Untapped U.S. mineral resources can address supply chain and national security concerns

Following the president’s recent announcement of a  World Trade Organization case against China’s export restrictions on rare earth minerals, Hal Quinn, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, penned an op-ed in The Washington Times stressing the importance of a more efficient permitting process to developing a stable, domestic supply chain of minerals essential to U.S. manufacturing, innovation and national security. Quinn argued that the president’s recent challenge “calls attention to the vital importance of minerals to the U.S. economy,” noting “the United States is distinguished from other countries by its notable lack of a forward-looking minerals policy.”

In his op-ed, Quinn also underscored the fact that it takes as much as five times longer to get approval to mine minerals in the U.S. as it does in other countries, “from the time a project request is submitted to the time a final ruling is made, a decade can slip by and paperwork as much as 6 feet high filed and reviewed—repeatedly.” Ultimately, Quinn emphasized the need for an efficient domestic minerals mining strategy, “if our leaders fail to act, supply disruptions will continue to pose a threat, not only to minerals users and manufacturers, but to the U.S. economy as a whole.”

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