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Metal Tech News - February 5, 2024
The United States relied on imports for more than half of its supply of 29 out of 50 critical minerals during 2023.
China was the primary supplier of 24 minerals and metals for which the United States is net-import-reliant during 2023, followed by Canada at 23, Germany at 12, and Brazil at 10. Belgium, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa were also major suppliers, each shipping eight mined commodities to the U.S.
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 hole in our economic and national security and we're clearly not moving fast enough to course correct," National Mining Association President and CEO Rich Nolan said upon the release of USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024.
During 2023, the U.S. was 100% dependent on imports for 15 non-fuel mineral commodities, including 12 out of the 50 that have been deemed critical to America's economy and security.
The minerals for which the U.S. is completely reliant on other countries for its supply include arsenic and gallium for computer chips, graphite and manganese for lithium-ion batteries, and indium and tantalum for electronic devices.
As you work your way down the 2023 U.S. import reliance list, you find that America depends on other nations for:
• 95% of rare earths, a group of 14 elements used to manufacture a wide array of civilian and military technologies.
• 95% of titanium, a light yet strong metal used in aerospace alloys and now the Apple iPhone 15 Pro.
• 83% of platinum, a precious metal used as a catalyst to scrub pollutants from industrial and automotive emissions.
• 82% of antimony, a metalloid with a wide variety of civilian and defense applications and a top concern of the U.S. Department of Defense.
• 74% of tin, a metal that is highly impactd by the tech sector due to its use in solders for the circuitry of virtually all electronics.
• 58% of vanadium, a metal used in high-strength steel alloys and grid-scale renewable energy storage systems.
• 57% of nickel, a metal traditionally used in stainless steel and other alloys, but is seeing a massive surge in demand for electric vehicle batteries.
Overall, the U.S. is more than 50% reliant on imports for 49 non-fuel mineral commodities that serve as foundational inputs to nearly every sector of the American economy.
This heavy dependence on countries like China, which was the leading supplier of 24 of the minerals for which the U.S. is net-import-reliant, and Russia, which is a significant global producer of others, is worrisome to many Washington policymakers and industry leaders.
"Despite a great deal of rhetoric around supply chain security, China continues to be our top source of the minerals needed by our economy and these numbers show very little movement to get us back on competitive and secure footing," said Nolan.
The inability to move the dial when it comes to lowering America's mineral import dependence is not due to a lack federal investments in reshoring critical mineral supply chains, though some Capitol Hill lawmakers believe the White House is ignoring the mining link in the chain.
In 2023 alone, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded more than $3.5 billion in loans and grants to more than 25 domestic critical mineral projects, and the U.S. Department of Defense invested more than $180 million in five other projects. At the same time, DOE has invested roughly $3 billion in critical mineral recycling projects in the U.S., according to data collected for the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries.
Nearly all the funds invested by DOE and much of the DOD funding was directed to critical minerals processing, refining, and recycling.
Though many lawmakers on Capitol Hill agree that processing and recycling are key links of America's critical mineral supply chains, some are troubled about the lack of funding being directed toward domestic mine projects that can provide a reliable source of minerals and metals to be processed.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who were instrumental in writing the critical mineral provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, queried DOE Deputy Secretary David Turk about the lack of domestic mine investment during a Jan. 11 Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on electric vehicle supply chains.
"How can you tell me that the administration is really committed to domestic sourcing when we are not putting our resources there?" Murkowski asked Turk.
While the DOE deputy secretary agrees that more should be done to support domestic battery materials mining, he contends that processing and manufacturing are important segments of America's critical supply chains that often pose the greater risk.
"Right now, China absolutely dominates the graphite processing market," he said in response to Murkowski's query into why DOE has not invested in a world-class graphite mine project in Alaska.
Given the typical five- to 10-year process to permit and build a mine in the U.S., it is likely that much of the critical mineral inputs for the processing plants being invested in by the federal government will be imported.
"You've got an administration that is approaching how we deal with this with one hand deliberately tied behind our back – and we are talking about the critical minerals that go into this," Murkowski said.
According to the latest USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries report, the U.S. mined roughly $4.1 billion worth of critical minerals during 2023. At around $2.4 billion, zinc accounted for around 59% of domestic critical mineral mining. Palladium came in a distant second at approximately $410 million, and the remaining $1.3 billion came from the mining of 25 other critical minerals, which includes the 14 rare earth elements extracted from MP Materials' Mountain Pass mine in California.
Recycling circulated another $10 billion worth of critical minerals back into the U.S. economy during 2023.
The USGS report does not include the value of critical minerals consumed by U.S. manufacturers last year. Given the quantities imported, the amount that domestic companies spent on critical minerals from foreign suppliers is multiples higher than the $14.1 billion worth of domestically mined and recycled.
"For most critical minerals, the United States is heavily reliant on foreign sources for its consumption requirements," the geological survey penned in the summaries.
Overall, the U.S. was more than 50% reliant on imports for 29 out of the 50 critical minerals. Most of these critical mined commodities are imported from China, which is the world's top producer of at least 29 of the minerals deemed critical to the U.S. (USGS did not have adequate information to make reliable production estimates for seven of the critical minerals).
The National Mining Association's concerns for the current state of the U.S. mining industry go beyond critical minerals to other more widely used metals such as copper, which is the most essential element to the low-carbon energy future but is not on the U.S. list of critical minerals.
"From electrification and grid transmission buildout to infrastructure and transportation needs, mineral demands are going vertical while mine approvals are at a standstill and unnecessary land withdrawals are taking mineral access in the wrong direction," said Nolan.
As a result, the estimated value of all metal mining in the U.S. during 2023 was $34.9 billion, which continues a two-year downward trend from the $36.9 billion of domestic metals production in 2021.
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
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