Will 47 Revitalize U.S. Mining? – Watt?

from CFACT

Author: Dugan Flanakin

Back in February 2022, the Biden-Harris administration announced its Critical Minerals Strategy, pledging to “expand domestic production in a timely manner!” but only if “our actions meet community engagement standards,” which include “responsible of “Social, Environmental and Labor Standards.”

This allegedly pro-mining stance is the Democratic response to a Commerce Department report prepared in response to President Trump’s 2017 Executive Order 13817, “Federal Strategy to Ensure the Safe and Reliable Supply of Critical Minerals.”

The report reveals the extent of the United States' dependence on hostile foreign governments for minerals designated as “critical” by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Of the 35 critical minerals, the United States relies at least 50% on imports for 31 of them, and 14 of them are 100% dependent on imports, including minerals found in abundance in U.S. soil.

The Ministry of Commerce calls for promoting the transformation, research, development and deployment of critical mineral supply chains, strengthening these supply chains, and strengthening international trade and cooperation in critical minerals.

The report states that the United States should conduct critical mineral resource assessments to support exploration and development of conventional, secondary, and unconventional sources of critical minerals; improve access to mineral resources on federal lands; shorten federal permitting periods; and develop the U.S. critical minerals workforce.

In short, it is an aggressive plan to accelerate and expand domestic production of critical minerals. In contrast, the 2022 Biden-Harris plan focuses on strengthening the mining regulatory structure through the establishment of strong, responsible mining standards, comprehensive planning, and replacing the Mining Act of 1872 – according to It is said to “provide licensing certainty.”

For Biden-Harris, “ensuring sustainable domestic supplies of critical minerals” means “environmentally and socially responsible mining and processing projects and recycling from other sustainable sources and from non-conventional sources,” most of which The priority (after special interest opposition) is recycling and recycling – not actual mining.

Another goal is to replenish the federal treasury through a royalty scheme, while another is to “establish a hard rock mine reclamation program that would allow the “responsible” extraction of minerals from legacy waste to avoid “additional greenfields” Mine development needs.”

But the most important thing is the final recommendation.

The Biden-Harris focus is not on helping miners but on “building civil servant expertise” to tighten the bureaucracy's grip on the industry.

Next, what do Biden-Harris do to “expand domestic production of critical minerals”? This is a small sample.

The Interior Department almost immediately canceled two mineral leases held by Twin Metals Minnesota that, in addition to copper, nickel and platinum group elements, contain about 88% of the nation's cobalt reserves — all These elements are all critical to the much-loved green energy technology. A few months later, Biden announced that he would withdraw 225,504 acres of land in northern Minnesota that is home to the bimetallic project within 20 years.

Four months later, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service announced a plan to ban new mining activity on 20,574 acres of South Dakota's Black Hills Forest. In response, Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minnesota, said, “Such land restrictions by the anti-mining Biden administration hinder the development of domestic minerals needed for defense, energy technology and daily life.”

Biden, like his Democratic predecessors, has used the Antiquities Act and other federal laws to create new national parks and monuments, notably one that banned uranium mining in Arizona and one aimed at destroying the coal mining industry in Wyoming. Another national park and monument. Biden's destruction of Alaska includes shutting down oil drilling in ANWR and blocking oil, gas and mining operations, including copper mines that others say are in the national interest.

And, as David Blackmon reported in Forbes in July 2023, Biden was hesitant to help launch a project to develop the world’s largest known rare earth resource, located in Greenland The Tanbreez project on the coast, which Tanbreez Mining hopes to develop in partnership with.

Just this week, Tanbreez CEO Greg Barnes said the Biden State Department, while not offering any aid, did lobby against any deal with China. The new owners of New York-based Critical Metals hope to mine 1 million tons per year of rare earth electrolytes containing rare earths starting as early as 2026.

Many believe that Donald Trump's return to the stalwart chair will mark a 180-degree shift in U.S. mining policy. One of the first business items is final consideration of the bipartisan Energy Permitting Reform Act (EPRA) approved by the Senate Natural Resources Committee last July.

The legislation, which streamlines permitting and limits litigation timelines, would amend the National Environmental Policy Act, a major obstacle to “timely” permitting. Under the 1970 law, it took an average of 4.5 years to obtain a final NEPA permit, but transmission projects took 6.5 years. But for mining plans, these times are much longer.

“Currently, it takes 10 to 30 years to build a mine, which is why we don’t have a mining industry in the United States,” Melissa Sanderson, director of the Critical Minerals Institute, told The Epoch Times. Lawmakers hope to introduce a final bill that would give all hunting dog agencies 90 days to ask questions and applicants another 90 days to respond.

After that, the parties will have two years to resolve all issues. The license will be deemed approved unless denied within that period. An expedited authorization process has the potential to boost the domestic mining industry and bring new revenue, jobs and mineral resources to the United States.

Trump is also expected to fulfill a campaign promise to quickly reinstate mining licenses for Twin Metals, a $1.7 billion project to extract copper, nickel, cobalt and other minerals from open-pit mines in Minnesota and provide economic benefits. 850 jobs created in depressed community.

Mining consultant Gregory Wischer predicts that the Trump administration will focus on domestic outsourcing of all parts of the mineral supply chain, especially mineral extraction.

“While the Biden administration's mineral policy is 'focused on international cooperation,'” Wischer said, “Trump is likely to “prioritize” building more mines, processing facilities and refineries in the U.S.

We believe this is just what the doctor ordered.

This article originally appeared in City Hall

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