocates.

‘What we see is the degree of U.S. dependency — the US is 100 percent import-dependent for 14 of the 35 minerals and more than 50 percent dependent for another 16,’ said Daniel McGroarty, a principal at the American Resources Policy Network, which advocates for domestic mining.

‘That’s more than 50 percent dependent for 30 of the 35 minerals on the list — materials that are critical for the national economy, for high-tech, for alternative energy applications, for national security,’ McGroarty added in a statement issued Friday.”

Bastasch further points to the importance of a number of metals and minerals which may have failed to pass the DOI list’s threshold, but for which the United States is also import reliant:

“The Interior Department also noted The U.S. is also reliant on other imported minerals not meeting the threshold to be labeled ‘critical minerals.’ These include copper, zinc, molybdenum, gold and silver.

‘Take copper, which is not listed,’ McGroarty said. ‘It is the gateway to five ‘co-product’ metals that are listed as critical but are not mined in their own right.’

‘And the U.S. has a 600,000 [metric ton] copper gap each year — the gap between what we consume and what we produce,’ McGroarty said.”

Click here to read Bastasch’s piece, and here to read McGroarty’s full statement on the finalized DOI list.