The US Geological Survey (USGS) has released the final list of 50 critical minerals that the domestic economy requires for economic and national security.
Much of the increase in the new list results from splitting the rare earth elements and platinum group elements into individual entries rather than including them as ‘mineral groups.’
The 2022 list of critical minerals adds nickel and zinc while removing helium, potash, rhenium and strontium.
“Critical minerals play a significant role in our national security, economy, renewable energy development and infrastructure,” said Tanya Trujillo, assistant secretary of the interior for water and science.
“USGS data collection and analysis scans the horizon for emerging issues in crucial supply chains, and every three years identifies the nation’s current vulnerabilities to potential disruptions.”
The new list was created based on directives from the Energy Act of 2020, which indicates that at least every three years, the interior department must review and update the list of critical minerals.
The USGS is also tasked with updating the methodology used to identify potential critical minerals, take interagency feedback and public comment through the federal register, and ultimately finalize the list of critical minerals.
The USGS says the list is intended to be dynamic and is in no way final.
“Mineral criticality is not static but changes over time,” USGS national minerals information center director Steven Fortier in a media release.
“The 2022 list of critical minerals was created using the most recent available data for non-fuel mineral commodities. However, we’re always analyzing mineral markets and developing new methods to determine the various and evolving critical mineral supply chain risks.”
Biden set to tout US progress on critical minerals production
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday plans to tout progress by government and private industry to boost American production of minerals used to make electric vehicles, cell phones, weaponry and a range of related electronics, the White House said.
Washington has grown increasingly concerned that low US production of minerals essential for the construction of future technologies could leave it beholden to China and other nations that have heavily invested in mining.
That has sparked a range of attempts by Biden, as well as his predecessors, to boost US output of these strategic minerals while balancing opposition to mining from environmental and indigenous groups.
“Critical minerals provide the building blocks for many modern technologies and are essential to our national security and economic prosperity,” the White House said in a statement.
Pentagon plans
Biden will also announce that the Pentagon plans to boost its stockpile of strategic minerals, a development that Reuters reported last week.
Biden, who is navigating the US response to Russian aggression against Ukraine, is slated to hold a virtual event with industry and labor leaders, as well as California Governor Gavin Newsom, to discuss the issue.
Even as he works to boost US minerals production, the president has blocked several proposed US mines.
Biden himself has said little about why his administration has blocked some mines while touting the need to boost domestic production of critical minerals.
Value of battery metals in newly-sold EVs tops $1.5bn in single month
The EV Metal Index, which tracks the value of battery metals in newly registered passenger EVs (including full battery, plug-in and conventional hybrids) around the world, totaled $1.5 billion in December, an increase of 192% over the same month.
Year to date the index totals to $8.1 billion which means as much EV battery metal business was done in 2021 than the combined total of the preceding four years.
In fact, the value of battery metals deployed in December was more than all of 2017.
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