‘Make Permitting Work Again’ for domestic mining, infrastructure

The Trump administration has singled out the most crucial electrification metal, copper, as a focus of its domestic minerals policy. Last week, an executive order was released “addressing the threat to national security from imports of copper.”

The order states that the U.S. “faces significant vulnerabilities in the copper supply chain,” and that a “single foreign producer dominates global copper smelting and refining.” The Secretary of Commerce must investigate and submit a report within 270 days of the order about the effects on national security of imports of copper, the current and projected demand for copper in the U.S., the ability of domestic production to meet demand, the trade practices of other countries importing copper, and the feasibility of increasing domestic copper production.

The Associated Press reports on the executive order, quoting comments from Debra Struhsacker, who coauthored Mission Impossible with American Experiment:

Copper is at least as crucial as lithium and cobalt for rechargeable batteries and rare-earth elements for cellphones, LED lights and flat-screen TVs. Copper goes into the cords and transmission lines that plug gadgetry into power.

“Copper is, I think, the metal that is really the most critical because it is the electricity metal,” said Debra Struhsacker, a mining industry policy consultant for the Society of Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration. “The electricity demand is, I think, going to stay. And copper is indispensable for that.”

U.S. copper use, imports and exports have fluctuated somewhat over the past two decades, according to the Copper Development Association, but a dearth of smelting compared with the amount mined domestically has remained a consistent theme…

How much those numbers might change with rising copper demand to support construction of transmission lines and manufacturing of wind turbines and electric vehicles remains to be seen. Some predict global demand to double by 2030 and keep rising, notes the National Mining Association…

To Struhsacker, the industry consultant, lack of government coordination has stalled permits and stifled mine development. Trump’s executive orders recognize the need “to make permitting work again,” she said.

“Make Permitting Work Again” has a nice ring to it!