US must support permits to ensure mineral supply chain, electric future: Republicans

The US government must support permits for domestic mining and processing operations, rather than set up roadblocks for developers, if it intends to reach its electrification goals and ensure a regional supply of critical minerals, Republican US representatives said Jan. 12.

"It does not make sense that you want to have a policy for your country to want to go all electric or have alternative sources of energy, and you have critical minerals that are needed make that happen, yet you stop domestic mining," Peter Stauber of Minnesota said during a press conference hosted by Republican members of the US House Committee on Natural Resources and the Congressional Western Caucus.

Stauber said recent policies considered under the Biden administration are threatening the future of mining developments, such as the Twin Metals polymetallic mining project in Minnesota.

Twin Metals, a wholly owned subsidiary of miner Antofagasta, plans to mine copper, nickel, cobalt and platinum group metals at its namesake mine. Its two leases on the project are currently stalled due to litigation.

An October 2021 environmental study, conducted by the departments of Interior and Agriculture, paused the issuing of new mining leases on US federal land around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, which subsequently restricted development of the Twin Metals mine.

Bruce Westerman of Arizona, who also serves as the ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, said the issuance of permits for mineral processing will be just as important as it is for mining.

"We think of the mining, getting the ore out of the ground, but the other part to that which could be such a job creator here in the US is the further processing of those ores, and right now we can't do that," he said. "A lot of that has to be shipped to other places, and we need to be working on this to allow the permitting to develop these further processing facilities here in US."

As an example, Westerman said a project developer that is extracting lithium brine in Arizona must ship its concentrate out of the country for further processing.

"The process to permit new facilities in the US is so cumbersome that people just ship the ore and the raw materials to other places, and that's something that we have to address, especially if we want to produce all of these electrical components that are dependent upon these minerals and elements," he added. "We should be refining them here in the US."