The six prospective additions to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Critical Minerals List are vital “commodities” that domestic manufacturers—including in defense industries—are import-reliant on today, but won’t have access to in the future without dramatic boosts now in mining and refining investment, analysts and industry groups warn.
Copper, silver, potash, silicon, rhenium, and lead are recommended by the department’s U.S. Geological Survey for inclusion on the list, posted in the Federal Register on Aug. 26 for a 30-day public comment period before adoption by year’s end.
Arsenic and tellurium, included in the Survey’s 2022 Critical Minerals List, are recommended for removal, bringing to 54 the number of critical minerals, defined in the Energy Act of 2020 as “essential to the U.S. economy or national security, with a supply chain vulnerable to disruption, and without which the absence would have significant consequences.” …