John M. Clema
Civilization’s
progress has always been heavily dependent on farming and mining. The Stone Age
didn’t end because mankind ran out of stones.
Instead,
the discovery, mining and processing of metals like copper, bronze and iron,
followed by the development of steel, led to progressively sharper, more
effective tools, improved construction techniques, and other engineering and technological
achievements. Nonmetallic minerals have also been and remain vital to
civilization and progress.
Minerals
– or their scarcity – have precipitated wars, but more often have led to
certain countries becoming dominant in manufacturing vital products such as
computer chips.
Factors
that first influence mining feasibility include the grade of the ore, its location
and access to the deposit. Low grades that may have made mining initially less
feasible may become feasible over time as prices for those particular minerals increase.
Until
the last few decades, mining in the United States was not only considered
necessary, but was supported as an honorable effort by hardworking men and
women who risked their lives to extract the ores. As attitudes about mining and
miners changed, potential mineralized areas were increasingly made off limits
to mining – even before any effort was made to evaluate mineral prospects.
Refusing
to assess an area’s mineral potential and alternate uses is foolish and contrary
to sound public policy. It makes valuable resources inaccessible to industries
and societies that need them for vitally important technologies, job creation,
government tax and royalty revenues, national security and modern living
standards. Shunning our mineral wealth forces America to import minerals from countries
that pay far less attention to environmental safeguards and worker safety
standards than we do.
For example,
to protect forests from exaggerated mining risks, Montana has failed to
commission a reasonably sized mine for over 30 years. During the same period,
its ideology-based land management practices resulted in tens of millions of
acres of timberland and wildlife habitats burning, scarce topsoil washing away,
and many rivers, streams and lakes being polluted. While millions of acres of Montana
forest burn every year, America purchases timber and lumber from Canada.
The
defunding and closure of the US Bureau of Mines, increasing restrictions on
patenting mining claims, and unnecessarily burdensome regulations on already
patented claims have crippled the nation’s hardrock mining industry. Meanwhile,
other government agencies (such as the US Forest Service) acquired broad
environmental mandates and hired personnel who oppose mining and have blocked new
exploration and mining permits.
Many
experts believe we are in an economic war with China, and various activist
groups, legislators, regulators and judges support this for their own
individual reasons. Requirements for rare earth and other critical metals are
likely one of the significant factors leading to American companies like Apple
moving their manufacturing to China.
Today
the United States produces only about 40% of the copper and other metals that our
industries require. Scarce and rare metals are generally found in smaller
deposits that require underground operations that are of little interest to large
mining companies but could be profitably mined in America, especially Alaska
and our western states.
For
instance, the Chinese currently control 80% of global tungsten mining and
marketing. The USA has no active mines for this essential metal, which has the
highest melting point and tensile strength of any metal. It is used in
high-speed cutting tools, wear-resistant super-alloy coatings, cell phones,
amour-piercing bullets, metallic skins on hypersonic
weapons, and
many other applications.
A
mining consortium that I was involved with made a major tungsten discovery back
in the 1970s in Montana. Data from drilling cores was excellent but was lost
when the company closed. For more than eight years we have been trying to get a
permit to redrill this site – but constantly changing rules and decisions have prevented
us from moving forward. For example:
1) Federal
Land is administered by different agencies operating under conflicting rules
that are interpreted by officials who have no mining experience or interest in exploration
and mining projects that would enable the United States to compete better with
countries like China.
Reconstituting
a Bureau of Mines with uniform rules that apply throughout the country,
overseen by people with knowledge of the mining industry, would help overcome
these problems.
2)
Mining claims currently require yearly fees, while awaiting a Permit for Land
Disturbance from government agencies. The process can drag on for years.
A
time limit should be set for the government to grant a permit. While mine development
is progressing, yearly fees should be abated unless progress is halted or other
unforeseen developments occur. Mine development should generate yearly reports
to the Bureau that should be stored as part of the information on the
particular site. Once a discovery has been established, the claim should be patented
to establish firm ownership and royalties based on production.
3)
If a mining project is abandoned, vital mine and ore body data are frequently
lost, and getting mining underway again by a new operator can be stymied for
years.
In
such cases, previous rights to the claim should be forfeited; regulations
should require that data generated by the mining project be turned over to the
US Geological Survey and/or new Bureau of Mines, so that it is not lost and is stored
for potential future projects; and new permits should be issued in a timely
manner under guidelines just suggested.
4) Federal
and state government agencies have largely prevented the discovery and
development of rare earth and other critical minerals resources, by limiting
access to potential sites.
Instead,
efforts to find, mine and process vital minerals should be supported and encouraged
by people who have adequate knowledge and backgrounds to understand the
importance of such deposits and how companies today can conduct all needed operations
in ways that protect wildlife habitats and air and water quality. Establishing a
new Bureau of Mines with a staff that includes miners and engineers would be an
important first step.
Only
by making these changes can lawmakers and regulators help ensure the
independence and future success of the United States, its defense and
high-technology industries, and its security – in the face of growing
dependence on foreign sources for the vast majority of its critical minerals.
With increasingly powerful countries like Russia and China supplying many of
those minerals, and forming strategic alliances, American mineral independence is
more vital now than ever.
John Clema is a professional geologist with decades of experience
in mining.
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