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CRITICAL","condition-critical","article/condition-critical",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":560,"content":570,"excerpt":898,"featured":50,"reporter":899,"_editable":903,"component":904,"seo_title":553,"categories":905,"visibility":912,"author_company":49,"featured_image":913,"seo_description":898,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":917,"formattedArticleDate":918},"93839162-a01d-423b-bbce-0da42f3f0ac4","2019-10-22 00:00",[],[561],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":564},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":565,"image":566,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":567},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":571,"content":572},"doc",[573,581,587,592,597,608,613,618,627,632,637,642,647,655,660,665,670,677,682,687,692,697,702,709,714,719,724,729,734,739,744,749,754,759,764,769,774,779,784,789,794,799,804,811,816,821,828,833,838,843,850,855,860,865,870,875,880,885,890],{"type":574,"attrs":575,"content":577},"heading",{"level":576,"textAlign":49},4,[578],{"text":579,"type":580},"Critical raw material supply is back on the agenda in the US as Lisa Murkowski introduced the American Mineral Security Act bill this year. Here, Paul Harris looks at the history and latest developments in US raw material security ","text",{"type":582,"attrs":583,"content":584},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[585],{"text":586,"type":580},"In May 2019, US Republican senator Lisa Murkowski introduced the American Mineral Security Act bill, which aims to rebuild a domestic mineral supply chain, particularly for battery minerals such as lithium, graphite and cobalt to reduce US reliance on foreign sources. With lithium-ion batteries seen as a key element in the future of transportation and energy storage, there is a feeling the US has been caught napping while China acquired a leading position over global materials supply.",{"type":582,"attrs":588,"content":589},{"textAlign":49},[590],{"text":591,"type":580},"“Unless we take significant steps, we’re at risk of ceding major economic drivers to other countries,” said senator Murkowski, chair of the US Senate Committee of Energy and Natural Resources. “Our nation’s mineral security is a significant, urgent and often ignored challenge…our reliance on China and other nations for critical minerals costs us jobs…and leaves us at a geopolitical disadvantage,” she said.",{"type":582,"attrs":593,"content":594},{"textAlign":49},[595],{"text":596,"type":580},"Other observers agree. “The challenge…is ensuring that the US does not exchange a dependence on OPEC’s oil for a dependence on China’s batteries and critical minerals,” said Robbie Diamond of Securing America’s Future Energy.",{"type":582,"attrs":598,"content":599},{"textAlign":49},[600,602,604,606],{"text":601,"type":580},"Benchmark Minerals ",{"text":603,"type":580},"assisted in the genesis of the bill by highlighting the realities of material supply in the battery space. Speaking at the US senate this year, ",{"text":605,"type":580},"Benchmark Minerals",{"text":607,"type":580},"’ Managing Director Simon Moores said “the US produces 1% of global lithium supply and 7% of refined lithium chemical supply, while China produces 51%. For cobalt, the US has zero mining or chemicals capacity whilst China controls 80% of this second stage. For graphite, the US has no flake graphite mining or anode production compared to China’s 51% and 100% of the world’s total, and the situation for nickel sulphate is similar.",{"type":582,"attrs":609,"content":610},{"textAlign":49},[611],{"text":612,"type":580},"“We are in the midst of a global battery arms race that is intensifying. Lithium, graphite, cobalt and nickel are the key enablers of the lithium ion battery and, in turn, the lithium ion battery is the key enabler of the energy storage revolution. … The US has been a bystander in building domestic supply chain capacity. … These supply chains are the oil pipelines of tomorrow. The lithium ion battery is to the 21st century is what the oil barrel was to the 20th century,” said Moores.",{"type":582,"attrs":614,"content":615},{"textAlign":49},[616],{"text":617,"type":580},"The bill comes within a zeitgeist which sees US president Donald Trump forge an increasingly nationalist agenda focusing on US interests and reeling-in decades of Internationalism which the US formerly spearheaded. “The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots,” he said during a speech to the United Nations on September 24th. In-sourcing of jobs and industry is part of Trump’s agenda, and minerals",{"type":582,"attrs":619,"content":620},{"textAlign":49},[621],{"type":622,"attrs":623},"image",{"id":49,"alt":624,"src":625,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":626},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/5779fa8fba/bm-credit-arctic-circle.jpg",{},{"type":582,"attrs":628,"content":629},{"textAlign":49},[630],{"text":631,"type":580},"US Senator Lisa Murkowski",{"type":582,"attrs":633,"content":634},{"textAlign":49},[635],{"text":636,"type":580},"production is within that. In June 2019, president Trump signed an Executive Order to push this along. A Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals tasked the US Secretaries of Interior and Defense to prepare a list of critical minerals and develop a strategy for reducing foreign dependence on metals and minerals deemed critical. This followed the December 2017 Critical Mineral Resources of the United States—Economic and Environmental Geology and Prospects for Future Supply US Geological Survey report which listed 23 metals and minerals—including cobalt and graphite—critical to the US national economy and national security.",{"type":574,"attrs":638,"content":639},{"level":576,"textAlign":49},[640],{"text":641,"type":580},"How did we get here?",{"type":582,"attrs":643,"content":644},{"textAlign":49},[645],{"text":646,"type":580},"A focus on strategic minerals represents a return to the past. The 1939 Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act which sought to “provide for common defense by acquiring stocks of strategic and critical materials essential to the needs of industry for the manufacture of supplies for the armed forces and the civilian population in time of a national emergency, and to encourage, as far as possible, the further development of strategic and critical materials within the United States for common defense.” This saw the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) manage the National Defense Stockpile of various metals and minerals.",{"type":582,"attrs":648,"content":649},{"textAlign":49},[650,652,653],{"text":651,"type":580},"“The strategic stockpile never worked as a concept until the late 1940s after Russia detonated a hydrogen bomb. In 1956, the stockpile had a value of $10.3 billion. At the end of the George Bush administration in 1993 it was worth $1.2 billion. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 the US Department of Defense decided it had no existential threat from Communism anymore and therefore no threat of having mineral dependence cut off, and so it started selling down the stockpile,” Micky Fulp of MercenaryGeologist.com told ",{"text":605,"type":580},{"text":654,"type":580},".",{"type":582,"attrs":656,"content":657},{"textAlign":49},[658],{"text":659,"type":580},"The post-Soviet world of free trade agreements saw mineral-rich China emerge as a market economy and saw the production of many minerals in the US cease because it was easier and cheaper to buy them elsewhere as global trade barriers fell. Thirty years after the Cold War ended, China and Russia are increasingly seen as military and economic threats to the Western world, a context in which global supply chains that supply the exotic mineral elements our digital world requires present strategic vulnerabilities. “Technology is changing, materials science is changing, innovation is changing but the laws are what they were. This is going to have a drag on the economy, on technology development and defence platforms. Law and permitting regimes have to catch up to where we need them to be with innovation and technologies,” said McGroarty.",{"type":574,"attrs":661,"content":662},{"level":576,"textAlign":49},[663],{"text":664,"type":580},"Supply chains",{"type":582,"attrs":666,"content":667},{"textAlign":49},[668],{"text":669,"type":580},"What is critical: the raw mineral, the refined mineral or the final technology? President Trump wants US businesses to onshore production, but does this make sense if inputs are sourced overseas? “Is an iPhone made in China or California? Is it necessary to have greater domestic lithium and cobalt supplies if we buy an iPhone from China? How much end-to-end supply chain will be in the US if the mineral supply is there and will manufacturing shift back because of this?” asked Denis Laviolette, president and CEO Goldspot Discoveries.",{"type":582,"attrs":671,"content":672},{"textAlign":49},[673,675,676],{"text":674,"type":580},"Rather than the minerals themselves per se, the debate is centred on supply chains, according to Patrick Highsmith, former president and CEO of Pure Energy Minerals. “China doesn’t control the lithium resources, but it has converters who buy it. Once lithium arrives in China and is converted, will it come out again? The conversion technology in Japan and South Korea is better than in China while the US is on the side-lines of this part of the value chain. What is being done to encourage the development of a lithium supply chain in the US? This is not a government issue but a business issue,” he told ",{"text":605,"type":580},{"text":654,"type":580},{"type":582,"attrs":678,"content":679},{"textAlign":49},[680],{"text":681,"type":580},"Government has the tools to stimulate a domestic minerals industry, but under what conditions is it prepared to use them? The evidence is mixed.",{"type":582,"attrs":683,"content":684},{"textAlign":49},[685],{"text":686,"type":580},"The US Department of Commerce (DOC) investigated the effects of uranium imports on US national security under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act after Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy argued the loss of a viable US uranium mining industry would have a detrimental impact on the country’s national, energy and economic security and its ability to sustain an independent nuclear fuel cycle. They sought a quota to limit imports to effectively reserve 25% of the market for domestic production and a buy American policy for federal entities. But although the US imports 93% of its uranium, president Trump declined to countenance this even though Russia and former Soviet states represent the bulk of world production. “At this time, I do not concur with the Secretary’s finding that uranium imports threaten to impair the national security of the United States,” he said in a statement.",{"type":582,"attrs":688,"content":689},{"textAlign":49},[690],{"text":691,"type":580},"While president Trump backed away from assisting the uranium industry, he adopted a more supportive stance for rare earth elements (REE). In July, he triggered a Defense Title III action under section 303 of the 1950 Defense Production Act. “I hereby determine … that the domestic production capability for rare earth metals and alloys is essential to the national defense. Without presidential action under section 303 of the Act, US industry cannot reasonably be expected to provide the production capability for rare earth metals and alloys adequately and in a timely manner. Further, purchases, purchase commitments or other action pursuant to section 303 of the Act are the most cost-effective, expedient and practical alternative method for meeting the need for this critical capability,” he stated.",{"type":582,"attrs":693,"content":694},{"textAlign":49},[695],{"text":696,"type":580},"This means, in effect, that the domestic production of REEs are eligible for defence support. “Defence Title III allows for federal investment in the material identified which means the material can be bought for the National Defence Stockpile, the government can enter into purchase commitment (off-take) agreements, it could finance the facilities related to producing more of the material and invest in facilities to improve the processes to improve the material. This puts the full weight of the Pentagon purchasing power behind it,” said McGroarty.",{"type":574,"attrs":698,"content":699},{"level":576,"textAlign":49},[700],{"text":701,"type":580},"What is there?",{"type":582,"attrs":703,"content":704},{"textAlign":49},[705,707,708],{"text":706,"type":580},"Forcing the Pentagon to buy local is one thing but this assumes there are minerals for it to buy. Determining this is one of the aims of the Murkowski bill. Section 5 requires a quantitative and qualitative assessment of undiscovered critical mineral resources throughout the US, including, “probability estimates of tonnage and grade, using all available public and private information and datasets, including exploration histories.” For Jonathan Evans, president and CEO of Lithium Americas, “the government is focused on having robust supply chains and understanding where the resources are and how they work. The nature of supply chains is not lost on the government anymore and they want stable supply chains for the supply of critical industries,” he told ",{"text":605,"type":580},{"text":654,"type":580},{"type":582,"attrs":710,"content":711},{"textAlign":49},[712],{"text":713,"type":580},"Compiling information within the US to have a greater understanding of the country’s minerals potential is no mean feat given that the pertinent information in many states is in private hands. “One of the barriers to this is that in certain states such as Nevada, Arizona and Idaho a lot of the data is privately held and the owners do not need to provide it to the government,” said Laviolette.",{"type":582,"attrs":715,"content":716},{"textAlign":49},[717],{"text":718,"type":580},"Where there is a data vacuum, government could step in to generate information using cutting edge exploration tools. “There is innovation in ways of generating information that could bypass [information held privately] such as generating multi-spectral data over an entire state. An explorer cannot fly over land held by another company, but the government can. States or government could generate new data rather than trying to piece together historical data, and this could be made publicly available to attract exploration investment,” said Laviolette.",{"type":582,"attrs":720,"content":721},{"textAlign":49},[722],{"text":723,"type":580},"The drive for better information is not limited to the national territory and is arguably one of the rare moments of the Trump administration engaging in Internationalism. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with foreign ministers from nine countries (Australia, Botswana, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, the Philippines and Zambia) which joined the Energy Resource Governance Initiative (ERGI) to help discover and develop minerals used to make EVs on the side-lines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September. ERGI is a US Department of State, Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR)‐led effort to promote sound mining sector governance and resilient energy mineral supply chains.",{"type":574,"attrs":725,"content":726},{"level":576,"textAlign":49},[727],{"text":728,"type":580},"Financing",{"type":582,"attrs":730,"content":731},{"textAlign":49},[732],{"text":733,"type":580},"The key challenge for mineral explorers and developers will always be access to capital. Many companies in this space are publicly traded and rely on capital markets to raise funds. The cyclical nature of mineral and capital markets sees funding windows open and close as minerals oscillates, which is of little use for a government seeking to advance on strategic goals. Prevailing market conditions have a huge impact on mineral markets as the stultification of the copper price this year due to the US-China trade dispute shows, even though the copper market is heading towards a structural supply deficit. Lithium, cobalt and other battery minerals are in the same boat.",{"type":582,"attrs":735,"content":736},{"textAlign":49},[737],{"text":738,"type":580},"Three years ago, investor interest in lithium rocketed and it was relatively easy for lithium explorers to raise equity. Lithium prices have since plunged on the back of a flood of new mines coming into production and it is almost impossible for lithium juniors to raise equity. Most cobalt is produced as a by-product of nickel and with nickel prices near all-time lows, much capacity has been mothballed. When nickel prices increase, by-product cobalt will come back into the market and weaken the pricing primary cobalt projects require to develop and sustain their operations. “The problem is the long-term viability of a small market. The lithium price fell from $19,500/t to under $12,000/t. Cobalt prices skyrocketed but then fell 70% over the last year. You need a sustainable price for any mineral development,” said Fulp.",{"type":582,"attrs":740,"content":741},{"textAlign":49},[742],{"text":743,"type":580},"For Keith Phillips, president and CEO of Piedmont Lithium, this presents “an interesting dichotomy” in that lithium equities are poorly valued although there is strong hydroxide demand approaching. “There are periods when it is very hard to raise money and periods when it is easier. Now we are in a period where it is hard to raise equity and so money will have to come from Asian banks and traders,” he said.",{"type":582,"attrs":745,"content":746},{"textAlign":49},[747],{"text":748,"type":580},"“The biggest issue is how to solve the financing question. Minerals exploration and development is a capital intensive high-risk cyclical industry. We look with envy at every dollar the government is throwing at EVs. There are no similar measures helping the industry secure miners domestically. We need to drill [our property in Idaho] and this is what costs the big dollars, so we need a stronger market to raise money,” said Mell.",{"type":582,"attrs":750,"content":751},{"textAlign":49},[752],{"text":753,"type":580},"The fickleness of capital markets means they are unlikely to be the main source of funds to take battery minerals projects into production, with many juniors instead looking along the value chain to find funding partners among the processors, battery manufacturers and even automakers.",{"type":582,"attrs":755,"content":756},{"textAlign":49},[757],{"text":758,"type":580},"“When we come out with a pre-feasibility study that shows our Graphite Creek project in Alaska is economically feasible it will open the doors to companies relying on graphite from China. I see an end-user potentially stepping in to finance the end goal,” said Anthony Huston, president and CEO of Graphite One, who thinks the project will need $300-400 million to build a mine and plant to produce 60,000-70,000tpy of graphite.",{"type":582,"attrs":760,"content":761},{"textAlign":49},[762],{"text":763,"type":580},"Direct government funding or subsidies to companies could be a possibility to increase the supply of critical minerals, but observers give the idea short shrift. “Giving subsidies or tax credits is a legitimate way to help finance this sector but backing junior explorers in this way is never going to happen,” said Fulp. “The government hasn’t provided loan guarantees in a long time, so I don’t know if that is realistic,” said Lithium Americas’ Jonathan Evans.",{"type":582,"attrs":765,"content":766},{"textAlign":49},[767],{"text":768,"type":580},"Bernard Rowe, Managing Director of Ioneer, proposes a number of government efforts to give impetus to raw material supply, saying: “incentives could include tax abatements, income tax credits, designated opportunity zones and low-interest loans to underpin the funding required to develop domestic mines that will produce the key battery ingredients such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.”",{"type":582,"attrs":770,"content":771},{"textAlign":49},[772],{"text":773,"type":580},"Whereas Bruce Richardson, Executive Chairman & CEO of Anson Resources, suggests the US government could create new departments, explaining “an inter-government agency should be established to establish a road map of how government can assist the development of industry with a focus on eliminating red tape and out-dated regulations reducing imports and developing export markets for mineral resources, batteries and electric vehicles.”",{"type":582,"attrs":775,"content":776},{"textAlign":49},[777],{"text":778,"type":580},"However, Robert Mintak, CEO & Director of Standard Lithium, points out that the USA has a number of domestic political hurdles to overcome to take a more prominent role in the supply chain, “it is hard for western governments, particularly the US to look past partisanship and short-termism when it comes to creating a national strategy for a nascent and polarising industry like energy storage – lithium-ion batteries,” he said.",{"type":582,"attrs":780,"content":781},{"textAlign":49},[782],{"text":783,"type":580},"Beyond that, the federal and state governments could help bring entire districts into production through the development of general infrastructure such as roads and power, argues Laviolette. “Subsidies would have to be on infrastructure to open up new areas for production and there is a section of the [Murkowski] act that directly speaks to this, to open access by bringing in roads and power. Geology is very precise at a macro level, in identifying a high-potential district. You don’t need to know which individual project is best in order to run infrastructure into a region,” he said.",{"type":582,"attrs":785,"content":786},{"textAlign":49},[787],{"text":788,"type":580},"As the profile of the mineral’s security issue increases, it may enable mineral companies to appeal to investors on patriotic grounds, particularly those who help fund initiatives such as mining the oceans or mining asteroids and are concerned about US mineral dependence on China and Russia. “It becomes a political, philosophical issue so you need to find people that support America First causes,” said Fulp. “If this issue [strategic minerals security] is driven into the limelight, made very public and promoted properly, it will result in more retail investors making their way into the space. Retail investors look for optionality and that is exploration,” said Laviolette.",{"type":574,"attrs":790,"content":791},{"level":576,"textAlign":49},[792],{"text":793,"type":580},"Permitting",{"type":582,"attrs":795,"content":796},{"textAlign":49},[797],{"text":798,"type":580},"In the absence of subsidies, what can government do to create a more attractive environment for mineral investors? The government could help create greater certainty for investors by improving the line-of-sight on project permitting timelines, which both helps to reduce investment risk as well as giving a greater indication of when investors can expect to see a return on their investments. Reducing permitting red-tape to improve process times is something the Trump administration has strongly advanced and is also including in the Mineral Securities Act bill. “If legislative initiatives about critical minerals are successful in reducing permitting times, that would help the investment case for minerals projects and provide greater certainty on timelines for investors,” said Phillips.",{"type":582,"attrs":800,"content":801},{"textAlign":49},[802],{"text":803,"type":580},"Murkowski’s bill seeks to implement permitting reforms for the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture",{"type":582,"attrs":805,"content":806},{"textAlign":49},[807,809,810],{"text":808,"type":580},"Forest Service to reduce delays. “Projects in the US need to be competitive, and what has slowed them down has been uncertainty related to permitting,” said Evans. “Permitting processes have become more Byzantine, less transparent and less predictable, which adds a lot of time and therefore cost to minerals projects. If you don’t remove the obstacles in permitting projects companies are not going to bring them into production,” Dan McGroarty, Graphite One advisor and who has testified in the US House and Senate on critical minerals issue, told ",{"text":605,"type":580},{"text":654,"type":580},{"type":582,"attrs":812,"content":813},{"textAlign":49},[814],{"text":815,"type":580},"Executive Order 13807 of August 2017 Establishing discipline and accountability in the environmental review and permitting process for infrastructure projects which put timelines on NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) to change behaviour of public agencies for permitting. “The BLM (Bureau of Land Management) used to take five years to review an EIS and now the government is looking at the process taking 12 months,” said Evans.",{"type":582,"attrs":817,"content":818},{"textAlign":49},[819],{"text":820,"type":580},"To help this, the Trump administration relocated the BLM headquarters from Washington to Colorado along with 85 jobs, putting the administrators in the heart of the territory they have to administer, although it has also successively cut the BLM budget: the 2019 budget is US$1 billion, down from $1.1 in 2018, $1.3 in 2017 and $1.2 billion in 2016.",{"type":582,"attrs":822,"content":823},{"textAlign":49},[824,826,827],{"text":825,"type":580},"Miners have perceived a positive change in attitudes towards permitting. “There has been a pretty big shift of focus, but it doesn’t turn on a dime. We see the field offices trying to do the right thing by the American taxpayer to make things more efficient. We are seeing improvements, but it is still important to do the right work and follow the process, so the outcome is defendable and supportable by the community,” John DeCooman, VP business development and strategy at precious metals miner SSR Mining told ",{"text":605,"type":580},{"text":654,"type":580},{"type":582,"attrs":829,"content":830},{"textAlign":49},[831],{"text":832,"type":580},"High up on the miners wish-list of possible changes which would have positive impacts is greater coordination between government agencies. “it is helpful having a policy of endorsement by the government that rallies public agencies around a cause. It can be tough to understand who to talk to at times because there is a lack of coordination,” said Evans.",{"type":582,"attrs":834,"content":835},{"textAlign":49},[836],{"text":837,"type":580},"For Fulp, the attention on mineral security exposes the dysfunctional nature of government and lack of coordination between different agencies. “You have the Department of Defense selling the stockpiles as another part of government is putting [the stockpiled minerals] on the critical list. It makes no sense,” he said.",{"type":582,"attrs":839,"content":840},{"textAlign":49},[841],{"text":842,"type":580},"Lack of coordination could be a barrier to the development of lithium brine projects, said Highsmith. “The water lithium is dissolved in is subject to state administration of water rights, but lithium is a federally locatable mineral, which raises the question of how do you get access to it? State law can be overruled if the state is using its statutes to regulate a federally authorised mineral. Lithium in Nevada is all about water rights and it shouldn’t be,” he said.",{"type":582,"attrs":844,"content":845},{"textAlign":49},[846,848,849],{"text":847,"type":580},"Lack of policy coordination could also stifle the development of the cobalt belt in Idaho. “The growing concern on economic or military grounds contrasts with the bureaucracy minerals developers have to deal with [with public officials] who haven’t received that message and are going contrary to the executive order. The deposits in the Idaho cobalt belt are under threat as the US Forestry Service is looking to protect the area. A consultation is going on and if the White House had any idea of its implications they would be shocked,” Trent Mell, president and CEO of First Cobalt, told ",{"text":605,"type":580},{"text":654,"type":580},{"type":582,"attrs":851,"content":852},{"textAlign":49},[853],{"text":854,"type":580},"Curiously, coordination mechanisms exist within a similar facet of government. Title 41 of 2015’s Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act was designed to improve the timeliness, predictability and transparency of the Federal environmental review and authorisation process for infrastructure projects, and established procedures to standardise interagency consultation and coordination practices. It also codified into law the use of the permitting dashboard to track project timelines, address the project delivery process and track environmental review and permitting milestones. “FAST 41 created a dashboard where you can see where your project is and what stage it is at, but it stopped short of including mining projects,” said McGroarty.",{"type":574,"attrs":856,"content":857},{"level":576,"textAlign":49},[858],{"text":859,"type":580},"Political ping pong",{"type":582,"attrs":861,"content":862},{"textAlign":49},[863],{"text":864,"type":580},"The attention on minerals supply security is positive for the minerals sector but it also faces legislative threats as Democrats try to revise the 1872 Mining Law and put in large royalties.",{"type":582,"attrs":866,"content":867},{"textAlign":49},[868],{"text":869,"type":580},"“If Hardrock Mining Reform legislation by Chair Grijalva and senator Udall is signed into law by a Democrat president it will destroy the US mining industry. It seeks to put an oil and gas royalty regime of 12.5% on all new mining projects and an 8% royalty on existing operations,” said Fulp.",{"type":582,"attrs":871,"content":872},{"textAlign":49},[873],{"text":874,"type":580},"While mining has taken giant strides to improve its image and environmental performance in recent years, being pro-mining is still widely perceived as being anti-environment.",{"type":582,"attrs":876,"content":877},{"textAlign":49},[878],{"text":879,"type":580},"While president Trump works to open more the of US to mineral exploration and exploitation, such as opening the Alaskan Arctic Reserve for oil exploration and opening some national forests, the forces opposing him are pro-environment.",{"type":582,"attrs":881,"content":882},{"textAlign":49},[883],{"text":884,"type":580},"A subsequent administration could remove any legislation Trump puts in place as he is doing by methodically winding back legislation his predecessor Barrack Obama put in place to protect the environment or mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis.",{"type":582,"attrs":886,"content":887},{"textAlign":49},[888],{"text":889,"type":580},"“The kinds of measures that Trump is putting in for the mining sector are easy to dismantle for a future president,” said Laviolette.",{"type":582,"attrs":891,"content":892},{"textAlign":49},[893],{"text":894,"type":580,"marks":895},"By Paul Harris",[896],{"type":897},"italic","Critical raw material supply is back on the agenda in the US as Lisa Murkowski introduced the American Mineral Security Act bill this year. Here, Paul Harris looks at the history and latest developments in US raw material security In May 2019, US Republican senator Lisa Murkowski introduced the American Mineral Security Act bill, which […]",[900],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":901},{"job_title":565,"image":902,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},{"filename":567},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"93839162-a01d-423b-bbce-0da42f3f0ac4\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[906,909],{"slug":907,"name":908},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":910,"name":911},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":624,"name":624,"focus":624,"title":624,"source":624,"filename":914,"copyright":624,"fieldtype":915,"meta_data":916,"is_external_url":51},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/98efa694a5/bm-istock-989624498-copy-1-e1571747808981.jpg","asset",{"alt":624,"title":624,"source":624,"copyright":624},"Oct 22, 2019","22nd October 2019",[],[],1792773942503]