A ripper 2018 is coming, page-117

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Cobalt
Sweeping Trump order set to bolster US mining companies
Lithium explorers to be among main beneficiaries of shift away from commodity imports

Manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles such as the Tesla Model S requires large supplies of cobalt and lithium

December 21, 2017 4:18 pm by Henry Sanderson
President Donald Trump has called for an end to US reliance on foreign sources of “critical minerals” such as battery metals lithium and cobalt, in a sweeping move that could be a boon to domestic mining companies.

The US should boost domestic exploration, production and recycling of critical minerals as well as support efforts to identify technological alternatives, Mr Trump said in an executive order late on Wednesday.

“This dependency of the United States on foreign sources creates a strategic vulnerability for both its economy and military to adverse foreign government action, natural disaster and other events that can disrupt supply of these key minerals,” Mr Trump said.


The order could ease the path for US mining projects in minerals from cobalt and lithium, to rare earths used in magnets for wind turbines and electric car batteries. The US will identify new sources of critical minerals and increase activity “at all levels of the supply chain,” from mining to reprocessing.

Junior mining companies are exploring for lithium in Nevada and North Carolina, while a Chinese-led consortium is looking to restart the US’s largest rare earths mine in California as demand increases for electric cars and renewable energy such as wind and solar.

The US produces a “negligible amount” of cobalt as a byproduct, according to the US Geological Survey. It also has only about 2.5 per cent of global cobalt resources, it said.

The executive order could be used as a pretext to scrap environmental regulations that have held back mining projects, David Abraham, author of The Elements of Power, a book about critical minerals, said.

“It will invigorate mining companies,” Mr Abraham said. “The big problem is not finding the financing but the slow pace of permitting. What you’ll see is every junior mining company asking if their material is listed in the report and can they get help from the US government.”

A list of critical minerals will be published in the US Federal Register within 60 days, the executive order said. It was accompanied by a 862-page report from the Department of the Interior and the US Geological Survey that highlighted 23 critical minerals, including cobalt, lithium, graphite, rare earth elements, vanadium and manganese.

The minerals were chosen based on “risks to their supply” and the impact of potential supply restrictions, the USGS said. They are all critical to a “broad range of existing and emerging technologies, renewable energy, and national security,” it said.

The executive order does not mention China by name, but the country is dominant in producing and processing rare earths, a group of 17 elements used in smartphones and some weapons systems. A move by China to cut rare earth exports in 2010 led to widespread fears about US vulnerability.

China also dominates the refining of cobalt, over half of which comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“As both a former military commander and geologist, I know the very real national security risk of relying on foreign nations for the military’s needs to keep our soldiers and our homeland safe,” US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said.

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