US takes next steps in domestic mining expansion with feasibility surveys and projects

The U.S. government has progressed to the next stage of its plans to strengthen domestic supply chains, as described in the annual United States Geological Survey Mineral Commodity Summaries.¹

The USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries report spotlights events, trends, and issues from the past year in the nonfuel mineral industry. Every August, the ACerS Bulletin shares some of the key facts covered in the report, including statistics on production, supply, and overall market for more than 90 minerals and raw materials.

In 2023, the total value of nonfuel mineral production in the United States was estimated to be $105 billion, an increase of 4% from $101 billion in 2022. The total value of industrial minerals production was $69.9 billion, an increase of 7% from 2022. Of this total, $35.2 billion came from construction aggregates production. Crushed stone accounted for the largest share of total U.S. nonfuel mineral production value in 2023 with 23%.

Operational issues, reduced ore grades, and weather-related issues caused a decrease in production for the metals sector. On the flip side, increased demand for aggregates caused an increase in production value for the industrial minerals sector.

Following two years of focused efforts to update the U.S. Geological Survey’s critical minerals list and establish funding avenues to support an expansion of the domestic mining sector, the U.S. government has now started investing in numerous mineral exploration and feasibility surveys and nascent mining projects.

For example, in February 2023, the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative launched the “National Map of Focus Areas for Potential Critical Mineral Resources in the United States,” which outlines focus areas of mineral systems and their deposits around the country. Throughout 2023, the U.S. government invested $22.3 million across Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, New York, and Utah to map resources of critical minerals in those states.

Meanwhile, regarding mining projects, in July 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy announced $32 million in funding to support the construction of facilities that produce rare earth minerals and other critical metals to help alleviate reliance on international sources.²

Notably, in November 2023, production was restarted at a high-purity granular polysilicon facility in Washington state, which had not been active in four years. The material produced here will then go to a facility in Georgia that produces silicon ingots, wafers, and cells for solar module production. Solar-grade wafers have not been produced in the U.S. since 2016, so this effort should also help alleviate reliance on foreign sources.

It will take several years to reap the benefits from the projects described above, so for now, the U.S. remains reliant on foreign sources for raw and processed mineral materials. In 2023, the U.S. was 100% net import reliant for 12 of the 50 individually listed critical materials and was more than 50% net import reliant for an additional 29 mineral commodities.

As in 2022, recycling provided the only source of domestic supply for antimony, bismuth, chromium, germanium, tin, tungsten, and vanadium. In 2023, the consumption of many mineral commodities decreased compared to the previous year.

With these programs and initiatives in place to help bolster domestic production, the U.S. government is now taking a more direct stance in its trade war against China. In May 2024, the U.S. announced new Section 301 import tariffs, including one on rare earth magnets.³ This tariff is the first time that a Section 301 import tariff has been imposed on rare earth materials since the U.S.–China trade and technology war began in 2018.

These tariffs may be a boon for Wyoming, which hosts a plentiful supply of rare earth minerals. Several rare earth minerals companies are already operating in the state, and these tariffs provide them the opportunity to penetrate the rare earths market and regain equal footing with suppliers in China.⁴

On the next two pages, a table summarizes some of the salient statistics and trends for a handful of mineral commodities that are of particular interest in the ceramic and glass industries.

Access the complete USGS report at https://doi.org/10.3133/mcs2024.