OPINION: Made in America should be mined in America

Mineral supply chains are reshaping how we think about energy security. Supplies of lithium, graphite, copper and rare earth minerals — among many other essential metals — are already dictating the speed of energy technology deployment and creating new global centers of industrial strength. Conversely, the race to secure access to these minerals has exposed glaring supply chain vulnerabilities — none more acute than those here in the United States.

As the world begins the pivot towards fully electrified economies, U.S. oil production has reached an all-time high. But our production of many of the metals essential to batteries, wind turbines and solar panels is only a fraction of what it should be. This is not for lack of domestic mineral resources, but rather a remarkable policy failure. If we’re going to win the global energy and electrification race, we must start mining.

A new and deeply important study on the lead times to bring new mines into production underscores America’s mineral policy failures to date. The report found that it takes an average of 29 years for mines to go from discovery to production in the United States — longer than any other country except Zambia.

This remarkably long lead time stands in direct contrast to the nation’s vast resource base. For example, the report found that America’s copper endowment is comparable to that of Canada and Australia combined. Our lithium endowment — the metal that has been called the “new oil” — is twice that of Australia, which currently accounts for half of the world’s lithium production. While this will hopefully soon change, the U.S. currently has just one producing lithium mine. In fact, the U.S. has opened only three new major metal mines since 2002.

Our inability to turn our vast resources into secure, reliable supply chains has led to a ballooning reliance on mineral imports, notably from our economic and geopolitical rivals. Of the 50 mineral commodities the U.S. government lists as essential for economic and national security, China is now the top producer or top supplier for 30 of those.

A decades-long adversarial policy approach to American mining has turned what should be a source of strength into a strategic Achilles’ heel.

Today there is bipartisan recognition of our minerals vulnerability, but we still need a coherent American minerals policy to address it. Despite important pieces of industrial policy to level the playing field for American mining — and encourage the reshoring of mineral supply chains — mine permit approvals remain trapped in a web of red tape. New American mines are glaringly missing.

Without a commitment to streamline mine permitting and turn resource potential into production, all the incentives imaginable to reshore mineral production — be they manufacturing tax credits, loans from the Department of Energy, or grants from the Department of Defense — will have no place to go. It’s far past time to fix our self-imposed mineral chokepoint.

Smart minerals industrial policy must work hand-in-hand with efforts to address mine permitting delays and get responsible mines approved. Made-in-America should mean mined-in-America, and we need coordination at the highest levels of government — across federal agencies that share authority over minerals policy — to ensure it happens. Canada and Australia both have dedicated ministerial offices for mining. It’s past time we have a coordinating mining advocate as well.

The stakes of our great minerals challenge are enormous but so are the opportunities. From soaring mineral demand to China’s efforts to become a minerals OPEC of one, this moment requires urgency of action. Establishing a decisive minerals policy, and a leading U.S. office to shepherd it, cannot wait. Our energy future, economic competitiveness and national security all hang in the balance.

Rich Nolan is president and CEO of the National Mining Association.

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