Interesting. Hopefully this flows on to the likes of NWC.The US...

Interesting. Hopefully this flows on to the likes of NWC.

The US Government has awarded fast-track status to a long-delayed copper mining project in Arizona owned by the world’s two biggest mining companies, Rio Tinto and BHP.

The Resolution Copper mine is among a list of 10 projects to be granted “Fast-41” status, according to a US Government press release issued late on Friday. Fast-41 was signed into law under former president Barack Obama to streamline approval processes.

In the statement on Friday, the Trump administration said the Act would reduce the country’s reliance on minerals from foreign nations.

The development comes as critical minerals become a central part of the growing trade war between Washington and Beijing.

China is the dominant producer of metals vital to the energy transition and in making strategic products such as fighter planes, nuclear rods, munitions, smartphones and electric vehicle batteries.

Resolution Copper, one of the largest deposits in the US of the key metal used in electrification, would be capable of supplying 25 per cent of annual domestic demand for the next four decades, Rio Tinto estimated.

Rio Tinto holds a controlling stake of the business with a 55 per cent slice, while BHP owns the remainder.