Recently my son and I visited my 95-year-old father in Tucson, Ariz., and took him to Tombstone, “The Town Too Tough to Die.” While most people are familiar with the gunfight at the OK Corral, it is unlikely that they know that Tombstone came into existence because a young prospector discovered silver there and mining operations that made it one of America’s last boom towns. Its population grew from about 100 to 14,000 in just a few years.
Mining has long been an important industry in the U.S., with gold and silver being the minerals that received the most attention. Today mining in the U.S. employs more than 1.5 million people and adds $466 billion to gross domestic product.
In 2017, mining operations generated an estimated $17 billion in federal, state and local taxes. It is essential that this industry remain competitive, especially given the importance of mining in providing resources for electricity generation and the minerals necessary for manufacturing, health care and defense technology.
Few are aware of the need for certain minerals and metals in their medical equipment, cellphones, laptops and any number of products we use every day. Demand for these minerals is growing and will continue to grow.
As just one example, electric vehicles and renewable energy systems will require higher volumes of copper, lithium and other materials. It is important to make sure that Congress does not take actions which make it unprofitable to obtain these minerals, and thus create serious problems for our manufacturing and defense industries.
For the rest of this article: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2019/06/05/opinion-mining-still-essential-u-s-economy/1338674001/