17 OCTOBER 2025 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Mining Policies in the U.S. Need Reform Adapted from Information by Minerals Make Life The United States Geologic Survey released its Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025 report which indicates the United States was 100% reliant on foreign imports for 15 minerals in 2024. China, along with Canada, was the leading source of mineral commodities in 2024, with China dominating the global minerals market. One mineral in question is antimony. China has the bulk of the world’s identified antimony which is used to produce flame retardants, strengthen metals, and for munitions. Currently, the U.S. is 100% reliant on importing antimony since there are no active antimony mines in the U.S., but that may soon change. Perpetua Resources is close to bringing a mine online in Idaho, which could potentially supply approximately 35% of the country’s demand for the mineral in the first six years of production. Additional domestic resources have also been identified in Alaska, Montana, and Nevada. With the growing demand for new technologies such as artificial intelligence and electric vehicles, the demand for minerals continues to grow rapidly. Batteries and data centers demand large quantities of minerals such as lithium, copper, cobalt, and graphite. The U.S. is currently import reliant for all of these minerals, even though large domestic reserves are available. Other minerals which the United States is 100% import reliant on, like gallium, have also been discovered domestically, most recently in Montana in 2024. So why aren’t we using our resources? The short answer is the current policies for domestic mining need reform. Currently, there is significant red tape and no centralized government support for mining, which limits the ability to bring mines online to produce much-needed minerals. This is why the United States has the second longest lead times in the world for developing a new mine, behind Zambia. Bipartisan legislation, like the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, would help reduce the long, complicated, and costly process for developing domestic mining projects. Concerns over control of the global minerals market stretch beyond the economic consequences and into national security. At the Naval War College earlier this year, Adam Burstein, the Technical Director for Strategic and Critical Materials in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy said, “It is more urgent than ever to build capability and resilience in supply chains for critical minerals.” Virtually every Department of Defense system relies on minerals for production. Relying so heavily on imported minerals makes the country highly vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. While preventative measures, such as stockpiling minerals, may soften the blow of potential disruptions to the supply chain, they are more of a quick fix for the problem rather than a long-term solution. Passing commonsense legislation would allow us to tap into the ample supply of minerals like cobalt, nickel, copper, and lithium that can be found within the United States. It would also help speed up the opening and production of sites like the Halleck Creek Project in Wyoming, which holds the potential to be among the largest rare earth deposits in the U.S. and reduce our reliance on inports. We simply cannot afford to wait because minerals like these are essential to securing a safe and prosperous future for all Americans. Perpetua Resources’ Stibnite Gold Project is located in the abandoned Stibnite Mining District near Yellow Pine, Idaho. Photo courtesy of Perpetua Resources. MIN
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDk4Mzk=