- President Donald Trump signed an executive order addressing the mining of critical minerals and rare earth elements.
- Trump invoked the Defense Protection Act that would accelerate mining operations on public lands.
- The United States gets the majority of these critical minerals and elements from China, leading to nationwide security vulnerabilities.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump moved to unleash domestic mining for critical minerals and rare earth elements in the name of national security.
His order, among other things, directs the heads of multiple agencies, including the departments of Energy and Defense, to identify as many sites as possible on federal land managed by their respective agencies that may be suitable for leasing and for the construction and operation of private commercial mineral production operations.
“Our national and economic security are now acutely threatened by our reliance upon hostile foreign powers’ mineral production. It is imperative for our national security that the United States take immediate action to facilitate domestic mineral production to the maximum possible extent,” the order reads.
The action amplifies the increasing focus by Trump to expand domestic access to rare elements and critical minerals since his return to office.
He used the Defense Production Act, which was also a tool invoked under President Joe Biden, to increase production and approve mining operations, many of which are necessary for a clean energy transition.
Action both applauded and criticized
“Ramping up American mining is a national security imperative, and President Trump’s strong action recognizes that. By encouraging streamlined and transparent permitting processes, combined with financing support to counter foreign market manipulation, we can finally challenge China’s mineral extortion,” said Rich Nolan, president and chief executive officer of the National Mining Association.
“We applaud this strong action that confronts our mineral crisis head on and we look forward to working with the administration to ensure made in America increasingly means mined in America.”
Drew Horn, chief executive officer of GreenMet, said the order underscores the critical need to accelerate domestic mineral production, enhance national security, and reduce economic dependence on foreign sources.
“GreenMet has been at the forefront of supporting policies that increase collaboration between government and private businesses in the minerals and mining space. This executive order is an important step to unlocking U.S. resources, reducing reliance on critical minerals from our adversaries and strengthening our domestic mineral supply chain,” Horn said.
The order directs the government to streamline permitting processes, expedite approvals and prioritize domestic mineral development — all areas the company said it has been actively engaged in for years.
The problem with domestic access
China dominates global critical mineral supply chains, accounting for approximately 60% of worldwide production and 85% of processing capacity.
The U.S. Geological Survey points out that in 2024, the United States was 100% reliant on imports for 12 of the 50 minerals on the List of Critical Minerals, unchanged from 2023.
It added that the value of U.S. production of many of the metals required to make lithium-ion batteries used in phones, power tools and vehicles, such as cobalt, lithium and nickel, fell sharply by 40% to 60% from 2023 levels.
“The drop in value was caused by both the fall in prices and a resulting decrease in U.S. production. The largest decreases in metal production quantities, in descending order, were nickel, cobalt, platinum, palladium and cadmium. The reduction in prices caused some domestic mining projects to delay operations or stop processing material,” the agency said in a report.
Even before Trump took office, China banned the export to the United States of gallium, germanium, antimony and other “super hard” materials crucial to produce semiconductors and other tech. This was after last year’s action by the Biden administration on export controls of U.S. semiconductors — setting the stage for a political donnybrook over the materials.
While the United States needs these raw materials for power, utilities, transportation, housing, military and medical applications as well as manufacturing, it takes on average between seven and 10 years to secure a mining permit, one of the longest permitting time frames in the world, said the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration. In Canada and Australia, for example, the permitting period takes between two and three years.
“A typical U.S. mining project loses more than one third of its value as a result of bureaucratic delays in receiving the numerous permits needed to begin production,” according to a 2015 study cited by the group.
It added that such delays can lead to mining projects becoming financially unviable.
Conservation groups fear harm to federal lands
“Few things unite this country like the love of our public lands and the outdoors, but (Thursday) the administration opened yet another front in its efforts to sell these places off for development — this time to move mining projects forward at warp-speed for the good of international mining corporations,” said Ronni Flannery, senior staff attorney at The Wilderness Society.
“This executive order represents one of the most brazen attempts to expand mining on public lands in more than a century, in line with the administration’s push to privatize our shared public lands. And it could end up posing significant risks to lands, waters, wildlife and the communities that rely on them, both in the present day and for generations to come,” Flannery added.
“We all use minerals in our everyday lives, but there are more responsible ways to secure domestic supplies. Current law already provides few protections for wildlife, water and local communities. Steamrolling community concerns, stripping important protections and cutting safeguards, as this executive order proposes, would make matters even worse,” Flannery said.
The Center for Biological Diversity also weighed in.
“With this destructive order, Trump is slapping a giant ‘Free Stuff’ sign on America’s public lands,” said the group’s southwest director, Taylor McKinnon.
“Giving these beautiful places away to rich mining companies will contaminate water supplies, push imperiled animals like salmon and jaguars toward extinction, and transform our public lands into industrial wastelands. These cherished landscapes are part of every American’s natural heritage, and Trump has no right to just hand them over to giant mining corporations.”