The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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USGS estimates that the U.S. economy would take a $2.4 billion hit if China banned exports of gallium and germanium. From household appliances to high-end electronics, gallium and germanium are essential elements to a wide array of products manufactured in the United States. American manufacturers, however, must rely heavily on imports from China for both of these critical minerals. A cutoff of this supply could send America's gross domestic product (GDP) plummeting by $3.4... Full story
Congressman Ciscomani's bill to include copper and other energy materials on critical minerals list receives strong bipartisan support, Copper is so essential to wiring the energy transition that the World Bank estimates global mining operations will need to produce as much of this ubiquitous metal over the next 25 years as has been mined over the 5,000 years since the dawn of the Bronze Age. Despite the economic and geopolitical implications of a world demanding 1.1 trillion... Full story
CMAG is on a mission to foster relationships the will unlock Africa's vast critical mineral potential. Sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to host nearly one-third of the world's proven critical minerals reserves but has struggled to have its voice heard when it comes to global critical minerals policy and supply chains. The newly launched Critical Minerals Africa Group (CMAG) aims to provide African policymakers, business leaders, and citizens a seat at the table when it comes... Full story
With ambitious technological and financial cooperation, Western allies could produce enough critical minerals to meet climate goals. In the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, nations quickly discovered the perils of an uneven distribution of production and processing capabilities in the guise of globalization. Phrases like "near-shoring" and "friend-shoring" led discussions of a green economy as remedies to the trade imbalance between the United States and the People's Republic... Full story
Tapping the massive underground resource will hinge on landowner royalty agreement. The promise of lithium beneath Arkansas and five neighboring states cannot be overstated. Arkansas' little corner of the Smackover Formation – a massive permeable limestone geological extending from Florida to Texas – was estimated earlier this month by the U.S. Geological Survey to host between five and 19 million tons of lithium reserves. With such a massive lithium discovery and big names ea... Full story
Lithium Nevada receives Department of Defense grant to accelerate the domestic production of battery-grade lithium carbonate. To help meet growing demand for the batteries powering America's energy transition and military hardware, the U.S. Department of Defense has awarded Lithium Nevada Corp., a subsidiary of Lithium Americas Corp., $11.8 million to accelerate the extraction and processing of lithium carbonate at its Thacker Pass mine project in Nevada. "It is critical that...
"Investing in America" agenda is expected to generate $16 billion for onshoring critical minerals, processing and battery tech. As part of the Biden-Harris Administration's Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy announced it will be funding over $3 billion to 25 selected projects across 14 states to boost domestic production of batteries and battery materials. The portfolio of selected projects is intended to support projections of over 12,000 battery... Full story
DOD awards Electra Battery Materials $20 million to help bring online enough North American cobalt supply for 1 million EV batteries. As part of its mission to shore up reliable and sustainable supply chain minerals and metals critical to America's economy and security, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded Electra Battery Materials Corp. $20 million to complete the construction and commissioning of North America's only refinery capable of producing cobalt sulfate,... Full story
The U.S. relies on imports for 82% of its supply of this strategic mineral; China is the world's largest supplier. In its latest move to tighten controls of critical minerals, China has announced that it is placing state-controlled restrictions on the export of antimony, a vital ingredient in a wide range of household, industrial, high-tech, and military goods. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, American manufacturers use nearly 50 million pounds of antimony each year... Full story
Countries combine interests in security, defense, and the growing need for raw materials and processing for the oncoming energy transition. Australia is expanding its cooperation with India on critical minerals, batteries, and electric vehicles, batteries. Critical minerals such as copper, cobalt, lithium, nickel, and rare earth elements are essential components in today's rapidly growing clean energy technologies, from adapting power grids to powering EVs. Both countries have...
U.S. Department of Energy is funding a Critical Materials Supply Chain Research Facility support a resilient and secure domestic supply chain. The Department of Energy is funding a Critical Materials Supply Chain Research Facility that will help support a secure domestic supply of minerals and materials critical to economic prosperity, national security, and the green energy transition in the U.S. This week, the DOE's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)...
International Energy Agency says significant investments are still needed for critical minerals supply to keep pace with clean energy demand. While encouraged by the billions of dollars that has been invested in developing new supplies of the minerals and metals critical to the energy transition, the International Energy Agency (IEA) cautions that the current well-supplied market may not be a good guide for the future of critical minerals. "The world's appetite for...
Adds silicon metal, high-purity iron ore, and phosphorous to 31 materials already on the list. Toward the goal of positioning itself as the "global supplier of choice" for the minerals and metals essential to modern technologies, especially the enormous quantities of raw materials being demanded by a world transitioning to clean energy, Canada has assembled an updated and expanded list of minerals critical to the northern nation. "By updating Canada's Critical Minerals List, w...
New legislation heralds anticipated domestic nuclear energy transformation. With the signing into law of bipartisan legislation that effectively bans the import of uranium products from Russia, the Biden administration has signaled a monumental shift for America's civil nuclear energy sector. Signed by President Biden on May 14, the bipartisan Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act has finally been enacted into law. "This bill limits the importation of uranium from Russia....
Latest budget's resource search focuses on battery metals and rare earth elements. Over the coming decade, Australia is prepared to spend A$566 million (US$373 million) to map out deposits of minerals critical to high-tech manufacturing and the green energy transition. "The critical minerals space is one of the reasons why there is so much attention from global and domestic investors, but we need to make sure we can attract and deploy that," Australia Treasurer Jim Chalmers...
Critical minerals company receives preliminary term sheet for mine financing from EXIM. The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has extended an offer to loan NioCorp Developments Ltd. $800 million to help fund the development of Elk Creek, a critical minerals project in Nebraska that would provide a domestic source of niobium, titanium, scandium, and rare earths. "Our goal is to make North America less dependent on foreign suppliers for the critical minerals we...
"The objective of the panel ... is to build trust and certainty towards harnessing the potential of these minerals to be utilized to unlock shared prosperity, leaving no one and no place behind." With the growing demand for minerals critical to renewable energy technologies, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has utilized the organization's convening power to unite governments and stakeholders along the entire mineral value chain. The goal: to establish global...
Despite rising EV sales, miners are unable to finance projects for battery metals. Amidst a green tech boom, fierce global competition is pushing down company margins, and a surprising number of mining industry leaders, like Albemarle, First Quantum Minerals, Glencore, and BHP, are cutting budgets, lowering dividends, and laying off workers. In the U.S., where the Biden administration is pushing to develop a domestic mineral supply but has halted many projects that would meet...
Canadian province signs strategic minerals partnership with France; Saskatchewan Research Council secures rare earths feedstock for Saskatoon processing plant. Saskatchewan's strategy to become a North American hub for the minerals and metals critical to clean energy and other future-leaning technologies was bolstered by two agreements signed on Monday. The first agreement was a letter of intent signed with France to explore, develop, and cooperate on new strategic mineral...
Dods’ “Vital but Vulnerable: UK Critical Minerals Policy” report cautions that more needs to be done. Dods Political Intelligence, an advisory service, has published a report to provide context and evaluation of current critical mineral policies in the United Kingdom. These are increasingly crucial for contemporary defense manufacturing, which acts as a deterrent against conflict. Meanwhile, global economies in a rush to transition to green industries are going to colle... Full story
Perpetua Resources receives Stibnite Gold Mine debt financing letter of interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has extended an offer to loan Perpetua Resources Corp. $1.8 billion to fund the development of a mine at Stibnite Gold, which would round out an all-of-government effort to establish the historic project in Idaho as a future domestic source of antimony critical to America's economic and national...
Largest industrial decarbonization investment ever in US history; will see $6 billion across 33 projects throughout the nation. Stoking the non-emissive fires of industry once again, the U.S. Department of Energy has leveraged another significant share of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to inject upwards of $6 billion into 33 projects across more than 20 states to decarbonize energy-intensive industries, reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions, and invigorate job...
New rules would allow the testing needed to build an open-pit mine over the largest hard rock lithium deposit in the U.S. In a unanimous vote, the Board of Environmental Protection has amended Maine's prohibitive mining rules to allow for open-pit excavation of certain clean energy metals. The provisional amendment, still under final consideration, is the refinement of a state law adopted last July intended to restrict mining and processing resources containing polluting sulfi...
Massive geothermal lithium reserves give U.S. leverage while superpowers employ protectionist measures around supply chains. There's a new international race, not into space or to establish military superiority, but to secure critical minerals in a worldwide resource grab for the feedstocks that will fuel a global green energy transition. While we're all on the same side – or, in this case, the same planet – the superpowers have been at odds with how to achieve net-zero car...
Despite investing billions of dollars, US continues to rely heavily on China and others for its supply of critical minerals. The 2024 edition of U.S. Geological Survey's annual Mineral Commodity Summaries shows the United States has made little headway in breaking its reliance on China and other overseas nations for the minerals and metals critical to the nation's clean energy ambitions, economic well-being, and defense. "Our mineral import dependence continues to be a gaping...
