U.S. can't rely on China for mining needs

Rare earth minerals are more abundant than their name suggests.

Mineral-rich deposits are scattered around the United States, but our country has only one rare earth mine, in Mountain Pass, Calif. There are other potential mineable deposits, but they are many years away from starting production.

To meet our increasing need for rare earths, we rely on imports, mainly from China -- and that’s boneheaded given the brittleness of U.S.-China relations and our own resources.

U.S. policymakers are well aware of the peril to our national security and economy from our heavy reliance on China’s minerals. This danger was underscored last month when China banned the export of technologies used in the mining and processing of rare earths.

Earlier, China cut off exports of gallium and germanium, which are used to produce semiconductor chips. And it also banned exports of graphite, a key metal needed for EV batteries and the storage of wind and solar power in our nation’s electricity transmission system.

Let’s be on the level. We can pay no attention to all the danger signs until assembly lines slow down and companies stop producing batteries for weapons systems, reindustrialization, and clean energy technologies. Or we can try to act with a sense of urgency and do something about preventing a shortage of rare earths and other critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel.

Now is the time to ask: What are the most useful things the government can do to reduce our dependence on China and bolster our mineral security?

To the Biden Administration’s credit, in 2022 it signed into law a climate measure that includes provisions aimed at shortening the government’s labyrinthine permitting process. But the Administration has yet to implement the changes. It has adopted an “anywhere but China” policy, taking steps to help finance the construction of new mines in friendly countries overseas but doing nothing to meet the acute need for more mines in the United States.

It’s nonsensical that mining companies must wait 20 years on average from the time an idea for a new mine is floated to first production. Mining in the United States is not the problem; it is the best answer to dependence on China.

Jim Constantopoulos is a geology professor at Eastern New Mexico University. Contact him at:

[email protected]