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United States Mining

US versus China: the battle for rare earth dominance – by Qamar Bashir (Business Recorder – January 24, 2025)

https://www.brecorder.com/

During Scott Bessent’s confirmation hearing for US Treasury Secretary before the Senate Finance Committee, significant concerns were raised regarding China’s dominance in the rare earth elements (REEs) market.

The Committee underscored that China controls approximately 70 percent of global rare earth mining and nearly 90 percent of refining capacity, a near-monopoly that grants Beijing substantial influence over these critical materials. This dominance poses severe risks to US national security, economic stability, and technological independence, given that REEs are essential for industrial, technological, and military applications.

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Rio Tinto bets on Trump support for long-stalled Arizona copper mine – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – January 22, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Rio Tinto said on Wednesday it is very optimistic about US President Donald Trump granting it the final permits for its long-delayed Resolution copper project in Arizona.

The mining giant has faced a 12-year permitting battle to develop the Resolution mine, which has the potential to supply more than a quarter of the US domestic copper needs for decades. “I do think that we have really good chances now to progress that project,” chief executive Jakob Stausholm told the Financial Times. “We have made a lot of progress.”

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Cleveland-Cliffs CEO renews efforts to purchase U.S. Steel – “I have an all-American solution.” – by Andy Sheehan (CBS News – January 13, 2025)

https://www.cbsnews.com/

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – It’s a battle over U.S. Steel and the future of steelmaking in the region – with fiery words, the CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs said his company is once again trying to buy the company.

“The United States of America, Japan, beware, you don’t understand who you are,” said Lourenco Goncalves, the CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs. Goncalves is promising to revitalize the Mon Valley while keeping the operation in American hands.

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Uranium Fever Collides With Industry’s Dark Past in Navajo Country – by Jacob Lorinc (Financial Post/Bloomberg – January 14, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

The world’s re-embrace of nuclear power creates tensions in the US Southwest

(Bloomberg) — A few miles south of the Grand Canyon, thousands of tons of uranium ore, reddish-gray, blue and radioactive, are piled up high in a clearing in the forest. They’ve been there for months, stranded by a standoff between the mining company that dug them deep out of the ground, Energy Fuels Inc., and the leader of the Navajo Nation, Buu Nygren.

Back in the summer, Energy Fuels had triggered an uproar when it loaded some of the ore onto a truck, slapped a “radioactive” sign over the taillights and drove it through the heart of Navajo territory.

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‘As much money out the door as they possibly can’: Biden administration keeps grants coming – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – December 18, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

The Biden Administration continues to announce major funding deals for many of Canada’s critical minerals companies

The United States government says it will provide a US$754-million loan to construct a synthetic graphite plant in Tennessee to Novonix Ltd., whose chief executive Chris Burns is based in Halifax, where it maintains its research labs, though it is publicly listed in Australia.

The loan is just one example of how U.S. President Joe Biden‘s administration’s focus on building out a North American critical minerals supply chain has often accrued to the benefit of Canadian-based companies, many of which have struggled to raise money on public markets in the face of moribund commodity prices.

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Column: Critical metals will be a key battleground in US-China trade war – by Andy Home (Reuters – December 17, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

It’s clear that critical minerals will be China’s weapon of choice in its escalating trade war with the United States. Every time Washington imposes new restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductor chips to China, Beijing responds by tightening controls on exports of the critical inputs for chip manufacturers.

A third clamp-down on China’s semiconductor industry has drawn a swift response in the form of a full ban on exports of Chinese gallium and germanium to the United States. Exports of antimony, used in photovoltaic glass, are now also banned in what looks like a riposte to US tariffs on Chinese solar panels.

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Lawmakers push critical mineral status for copper, a major Arizona export, which would mean green energy tax breaks and less regulation – by Grace Monos (Cronkite News – December 12, 2024)

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WASHINGTON – Roughly 70% of copper produced in the U.S. comes from Arizona. Electric vehicles, solar panels and power cables can’t be produced without it, and for the first time last year, the U.S. government added copper to a list of critical materials.

But that designation in July 2023 only applied to a list kept by the Department of Energy. The U.S. Geological Survey maintains a separate list of critical minerals that comes with tax breaks and speedier permitting. So far, copper hasn’t made the cut. That may soon change under a measure promoted by Arizona lawmakers that sailed through the House recently.

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Time to Reinvigorate the U.S. Uranium Mining Industry – by Duggan Flanakin (Real Clear Energy – December 12, 2024)

https://www.realclearenergy.org/

Duggan Flanakin is a senior policy analyst at the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow.

As Donald Trump returns to the White House, his nomination of Christopher Wright to serve as Secretary of Energy points to a major effort to revive domestic uranium mining. That’s especially good news, given the Biden Administration’s recent decision to discontinue importing uranium from Russia.

Further complicating the worldwide uranium supply chain, the military authorities in Niger, who now control that nation’s uranium mining operations, are putting the squeeze on French reliance on Niger’s uranium for its nuclear reactors. Niger, which produces about 5% of the world’s uranium, had been supplying 15% to 20% of France’s uranium imports.

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SSR to be 3rd-biggest US gold miner with Cripple Creek & Victor acquisition – by Staff (Mining.com – December 6, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

SSR Mining (NASDAQ, TSX: SSRM; ASX: SSR) announced on Friday it has acquired the Cripple Creek & Victor (CC&V) gold mine in Colorado from Newmont (NYSE: NEM, TSX: NGT). With this acquisition, SSR is expected to become the third-largest gold miner in the United States. The transaction includes a $100 million upfront cash payment and up to $175 million in milestone-based payments, for a total of $275 million.

Of the milestone payments, $87.5 million will be paid upon the approval of an amended permit for the CC&V Cresson mine filed by Newmont earlier this year to extend its life by adding leach pad capacity and making operational adjustments.

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China has ‘weaponized’ global critical mineral supply chain, US miners group says – by Henry Lazenby (Northern Miner – December 4, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

China’s ban on U.S.-bound critical mineral exports is “mineral extortion,” Washington D.C.-based National Mining Association (NMA) president Rich Nolan said on Wednesday. The export ban announced a day earlier targets gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite. These minerals are needed for semiconductors, 5G phone tech, defence systems and electric vehicle batteries. Antimony is found in bullets. Nolan described the export ban as a calculated bid for geopolitical leverage.

“China has weaponized the world’s mineral supply chains,” he said in an emailed statement. “We must confront Chinese mineral extortion and recognize that U.S. mining policy is the foundation of our nation’s economic, energy and national security.”

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Navajo communities seek ‘just transition’ for people affected by coal mine closures – by Arlyssa D. Becenti (Arizona Republic – December 6, 2024)

https://www.azcentral.com/

Nearly 20 years after Peabody Mining closed its Black Mesa Mine and five years after the Kayenta Mine and Navajo Generating Station closed on the Navajo Nation, residents are working toward recovery of what’s left of the land after more than 50 years of coal extraction.

The work includes a land use plan that has been 20 years in the making and a proposal for a community center that will also be instrumental as a climate resilience center. While the coal company initiated reclamation efforts, the post-mining landscape has always appeared different depending on whether it’s seen by someone who resides within the community or someone from the outside.

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Rattled by China, West scrambles to rejig critical minerals supply chains – by Amy Lv, Divya Rajagopal and Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – December 6, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING/TORONTO/LONDON (Reuters) – China’s trade restrictions on strategic minerals are starting to hit Western companies where it hurts.

Blaming Beijing’s curbs on antimony exports announced in August, German chemicals and consumer goods heavyweight Henkel told customers last month it had declared force majeure and suspended deliveries of four types of adhesives and lubricants widely used by automakers, according to a Nov. 8 letter to clients reviewed by Reuters.

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North Carolina floods threaten mines key to global electronics industry – by Eva Dou (Washington Post – October 1, 2024)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

The high-purity quartz sand that’s mined in the town of Spruce Pine, N.C., is critical for making everything from semiconductors to solar panels.

Flooding in North Carolina has imperiled the operations of mines that produce the world’s purest quartz sand — an irreplaceable ingredient for manufacturing components at the heart of smartphones and other electronic devices.

The town of Spruce Pine, where these unique mines are located, remains in a dire situation, with power, water and cell service largely disconnected early Tuesday. While the floodwaters brought on by Helene have receded, local residents said many roads remained impassable. Some people were still trying desperately to confirm loved ones were safe.

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The role of minerals in Trump’s energy strategy dominance agenda – by Gregory Wischer and Shubham Dwivedi (Mining.com – December 3, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

President-elect Donald Trump has announced that his administration will pursue a path toward “US energy dominance”. He emphasized that “America is blessed with vast amounts of ‘Liquid Gold’ and other valuable minerals and resources,” declaring, “We will ‘DRILL BABY DRILL.’”

Achieving energy dominance will necessitate substantial quantities of minerals, ranging from tungsten in exploration drill bits to copper in electrical transmission lines. Crucially, this goal also requires secure mineral supply chains.

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Honoring those who built our coal legacy on National Miners Day – by Bobby McCool (Appalachian News- Express – December 2, 2024)

https://www.news-expressky.com/

Bobby McCool is the State Representative 97th District

Electricity, roads, smartphones. What do all these seemingly unrelated things have in common? Their existence is dependent on mined materials, extracted from the earth by hard-working men and women who take pride in the role they play in providing a great quality of life to our nation.

While the products mined can range from rock salt to metals, Kentuckians most often think of mining in terms of the coal industry that accounts for almost 70 percent of our energy portfolio. It is the coal miner that kept our state’s utility rates less expensive than neighboring states.

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