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Critical Minerals Committee-EMD

According to the USGS, critical minerals are non-fuel minerals or mineral materials that are essential to the economic and national security of the United States, that has a supply chain vulnerable to disruption, and that serves an essential function in the manufacturing of a product, the absence of which would have significant consequences for the economy or national security. Most developed nations maintain a critical minerals list, including the US, Europe Union, Canada, and Australia, where in many cases they all share a common reliance on China for the raw materials necessary to support a thriving technology-driven 21st century economy. In particular, these include the minerals (elements) vital to aerospace/defense and energy storage technologies like rare earth elements, graphite, lithium, cobalt, and vanadium. Our committee is interested in the professional opportunities this emerging industry presents to our organization, specially those related to the rapidly growing green energy market.

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Ashley S.B. Douds

Chair 2022-2025 IGWS

Critical Minerals for Energy Storage

Commodity	Mining	Processing	2050 vs 2017 Demand
Graphite	China, Mozambique	China	383%
Lithium	Australia, Chile	China	965%
Cobalt	DRC (Congo)	China	585%
Vanadium	China	China	173%

Source: USGS and Sovacool et al. (2020)

Timeline of Recent Critical Mineral Developments in the US:

November 2017 – USGS provides first complete updated report of strategic minerals in the US since 1973, Critical Mineral Resources of the United States: Economic and Environmental Geology and Prospects for Future Supply
December 2017 - Presidential Executive Order (EO) No. 13817, “A Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals,” the Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, and in consultation with the heads of other relevant executive departments and agencies, was tasked with developing and submitting a draft list of minerals defined as “critical minerals” to the Federal Register within 60 days of the issue of the EO (December 20, 2017).
February 2018 – Draft Critical Minerals list is presented by the USGS.
May 2018 – Final Critical Minerals list is presented by USGS
May 2019 – American Minerals Security Act is introduced by Senator Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)
June 2019 – US Department of Commerce releases “A Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals”
July 2019 - RE-Coop 21st Century Manufacturing Act introduced by Senator Rubio (Florida)
July 2019 – President Trump made an official determination under Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 that domestic production, separation and manufacturing of rare earths is "essential to the national defense" of the US. Title 3 of the Defense Production Act allows a U.S. President to incentivize the domestic industrial base with the goal of expanding the production and supply of critical materials and goods.