The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
U.S. Sen.
Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, March 28 held a hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to examine the United States' increasing dependence on foreign sources of minerals and the opportunities we have to rebuild and improve the domestic supply chain.
The hearing touched on numerous issues, including permitting delays, which create a significant obstacle to economically viable domestic mineral production.
Referring to data recently published by the U.S. Geological Survey, Murkowski, who chairs the energy and resources committee, pointed out that during 2016 the U.S. imported at least 50 percent of its supply of at least 50 minerals and 100 percent of its supply of 20 minerals, including many that are essential components of defense, medical, energy, electronic, and other advanced technologies.
"Instead of lessening our dependence, we are actually increasing our dependence - we're not making headway on this issue," she said.
According to USGS data, China is a major source of roughly half of the 50 minerals for which the U.S. is at least 50 percent import reliant.
Among the growing list of minerals for which the U.S. is fully import reliant are critical and strategic minerals such as rare earth elements, manganese and niobium; and important technology minerals such as graphite and yttrium.
Murkowski underscored the economic and national security risks associated with this import reliance.
"Our foreign mineral dependence is a threat to our ability to create jobs in America," Murkowski said.
"It threatens our growth, our competitiveness, and our national security.
It may seem abstract right now, for some who are not responsible for managing a supply chain.
But there will come a day when it will become real for all of us - when we simply cannot acquire a mineral, or when the market for a mineral changes so dramatically, that entire industries are affected." During the hearing, Murkowski explained how the federal government can do more to shore up U.S. mineral security.
"Some agencies have begun to wake up to the threats posed by our foreign mineral dependence," Murkowski said.
"Yet, on the whole, the federal government is not paying anywhere near enough attention.
Executive agencies are not as focused or as coordinated as they need to be.
And they do not have the direction or authority they need to make lasting progress to restore our mineral security." The Alaska senator theorizes that many Americans have an "immaculate conception" idea about everyday products and do not think about the minerals that go into them or where those minerals come from.
"So much of this is education," she said.
"We don't make the connection to where our minerals fit in with our daily lives."
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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