The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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In addition to dealing a major blow to the economy, the COVID-19 pandemic has shined a spotlight on a chink in the United States' economic and security armor – an overreliance on foreign countries for the minerals and metals that lie at the frontend of American supply chains. "The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how delicate our supply chains are and that should be a wakeup call for all of us," Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources Chair Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said d...
When it comes to criticality, not all critical minerals are equal. To sort out the hierarchy of these mined materials, the United States Geological Survey has developed a powerful new tool that helps identify which mineral commodities needed by America's manufacturing sector are most at risk to supply disruptions. "This methodology is an important part of how we're meeting our goals in the President Trump's strategy to ensure a reliable supply of critical minerals," said USGS...
Wind turbines, solar panels and the batteries that store the electricity these renewable energy sources generate are creating new demands for an array of minerals and metals, many of which are not mined in the United States. Recognizing that mines lie at the front end of America's expanding renewable energy supply chains, federal officials have voted to make mining projects eligible for Fast-41, a program established in 2015 to improve the timeliness, predictability, and...
A pair of Texas congressmen, Republican Lance Gooden and Democrat Vicente Gonzalez have introduced the Reclaiming American Rare Earths Act, bipartisan legislation aimed at reducing America's dependence on China for rare earth elements and other minerals critical to the United States. The U.S. depends on foreign countries for more than 50% of its supply of 28 of the 35 minerals deemed critical to America's economic and national security, including 100% import-reliant for 14 of...
Answering the Biden administration's call for industry input on the risks to battery supply chains in the United States, American Battery Metals Corp. said accelerating lithium-ion battery recycling and next-generation extraction technologies is one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly ways to increase the supply of the battery-grade nickel, cobalt, lithium, and other materials needed for the transition to electric vehicles. "Unlike fossil fuels, elemental...
Critical materials experts from the University of Birmingham are urging the United Kingdom to take quick action to ensure Britain has a stable supply of technology-critical metals essential for its transition to clean energy. "Our ability to deliver on our international commitments will doubtless be enabled or constrained by our access to the technology-critical metals that underpin the clean energy transition," said Sir John Beddington, chief scientific adviser to the UK...
The U.S. Department of Energy March 18 announced $30 million in funding to support scientific research of domestic supplies of the critical minerals and metals needed to produce clean energy technologies. Under the Biden administration, and following an executive order signed in February requiring greater coordination among federal agencies on supply chain issues, the Department of Energy has prompted possible funding toward national laboratories, universities, industry, and...
With the current global shift toward sustainability, organizations, cities, and even countries are priming themselves to embrace the change. In particular, Canada's Ontario has unveiled plans to develop its first-ever critical minerals strategy and has already made good headway to set the province as a focal point for delivering valuable materials to the entire world. "By developing this strategy, we will strengthen Ontario's position as one of North America's premier...
Canada thinks about critical minerals differently than the United States and European Union. While its Western counterparts have put together shopping lists of the critical raw materials that are in high demand by technologies important to their economic and security interests, but supplies may not be readily available, Canada's newly released list is more akin to a catalog of 31 critical minerals and metals it has in stock to meet the global needs of a world transitioning to...
The American clean energy revolution envisioned by the Biden administration is going to require a massive supply chain upgrade – from the mines feeding rare earths, battery metals and other materials into the front end, to the manufacturers that will utilize these mined materials to build the electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure needed for a low-carbon future. In a move that demonstrates the newly elected administration's hopes that a transition to l...
Understanding that diverse and reliable supplies of critical minerals and metals are vital to the renewable energy, electric vehicles, and high-tech sectors, the European Union has set in motion a plan for more resilient supplies of these raw materials that will ensure Europe's ambition for a green and digital future. "We import lithium for electric cars, platinum to produce clean hydrogen, silicon metal for solar panels. 98% of the rare earth elements we need come from a sing...
The United States depends on foreign countries for more than 50% of its supply of 28 out of the 35 minerals, metals and groups of elements deemed critical to the nation's economic wellbeing and national security, including 100% import-reliant for 14 of them, according to Mineral Commodity Summaries 2021, which was published by the U.S. Geological Survey on Feb. 1. The list of critical mined commodities for which the U.S. is fully reliant on foreign nations for its supply...
With graphite being a vital ingredient in the lithium-ion batteries storing clean but intermittent wind and solar energy, as well as powering the burgeoning electric vehicle sector, the U.S. Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC) has designated Graphite Creek as a high-priority infrastructure project. This designation means the world-class graphite project in western Alaska qualifies for Fast-41 – short for Title 41 of the Fixing America's Surface T...
The $740.5 billion National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 passed by Congress last week instructs the Pentagon to secure domestic and allied sources of strategic minerals and metals. "The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the striking vulnerabilities and gaps in our domestic supply chains, and the need to invest in critical mineral manufacturing and processing has taken on a new urgency," said Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who authored two amendments addressing...
President Donald Trump has declared America's heavy reliance on adversarial nations for critical minerals a national emergency that threatens the security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. The President made this emergency declaration in the Sept. 30 "Executive order on addressing the threat to the domestic supply chain from reliance on critical minerals from foreign adversaries." Trump says, "a strong America cannot be dependent on imports from foreign advers...
The European Union is taking action to ensure it has the critical minerals and metals needed for the coming "transition towards a green and digital economy" over the coming decades. "A secure and sustainable supply of raw materials is a prerequisite for a resilient economy," said European Commission Vice President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight Maroš Šefčovič. Since 2011, the European Commission has been assembling a list of raw materials, predominately min...
Recycling metals from spent lithium-ion batteries and rare earths from outmoded computers play a vital role in the United States reclaiming its critical mineral independence, according to Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. "Until our country can start mining and refining more of these materials or develop commercially viable substitutes, we must recycle as much critical mineral and REE content as we can from existing products," Brouillette penned in an editorial recently...
House Republicans have introduced legislation aimed at breaking the United States' dependence on foreign countries such as China for the minerals and metals critical to high-tech, renewable energy and other sectors of America's economy. Introduced by U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) and U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), the American Critical Mineral Exploration and Innovation Act of 2020 includes mine permitting reform, advanced critical minerals development strategies and...
The American Energy Innovations Act, legislation hailed as Congress' best chance to modernize the nation's energy policies in more than 12 years, bogged down in the U.S. Senate in early March after a dispute erupted among several lawmakers over an amendment aimed at limiting hydrofluorocarbons emissions from home appliances. The legislation, introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and ranking committee member...
The United States depends on foreign countries for more than 50 percent of its supply of 31 minerals considered critical to the nation's economic wellbeing and national security, including 100 percent import-reliant for 14 of them, according to Mineral Commodity Summaries 2020, a recent U.S. Geological Survey report. The list of mined commodities for which the U.S. is fully reliant on foreign nations for its supply is littered with high-tech minerals and metals needed for rene...
Scientists are urging world governments to get out in front of the skyrocketing demand for the minerals and metals that are going to be needed for solar, wind and other green energy initiatives in the coming years – whether they come from terrestrial or extraterrestrial sources. According to a research report from the University of Sussex, the amount of cobalt, copper, lithium, cadmium and rare earth elements needed for solar panels, wind turbines, rechargeable batteries, e...
