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MINING NEWS - US miners push Washington to revive long-dormant Bureau of Mines - Lithium, copper and other critical minerals are used in many electronics and demand is expected to surge further in coming years for production of electric-vehicle batteries. Currently, China is the world’s largest producer or processor of many critical minerals. - US mining policy is currently administered through multiple agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration. - The bureau closed in 1996 during budget cuts. The push to resuscitate it and add new responsibilities would, supporters argue, allow Washington to craft a unified critical minerals policy for permitting, research funding, and industry grants and loans that could stretch between presidential administrations and help the US better compete with China. - “Mining decisions right now are spread across multiple government agencies, and that makes transparency and accountability very difficult,” said Rich Nolan, head of the National Mining Association trade group, which is spearheading the push alongside the American Exploration & Mining Association and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME). - Rhea Graham, who was appointed by Clinton in 1994 as the first Black woman to lead the bureau, was given only 90 days to close it. - “When the bureau was closed, a signal was sent about how we as a nation valued science and how science funding was more precarious than perhaps people think it is,” Graham said. https://lnkd.in/etcb6Szp

US miners push Washington to revive long-dormant Bureau of Mines By Reuters https://ift.tt/LMaEHnp By Ernest Scheider (Reuters) – Mining trade groups are planning a push in Washington to revive and expand the long-defunct Bureau of Mines, an effort aimed at streamlining how the U.S. government regulates and subsidizes production of critical minerals and that coincides with the 2024 presidential election. The lobbying campaign, details of which have not been previously disclosed, is set to kick off this month ahead of the Republican and Democratic political conventions. It will contrast with the fragmented oversight of mining in the United States with Australia and other countries where major mining agencies report directly to heads of government, according to three people with direct knowledge of the effort. Lithium and other base metals are used in many electronic devices, and demand for them is expected to rise further in the coming years to produce electric vehicle batteries. China is the world’s largest producer or processor of many base metals. Mining policy in the United States is currently administered by multiple agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration. The office closed in 1996 amid budget cuts. Proponents argue that pushing to revive it and add new responsibilities would allow Washington to craft a unified policy for critical minerals in terms of permitting, research funding, industry grants and loans that could span presidential administrations and help the United States better compete with China. “Right now, mining decisions are spread across multiple government agencies, and that makes transparency and accountability very difficult,” said Rich Nolan, president of the National Mining Association trade group, which is leading the effort along with the American Exploration and Mining Association and the Mining, Metals and Exploration Association. The Mining Professionals Association, which represents academics and others who conduct mining-related research, is drafting a position paper that the other two groups will use to lobby members of Congress, according to one of the sources. The source said the groups acknowledged they were unlikely to succeed this year but hoped to do so in the next Congress, which runs from 2025 to 2027, adding that there was no estimate yet of how much funding the revived office might need. “If a new office can bring some efficiency to the duplicate and inefficient permitting process, it could be a huge benefit to the country,” said Mitch Krebs, CEO of Core Mining (NYSE:CK), a Chicago-based silver mining company. Critics of the latest plan point out that the original Bureau of Mines never oversaw the issuance of permits for mines, and that the mines could still face opposition from conservation groups and environmental regulators. “Bringing the Bureau of Mines back is not going to solve any of these p...

Anxieties around the US’ dependence on foreign critical minerals and the upcoming election has pushed the mining industry to call for the return of centralised governance. Claire Jenns investigates... Since the closure of the US Bureau of Mines (USBM) in 1996, the nation has had no centralised federal organisation dedicated to mining and minerals. The Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc. (SME) recently published a concept paper from an industry roundtable calling for the establishment of a new federal mining entity named the National Materials and Minerals Council (NMMC). The paper says it is “risky and unwise to rely on a bureaucratic maze of departments and agencies to ensure the availability of minerals and materials”. Gabriel Collins, a researcher at the Payne Institute for Public Policy tells Mining Technology & MINE Magazine : “Without a single body to coordinate permits there is an extreme risk for investors. We have huge amounts of minerals in the ground but no incentive to extract them. So, the USBM would be an investment enabler.” But would a Trump or Harris administration be likely to approve the NMMC or its equivalent? Read the full article with additional insight from Gregory Wischer, founder Dei Gratia Minerals, Gracelin Baskaran, PhD, and others. 👇 https://lnkd.in/ex_aZSkZ #criticalminerals #mining #USpolicy #USelection

Mining the ocean floor for minerals often seemed like a fantasy, but U.S. national security concerns could be bringing it closer to reality. Thousands of feet down at the bottom of the ocean, small rocks holding vast quantities of nickel, manganese and cobalt—the perfect combination of minerals to make an electric-vehicle battery—sit untouched, as high costs to reach them, a lack of research and public opposition have kept deep-sea mining a pipe dream. Lobbying efforts seeking governmental approval to mine the seabed for EV battery metals often fell on deaf ears, but backers have found a way to appeal to lawmakers—as a source of cobalt for U.S. weapons makers that avoids Chinese suppliers, building on efforts to decouple from the Asian superpower. “Without question the narrative around deep-sea mining has gone through an inflection point in that it has clearly found a home in the context of national security,” said Samir Kapadia, a Vogel Group lobbyist backed by The Metals Company, one of the few companies working in the field. On Tuesday, Reps. Carol Miller (R., W.Va.) and John Joyce (R., Pa.) introduced a bill to Congress pushing for creating a processing industry inside the U.S. as well as for deep-sea mining’s legalization and formalization in international waters. The boost in urgency has come amid China’s increasing domination of many critical mineral supply chains and its growing influence over deep-sea mining. The country holds five contracts to explore the seabed for minerals in international waters, more than anyone else. The next highest is Russia. China has also been sending ships out for research into the Pacific Ocean—alarming lawmakers in the U.S. More than 30 Republican members of Congress wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in December pushing the case for deep-sea mining and for processing minerals within the U.S. and warning against China’s control of the critical minerals sector. “We cannot afford to allow China to capture and exploit seabed resources, which the CCP has characterized as ‘a new frontier for international competition.’ We must explore every avenue to strengthen our rare earth and critical minerals supply chains,” said a letter signed by the likes of Reps. Robert Wittman (R., Va.) and Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.). The U.S. Defense Department is working on a report commissioned by the National Defense Authorization Act, reviewing the U.S.’s ability to process minerals harvested by deep-sea mining on home soil. 

From the Deep Sea to D.C.—How China Fears Have Put Ocean-Floor Mining on Washington’s Radar The possibility of harvesting the seabed is growing in popularity among lawmakers amid a push to extract rare minerals for defense applications By Yusuf Khan Updated March 15, 2024 10:48 am ET|WSJ PRO Mining the ocean floor for minerals often seemed like a fantasy, but U.S. national security concerns could be bringing it closer to reality. Thousands of feet down at the bottom of the ocean, small rocks holding vast quantities of nickel, manganese and cobalt—the perfect combination of minerals to make an electric-vehicle battery—sit untouched, as high costs to reach them, a lack of research and public opposition have kept deep-sea mining a pipe dream. Lobbying efforts seeking governmental approval to mine the seabed for EV battery metals often fell on deaf ears, but backers have found a way to appeal to lawmakers—as a source of cobalt for U.S. weapons makers that avoids Chinese suppliers, building on efforts to decouple from the Asian superpower. “Without question the narrative around deep-sea mining has gone through an inflection point in that it has clearly found a home in the context of national security,” said Samir Kapadia, a Vogel Group lobbyist backed by The Metals Company, one of the few companies working in the field. Kapadia said that lawmakers in past years saw deep-sea mining as a “pie in the sky” idea, unlikely to come to fruition and even laughed at in some quarters.  Switching the messaging to defense has spurred interest in the field.

South Africa’s mining woes are expected to persist this year due to unreliable energy and transport infrastructure and an uncertain and inefficient regulatory environment. This is according to research from BMI, which hosted a pre-election webinar earlier in May. BMI senior metals and mining analyst Olga Savina noted that these issues create significant administrative challenges for the mining sector. These challenges are anticipated to continue to hinder the industry throughout the year, particularly as the coal sector faces a structural decline, limiting the short-term outlook. Even though the new Transnet CEO and structure have shown some improvement, the media tends to spread negative propaganda, which creates panic among investors. However, Savina mentioned that a coalition between the ANC and a smaller party, such as the Inkatha Freedom Party, could ensure a high level of policy continuity. This could gradually benefit the mining sector by improving South Africa’s power and transport sectors, albeit at a slower pace, with stronger private sector participation. Other potential political scenarios could be less positive for the sector. For instance, an ANC-EFF coalition could significantly slow reform momentum, leading to a less predictable regulatory environment. A victory by the opposition coalition, the Multi-Party Charter, could result in policy fragmentation due to ideological diversity within the coalition, posing risks to investor confidence in the mining sector. However, even an ANC-led coalition with smaller parties may not be enough to save the mining sector. BMI stated that policy continuity under the ANC would not significantly alter its downbeat outlook for the domestic mining industry in the short term. After a decline in 2023, the South African mining industry is projected to face further contraction in 2024 due to persistent challenges related to power supply disruptions, rail and port bottlenecks, and a weaker outlook for coal prices. Given that the coal industry represents a large portion of the broader mining market in South Africa, it will be challenging to offset the losses resulting from the structural decline of the coal sector in the coming years. In my opinion, the mining sector urgently needs favorable policy terms that benefit not only investors but also local content, local mine owners, and exporters. Click to read : https://lnkd.in/dgm5fKcd

Mining the ocean floor for minerals often seemed like a fantasy, but U.S. national security concerns could be bringing it closer to reality. On Tuesday, Reps. Carol Miller (R., W.Va.) and John Joyce (R., Pa.) introduced a bill to Congress pushing for the development and financing of deep-sea mining in the country. The bill in particular put forward the idea of creating a processing industry inside the U.S. as well as for deep-sea mining’s legalization and formalization in international waters. The boost in urgency has come amid China’s increasing domination of many critical mineral supply chains and its growing influence over deep-sea mining. The country holds five contracts to explore the seabed for minerals in international waters, more than anyone else. The next highest is Russia. China has also been sending ships out for research into the Pacific Ocean—alarming lawmakers in the U.S. More than 30 Republican members of Congress wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in December pushing the case for deep-sea mining and for processing minerals within the U.S. and warning against China’s control of the critical minerals sector. The U.S. Defense Department is working on a report commissioned by the National Defense Authorization Act, reviewing the U.S.’s ability to process minerals harvested by deep-sea mining on home soil. That report was due March 1 but has been delayed. This week, members of the International Seabed Authority, a United Nations observer organization, are due to meet in Kingston, Jamaica, to hash out the final steps of a mining code that eventually should lead to the final rules and regulations of deep-sea mining. The U.S. will be in attendance, though it hasn’t ratified the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, meaning it doesn’t have voting rights over the new laws. The Metals Company, in partnership with the island country of the Republic of Nauru, is working on an exploratory project that has opened a possible door to start harvesting the Pacific Ocean seabed. Still, the market doesn’t seem to believe it. Last year, TMC’s shares fell below a dollar and its biggest backer—Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk—sold its interest in the company. Cash on hand has dwindled and opposition to its project has grown, with more than 20 countries calling for a moratorium. #deepseamining #seabedmining #criticalminerals #china #isa #internationalseabedauthority #evs #energytransition #lawofthesea #nationalsecurity

Morgan Stanley Predicts Massive Investments in U.S. Metals and Mining By ZeroHedge - Apr 08, 2024. Part (2) == The analyst detailed how China dominates the global supply of rare earth minerals and cautioned against rising vulnerabilities in US mineral supply chains, especially given the ongoing tensions in Sino-US relations: "China is in a powerful position to influence the global mineral markets and has already started to flex its strength through mineral export restrictions. For US policymakers, the US's mineral dependence on imports highlights the growing vulnerability of the US mineral supply chain and the urgent need to strengthen domestic supply chains. In addition, the US faces a multi-decade decline in investment in the domestic mining and exploration industry, which has fallen from ~2.0% of GDP in 1960 (and a peak of ~3.1% in 1981) to just ~0.5% today." After being asleep at the wheel for decades, the bloated US government, thank former President Trump - has awakened from its slumber and realized that it must play a serious "catch-up" game with policy reform and incentives for private industry to rebuild America's domestic mining and separation sector. "US permitting reform and other government incentives will likely act as a tailwind for the domestic mining industry through encouraging the development and helping mitigate the associated risks of building new mine supply," the analyst said. He said the big winner of "permitting reform" that is "geared toward promoting the development of mining projects" will be the "Junior Mining and Exploration industry." One company that stands to benefit is MP Materials, the largest US-based miner of rare earths. The analyst said this company is a "play on accelerating adoption of electric vehicles and electrification trends in wind turbines." He continued: "The company's mission is to restore the full US rare earth supply chain. MP has executed on its plan of restarting the Mountain Pass mine in California and it is currently ramping a refining facility to produce rare earth oxides. The company will get into the production of NdFeB alloy flake and permanent mag-nets (critical components for electric vehicles and wind turbines) with a plant that is under construction in Texas."

I'm in favor of a more coordinated approach to mining and permitting in the US. What are your thoughts? The mining industry plays a crucial role in the U.S. economy, offering several key benefits: - Economic Growth and Job Creation: Mining operations contribute significantly to local and national economies by creating employment opportunities and stimulating economic development. - Supply of Essential Materials: The industry provides vital raw materials necessary for various sectors, including construction, technology, and manufacturing. - Advancements in Recycling and Sustainability: The mining sector is increasingly adopting recycling initiatives to recover metals from end-of-life equipment and electronic waste, promoting a circular economy and reducing environmental impact. - Technological Innovation: Embracing digitalization and emerging technologies, mining companies are enhancing operational efficiency, safety, and sustainability, positioning the industry at the forefront of innovation. - Strategic Resource Independence: Domestic mining reduces reliance on foreign sources for critical minerals, strengthening national security and ensuring a stable supply chain for essential industries. https://lnkd.in/gj-SpxbH

Located on Minnesota’s Mesabi Range, the Hill Annex Mine operated from 1913 through the late 1970's and was one of the state's key iron ore mining sites. Renowned for its rich iron ore deposits, the mine significantly contributed to the economy of Northern Minnesota and the U.S. steel industry, producing over 64 million tons of iron ore during its operational life—the equivalent of 625 Empire State Buildings. Technological advancements and the depletion of easily accessible ore led to an idling of mining activity at the Hill Annex Mine. After the mine ceased operations, the IRRRB (Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board) acquired the site for one dollar, converting the community club building into a museum and visitors center. In 1986, the former mine was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and two years later, the Minnesota Legislature designated Hill Annex Mine as a state park with the understanding that the park might be closed if the site became economically feasible to mine in again in the future. Fast forwarding almost 40 years, the state park was permanently closed in June due to the renewed economic feasibility of mining at the site. Preparations for reopening of mining operations may begin as early as this fall, with mining production potentially resuming in 2025 or soon thereafter. The Hill Annex Mine serves as an example of how mined lands can cycle successfully through periods of idling, recreational use and resumed mining while producing economic and community value at each stage of transition. It is another example of the symbiotic relationship that can be fostered between mining and recreation that is playing out across Minnesota at places like the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area, Redhead Mountain Bike Park, Lake Ore-be-gone and the Iron Range Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area. To learn more about the Annex mine, please visit the link below: https://lnkd.in/g5D63ZGK