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United States Mining

Trump Mulls Using Defense Powers to Fund Rare-Earth Projects – by Joe Deaux, Jenny Leonard and Jennifer A. Dlouhy (Yahoo/Bloomberg – June 12, 2025)

https://finance.yahoo.com/

The Trump administration is developing a plan to use Cold War-era powers to prioritize and fund rare earth projects it deems critical to national security, people familiar with the matter said.

Officials are discussing using the Defense Production Act to tap financing, loans and other means for rare earths element-related projects, including mining, processing and other downstream technologies to bolster the US’s capability to build a domestic supply chain, the people said. A specific course of action or a timeline have yet to be finalized, the people said.

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Trump says US gets rare earth minerals from China and tariffs on Chinese goods will total 55% – by DARLENE SUPERVILLE, JOSH BOAK, PAUL WISEMAN and DIDI TANG (Associated Press – June 11, 2025)

https://apnews.com/

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that China will make it easier for American industry to obtain much-needed needed magnets and rare earth minerals, clearing the way for talks to continue between the world’s two biggest economies. In return, Trump said, the U.S. will stop efforts to revoke the visas of Chinese nationals on U.S. college campuses.

Trump’s comment on social media came after two days of high-level U.S.-China trade talks in London. Details remain scarce. Trump didn’t fully spell out what concessions the U.S. made. Beijing has not confirmed what the negotiators agreed to, and Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump himself have yet to sign off on it.

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US Interior publicly backs rare earth mine next to Mountain Pass – by (Mining.com – June 10, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Dateline Resources has gained further political support in its bid to develop what could be America’s second rare earth mine following the public backing of US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Burgum called the revival of the Colosseum mine project in California a “pivotal step” towards bolstering America’s supply of critical minerals.

This endorsement, says project owner Dateline, “underscores the strategic importance of Colosseum in reducing US reliance on overseas sources for rare earth elements.” It follows an earlier approval by the Interior Department of the company’s existing mining plan.

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Freeport CEO says tariffs threaten to hinder US copper mining – by Jacob Lorinc (Financial Post/Bloomberg – June 10, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

The threat of US levies on copper imports has been a boon for Freeport-McMoRan Inc., with North America’s top producer cashing in on selling the metal at a premium. Still, the firm’s top boss warns that broader tariffs could hurt an industry President Donald Trump is trying to help.

“If global growth is disrupted, that could lead to an impact on copper prices,” chief executive officer Kathleen Quirk said in an interview at Freeport’s Phoenix headquarters. “Ironically, if we’re trying to build up the US copper industry, slowing GDP growth, and inflation, could put a lot of pressure on mines here.”

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Clock Ticks as U.S. and China Try to Undo Devastating Trade Curbs – by Ana Swanson (New York Times – June 10, 2025)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Officials from the world’s largest economies will try to strike a deal Tuesday to relax painful export restrictions that they have imposed on each other.

If the United States and China have succeeded at one thing this year, it is finding each other’s pain points. An initial clash over tariffs has grown in recent months into a competition over which country can weaponize its control over the other’s supply chains.

China has clamped down on global shipments of rare minerals that are essential to building cars, missiles and a host of electronic products. The United States has in turn paused shipments to China of chemicals, machinery and technology including software and components to produce nuclear power, airplanes and semiconductors. As the conflict has escalated in recent weeks, it has caused Ford Motor and other companies to suspend some of their operations.

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Column: US aluminum tariffs threaten scrap clash with European Union – by Andy Home (Reuters – June 9, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

US President Donald Trump’s move to double tariffs on aluminum imports heightens the risk of a full-blown scrap war with the European Union. Although they are supposed to be blanket tariffs with no exceptions or exemptions, there is one significant gap in the tariff wall.

Aluminum scrap is explicitly excluded on the grounds it constitutes a key raw material for US manufacturers. The Trump administration’s decision to lift aluminum tariffs to 25% effective the start of March has already caused US imports of recyclable material to rise.

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Trump Dreams of Minerals: in Ukraine and Greenland – by John Feffer (Foreign Policy in Focus – May 28, 2025)

https://fpif.org/

Trump wants to keep the US in, China out, and everyone else down.

The clean energy transition that the Biden administration touted as the focus of its industrial policy required large amounts of mineral inputs. Batteries for electric vehicles depend on lithium, solar panels contain gallium and molybdenum, and powerful magnets in wind turbines can’t be built without rare earth elements.

Biden’s landmark legislation, such as the 2022 Inflation Adjustment Act, effectively resurrected industrial policy in the United States but this time on the basis of a shift away from fossil fuels. Donald Trump, since taking office in early 2025, has swung U.S. policy back again toward oil, gas, and coal. But the Trump administration is no less interested in securing access to minerals.

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US Supreme Court rejects Apache appeal to block Rio Tinto’s Resolution mine – by Staff (Mining.com – May 27, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

The US Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear an appeal by the Apache Stronghold seeking to block the development of the Resolution Copper mine in Arizona. The mine is a joint venture between Rio Tinto and BHP.

The advocacy group comprising members of Arizona’s San Carlos Apache Tribe and conservationists challenged a lower court decision that permitted a federal land swap, allowing the mining companies to acquire sacred Apache land for the project.

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Trump wants the U.S. to dominate uranium production. What does that mean for Canada’s miners? – by Matthew McClearn (Globe and Mail – May 26, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The United States is a lightweight in uranium, but it wasn’t always this way. From the 1950s through the 1980s, it was the world’s leading producer of the silvery-grey metal and was largely self-sufficient. U.S. President Donald Trump now aims to return to this past, part of a broader effort to achieve what he calls “American energy dominance.” He has signed several orders aimed at fostering domestic uranium production and disadvantaging foreign producers.

Tim Gitzel, chief executive officer of Canadian uranium giant Cameco Corp., dismissed the fallout from Mr. Trump‘s recent actions as mere “distractions” during a conference call earlier this month with investors. The logic underpinning such nonchalance has implications for investors, miners and the Trump administration alike.

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Column: US aluminum smelters vie with Big Tech for scarce power – by Andy Home (Reuters – May 22, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

It’s forty-five years since anyone built a primary aluminum smelter in the United States. When Alumax fired up the Mt Holly plant in South Carolina in 1980, the country’s tally of smelters rose to 33 with combined annual capacity of almost five million metric tons of aluminum.

Today that number has shrunk to six. Two are fully curtailed. Two, including Mt Holly, are running below capacity. Annual production has shrunk to 700,000 tons. Emirates Global Aluminium hopes to reverse the tide with a new plant in Oklahoma. It joins Century Aluminum, which was awarded federal funding by the Joe Biden administration for a new “green” low-carbon smelter somewhere in the Ohio/Mississippi River Basins.

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Friedland’s Ivanhoe Atlantic urges US to list iron ore as critical mineral – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com -May 21, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Mining billionaire Robert Friedland’s latest venture, Ivanhoe Atlantic, is reportedly lobbying the US government to add high-grade iron ore to the country’s list of critical minerals. The move aims to align with Washington’s broader push to secure materials essential for military manufacturing, as part of a national strategy to boost defence capabilities.

The company’s flagship project, Nimba in Guinea, is expected to churn out 2 to 5 million tonnes of high-grade iron ore late this year. Production is set to scale up to 25 million tonnes annually within seven years.

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Rare Earth Truce or Trap? China’s Grip Still Chokes Global Supply – by Sohrab Darabshaw (Metal Miner – May 22, 2025)

https://agmetalminer.com/

With the United States and China ratcheting down the tariff war (for 90 days at least), many expected that the export of rare earths and permanent magnets would soon return to pre-trade war conditions, as MetalMiner’s weekly newsletter weighed in on in the past. However, that does not seem to be happening on the ground. Now, alarm bells are going off as market insiders anticipate a major shortage in global rare earth supplies.

There is a bit of positive news: China has granted a few export licenses to some companies, including those that supply to European customers. According to a Reuters report, this includes a rare earth magnet producer that supplies automaker Volkswagen. Quoting unnamed sources, the report stated that export permits had been issued to a total of four magnet producers, the first since China curbed shipments back in April of this year.

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Opinion: The Global Hunger Games of commodities – by James Cooper (Northern Miner – May 20, 2025)

Global mining news

This article caught my attention last week: ‘Trump to approve land swap for Rio Tinto copper mine opposed by Native Americans.’

The brief: The Trump administration has said it would approve a land swap needed for Rio Tinto and BHP to build one of the world’s largest copper mines, despite concerns from Native Americans that it would destroy a site of religious value.

I get it, who wants a mine in their backyard? This was a key reason Biden stalled the development during his term in office. You can read the whole piece here.

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Why the US-Ukraine Minerals Deal Matters – by Kateryna Odarchenko and Serhii Kolisnyk (CEPA.org – May 16, 2025)

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The agreement to set up a US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund reinforces security, sovereignty and strategic supply chains.

The long-awaited investment plan agreed with the US on April 30 marks a pivotal step in Kyiv’s efforts to rebuild its war-torn economy, reduce reliance on legacy industries, and assert sovereignty over its natural wealth. It also reflects growing US interest in diversifying critical mineral supply chains away from China while sending a signal to Moscow about Washington’s strategic commitment to Ukraine.

The deal serves as a framework for strengthening and formalizing cooperation between Ukraine and the US, and represents a significant opportunity for Ukraine to attract investment, accelerate post-war reconstruction, and assert greater control over its economic future. While the agreement lays a strong foundation, further clarity is needed about the allocation of the fund’s resources, which will be addressed in detail in the forthcoming Limited Partnership (LP) agreement.

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US-led peace talks could boost Rwandan processing of Congo minerals, sources say – by Sonia Rolley and Daphne Psaledakis (Reuters – May 20, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

Congolese minerals such as tungsten, tantalum and tin, which Kinshasa has long accused neighbouring Rwanda of illegally exploiting, could be exported legitimately to Rwanda for processing under the terms of a peace deal being negotiated by the U.S., three sources told Reuters.

Kinshasa views the plundering of its mineral wealth as a key driver of the conflict between its forces and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo that has intensified since January, accusing Kigali of smuggling tens of millions of dollars worth of minerals over the border each month to be sold from Rwanda.

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