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United States Mining

GUEST ESSAY: This Dirty Industry Is Better Off Operating in America – by Stephen Lezak(New York Times – July 23, 2024)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Dr. Lezak is a researcher at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford who studies the politics of climate change.

Seventy years ago, the United States was the world’s leading producer of fluorite, a brilliantly multicolored mineral essential to industries such as steel. But the last American fluorite mine closed nearly 30 years ago, unable to compete with cheaper operations in places like Mongolia.

Although America has abundant deposits of many of the critical minerals that go into our vehicles, electronics and buildings, these materials are mostly mined abroad in poorer nations where labor is cheap (or worse, workers are enslaved) and environmental laws are more permissive, rarely enforced or easily sidestepped with bribes.

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Insight: Western miners push for higher metals prices to ward off Chinese rivals – by Ernest Scheyder and Pratima Desai (Reuters – July 22, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

SALMON-CHALLIS NATIONAL FOREST, Idaho – The only U.S. cobalt mine sits fallow in the northern Idaho woods, a mothballed hunk of steel and dirt that is too expensive for its owner to operate because Chinese rivals have flooded global markets with cheap supplies of the bluish metal used in electric vehicle batteries and electronics.

Jervois Global, which dug the mine into the side of a nearly 8,000-foot (2,400-meter) mountain, watched helplessly last year as cobalt prices plunged after China’s CMOC Group opened the Kisanfu mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, pushing global production of the metal to an all-time high.

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US has second-longest mine development timeline in the world, S&P Global says – by Staff (Mining.com – July 18, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

According to a new report by S&P Global, the United States has the second-longest lead times in the world for developing a new mine.

Mines in the US go from discovery to production in an average of 29 years, longer than in any other country except Zambia (34 years), the consultancy says.

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Demand for rare elements used in clean energy could help clean up abandoned coal mines in Appalachia – by Marc Levy (Associated Press/Arizona Daily Star – July 15, 2024)

https://tucson.com/

MOUNT STORM, W.Va. — Down a long gravel road, tucked into the hills in West Virginia, is a low-slung building where researchers are extracting essential elements from an old coal mine that they hope will strengthen the nation’s energy future. They aren’t mining the coal that powered the steel mills and locomotives that helped industrialize America — and that is blamed for contributing to global warming.

Rather, researchers are finding that groundwater pouring out of this and other abandoned coal mines contains the rare earth elements and other valuable metals that are vital to making everything from electric vehicle motors to rechargeable batteries to fighter jets smaller, lighter or more powerful.

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Uranium mining: A Colorado company pumps out ore, with implications for economy and national security – by Scott Weiser (Denver Gazette – July 7, 2024)

https://denvergazette.com/

Travis Chiotti puts a brass tag bearing his name on a hook on the “in” board before heading 1,400 feet down-shaft. It’s a pair — the other tag goes in his pocket. Just in case. Helmet, headlamp, heavy steel-toed rubber boots, emergency respirator. Check.

Mining is hard work. Simply moving around is taxing. In these wet tunnels, the slopes are steep and slippery. The mud clings, and calf-deep pools of water can trap a boot. Underground miners are a special breed. Absent the cacophony of pumps, ventilation air blasting at 140,000 cubic feet per minute, drilling, blasting, and moving rock with diesel skip loaders, the absolute silence is deafening.

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US miners push Washington to revive long-dormant Bureau of Mines – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – July 5, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

July 5 (Reuters) – Mining trade groups plan to push Washington to revive and expand the long-dormant Bureau of Mines, an effort aimed at streamlining how the U.S. government regulates and supports critical minerals production and timed to coincide with the 2024 presidential election.

The lobbying campaign, details of which have not previously been reported, is set to launch this month ahead of the Republican and Democratic political conventions. It will contrast scattered U.S. mining oversight with Australia and other countries where senior mining-related agencies report directly to heads of government, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the effort.

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[American] Mining Hall of Fame announces 2024 inductees (Leadville Herald Democrat – July 3, 2024)

https://www.leadvilleherald.com/

The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum (NMHFM) recently announced the class of 2024 National Mining Hall of Fame inductees and the recipient of the Prazen Living Legend of Mining Award. The 37th Induction Gala will be Nov. 2 at The Cable Center in Denver.

Arthur C. Daman – (1889-1968)

Arthur C. Daman, known as “Mr. Denver Equipment,” was a pioneer in modern mineral processing. He founded Denver Equipment Company (DECO) and obtained over 50 patents during his 40-year leadership. Daman and his team wrote what many called “the bible on mineral processing and process equipment.” Published in 1954, his Denver Equipment handbook is still well known today.

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US may not set the rules but can still shape the future of deep-sea mining – by James Borton (South China Morning Post – July 3, 2024)

https://www.scmp.com/

The wealth of critical minerals on the ocean floor and strategic advantages they offer mean the US must act before it is too late

Time is running out for the United States to have a voice in managing deep-sea mining. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) will soon meet to advance the commercial framework regulating the mining of metals essential for the clean energy transition, aiming for adoption next year.

At a recent briefing for US congressional staff titled “Deep Sea Mining: Policy Implications for the United States” that I moderated at the US-Asia Institute in Washington, a group of experts weighed in on Washington’s opportunities and responsibilities in addressing the climate crisis through mineral extraction to power the transition from fossil fuels to green energy.

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Washington Wants a White Gold Rush – by Christina Lu (Foreign Policy – June 26, 2024)

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The Biden administration looks to domestic lithium mining to boost U.S. energy security and counter China.

Thousands of miles west of Washington, D.C., in the sprawling, lithium-rich expanses of Nevada, the Biden administration is pushing for a mining boom that it hopes will boost the country’s energy security.

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Can Kentucky hatch a clean energy plan to incubate its aluminum boom? – by Annie Sartor (Energy News Network – June 25, 2024)

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A lack of affordable renewable energy jeopardizes a clean aluminum facility slated for Kentucky, which the U.S. needs to scale up clean energy manufacturing.

The clean energy revolution faces a critical bottleneck: a paradox with aluminum. This lightweight metal forms the backbone of electric vehicles, wind turbines, and solar panels, but its production demands substantial clean energy capacity. In order to reduce our overreliance on carbon intensive imports, we need to establish a clean domestic supply chain.

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Copper can’t be mined fast enough to electrify the US – by Morgan Sherburne (Michigan News – May 15, 2024)

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Copper cannot be mined quickly enough to keep up with current U.S. policy guidelines to transition the country’s electricity and vehicle infrastructure to renewable energy, according to a University of Michigan study.

The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in 2022, calls for 100% of cars manufactured to be electric vehicles by 2035. But an electric vehicle requires three to five times as much copper as an internal combustion engine vehicle—not to mention the copper required for upgrades to the electric grid.

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In Seawater, Researchers See an Untapped Bounty of Critical Metals – by Jim Robbins (Yale Environment 360 – May 15, 2024)

https://e360.yale.edu/

Researchers and companies are aiming to draw key minerals, including lithium and magnesium, from ocean water, desalination plant residue, and industrial waste brine. They say their processes will use less land and produce less pollution than mining, but major hurdles remain.

Can metals that naturally occur in seawater be mined, and can they be mined sustainably? A company in Oakland, California, says yes. And not only is it extracting magnesium from ocean water — and from waste brine generated by industry — it is doing it in a carbon-neutral way.

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Push for new US lithium mine leaves some Americans wary (France 24.com – May 15, 2024)

https://www.france24.com/en/

Lincolnton (United States) (AFP) – When Kristal Lee and her husband bought a house in Gaston County, North Carolina two years ago, they envisioned a “forever home”. But a planned lithium mine is bringing Lee sleepless nights.

Nearby is an area earmarked for a $1.2 billion project to produce battery grade lithium for US electric vehicle (EV) supply chains — one of only a few such sites in the country. “You get very anxious when you hear about it,” she said of the project by Piedmont Lithium.

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Indigenous group to take fight against Arizona copper mine to Supreme Court – by Clark Mindock (Reuters – May 14, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

May 14 (Reuters) – A Native American group said on Tuesday it will take its fight against Rio Tinto’s proposed Arizona copper mine to the U.S. Supreme Court, after a federal appeals court refused to reconsider whether the U.S. government may have improperly transferred land to the developer.

The group said they would ask the high court to weigh in after the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a longshot bid to have the full 29-judge court reconsider earlier decisions not to block a land grant for the project. The court did not provide an explanation for its decision.

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[California Lithium-rich Salton Sea] The green treasure below a toxic lake – by Jean-François Bélanger (CBC News – March 31, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/

The place is as little-known as it is majestic. It’s a deep blue lake bordered by the desert and mountain ranges as far as the eye can see. As the largest body of water in California, the Salton Sea used to be a favorite vacation hotspot for Hollywood stars back in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis and the Marx brothers were among the regulars. The Beach Boys as well.

This is what drew Donna Winters to settle in Desert Shores, about 130 kilometres east of San Diego, a quarter of a century ago. The retiree, in her 80s, keeps very fond memories of her first years here. Her once-lakefront home had stunning views.

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