US minerals supply chains too reliant on China, adversaries

What You Need to Know:

• China began restricting antimony exports on Sept. 15, limiting access to a mineral that’s necessary for advanced energy technology. The United States is 100 percent import-dependent for the mineral.
• The U.S. will miss targets for tailpipe emissions reduction, according to a study in the journal Nature, unless domestic mineral production increases.

Letter from the President and CEO

As Congress digs in after the summer recess, minerals mining is top of mind. The need to accelerate domestic minerals production is especially urgent as China announced its recent decision to restrict antimony exports highlights the danger of relying on imports. In our current state of import dependence, global adversaries hold a virtual on-and-off switch to our entire economy. Strong domestic supply chains for minerals would return our economy and energy future to our own control.

Illustrating this dynamic is a new report in Nature, which finds that among the U.S. and its allies, current production of minerals like cobalt, graphite, lithium and nickel, is insufficient to put 10.2 million new EVs on the road by 2032. The study, aimed at understanding how the minerals supply chain will impact whether the U.S. can meet new tailpipe emissions reduction goals, concludes that the gap between current production and the mineral supplies needed to produce those vehicles could be closed by permitting reforms. But this is current production. With vastly more support for domestic mining, the U.S. can live up to the potential of the vast mineral resources that lie within our borders.

To see how U.S. mining can live up to that potential – and do it using the most advanced technologies to improve efficiency, boost production, reduce environmental impacts, we invite you to view or attend the NMA’s MINExpo from Sept. 24-26 in Las Vegas. For those unable to attend in person, tune into our livestream on nma.org from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Pacific, Sept. 24-26, and hear from leaders across the industry about the mining industry’s most pressing issues and the future of mining at home and abroad.

Thank you,

Rich Nolan
NMA President and CEO