Biden: US will support new mines
U.S. President Joe Biden met with administration and government partners, business leaders, members of the public, labor leaders and California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday to announce investments in domestic production of key critical minerals and materials, the White House said.
Biden touts the government and private sector's progress in increasing America's extraction of minerals used to make electric cars and other renewable energy products, a key factor in the transition to a greener economy. Washington is increasingly concerned that low U.S. production of critical minerals needed to build clean energy technologies could leave it indebted to China and other countries that have invested heavily in mining.
The Biden administration has said it is committed to supporting mining projects by "ensuring that these resources benefit the community and creating well-paying union jobs in sustainable production."
"We can't build an American-made future if we ourselves depend on China for the materials that will make the products of today and tomorrow," Biden said at a White House event.
The President emphasized that new mines should benefit the territories, not harm the environment, and said he would not support new mines in the US unless "the historical injustice that too many mining operations have left behind" is prevented.
America's Supply Chain Executive Order 14017, signed a year ago this week, mandates a 100-day review of vulnerabilities in America's critical minerals and materials supply chains. Last June, the Biden-Harris administration released its first supply chain assessment, which the White House said revealed "the country's over-reliance on foreign sources and hostile countries for critical minerals and materials that pose a threat to national and economic security."
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has already committed roughly $10 million to MP Materials, which controls the only rare earth mine in the US but processes it in China. Biden also announced a $35 million grant from the US Department of Defense to MP Materials to process rare earth elements that are used to make magnets used in consumer products and weapons.
Biden and his predecessors tried to increase US production of lithium, rare earths, and other strategic minerals while balancing opposition from environmentalists and indigenous groups.
Biden said this week that commercial lithium mining could be possible in California's Imperial Valley by 2026, reports the Desert Sun. Berkshire Hathaway Energy Renewables said at an event Tuesday that it will begin construction on a facility in California this spring to test sustainable ways to produce lithium from geothermal brines found under the Salton Sea in California and elsewhere.
But even as the president stresses the need to increase domestic production of critical minerals, his administration has blocked several proposed US mines, including the Pebble project in Alaska, the Rio Tinto Resolution copper project in Arizona, and the Antofagasta Twin Metals project in Minnesota . Ioneer has also taken steps to slow the development of a lithium mine in Nevada.
"Protecting the environment is paramount," Biden said. “We need to make sure these resources really benefit the people in the communities where they live, not just the shareholders.”
To address environmental concerns, the White House said it would form a committee to recommend amendments to the Mining Act of 1872, which has regulated hard rock mining in much of the United States since the 19th century.
Last fall in Washington, members of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) opposed an attempt by House Democrats to change the mining law through a partisan budget process.
U.S. mining companies have criticized proposals in Congress to impose royalties on copper, lithium and other minerals mined on federal lands, with executives saying the move would hurt domestic production of building blocks for solar panels, electric vehicles and other environmentally friendly clean technologies.