Last week, US President Donald Trump signed a new executive order in front of the press. It aims to strengthen domestic mining and particularly accelerate the extraction and processing of minerals classified as critical. The executive order prioritizes the production of gold, uranium, copper, potassium, and other minerals identified as especially important and critical by the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC).
An important starting point for future extraction of urgently needed raw materials in the country is the approval process. These have always been quite lengthy in the mining sector and have become significantly longer over the last twenty years. At this point, the new US administration hopes to bring new projects into production faster and eliminate existing bottlenecks more quickly by streamlining the procedures.
The initiative signed by Donald Trump therefore requires the involved authorities to submit a list of all mineral production projects in their area of responsibility within ten days. Subsequently, the projects classified as priority must be identified and named, which can be immediately approved or authorized within another ten days.
The decree uses the Defense Production Act to accelerate the leasing and development of federal property. The Department of the Interior is tasked with prioritizing mineral extraction on federal lands and designating mining as the primary use in areas with known mineral deposits.
In doing so, the department has the option to modify existing land use plans to adapt them to the prioritization made. This is intended to ensure that mining activities take precedence over other potential uses.
National Security Moves to the Forefront
The decree signed by Donald Trump positions critical minerals as a national security requirement and makes clear that the US government’s goal is to reduce dependence on foreign imports, especially from China. To achieve this goal and support the mining industry, the Secretary of Defense has been tasked with defining the production of critical minerals as a priority area for developing industrial capabilities in the USA.
Financial support is also being provided for companies in the mining sector. It is provided through the Defense Production Act and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Additionally, the Export-Import Bank is involved in securing offtake agreements for US projects, further strengthening the financial basis for these initiatives.
The tight schedule shows how serious the US President is about implementing his plans. The involved US agencies must submit their project lists within the first ten days, followed by the identification of priority projects within the next ten days. These are extremely short time windows provided for processing the tasks. For the future, the US government plans to announce which mineral-rich states will be prioritized, potentially opening up new areas for mining.
A Mixed Response
The National Mining Association and some think tanks welcomed the executive order signed by Donald Trump as a step in the right direction, highlighting that the strong dependence of the USA on foreign minerals could be reduced in the future through the initiated steps.
In contrast, environmental groups and some local communities expressed concerns, fearing that the order could lead to increased environmental pollution and threaten endangered animal and plant species. Protected landscapes and national monuments could also be affected. Some local communities are also concerned about the impact the new regulation could have on waterways and sacred tribal areas of indigenous people. They are therefore already preparing legal action.
One of the biggest advantages of the new regulation in the long term is likely to be that it sharpens the senses of all involved. Until now, raw materials and a secure supply of them were taken for granted by many people. Neither was it asked where the ores and minerals come from, nor did anyone think about how secure this supply is in the future or even in a conflict situation.
This naivety, not only of the USA but of the entire West, has been exploited by countries like China and Russia in the past for their own interests. Now politicians, businesses, and the population are slowly waking up.
