Critical Mineral Mining

Rise Up

Since 2018, the United States has expanded its list of critical minerals from 35 to 50 as supply chains have become increasingly concentrated to fewer countries and the needs for minerals in industrial and consumer products have increased. Beginning in 2022, the Biden Administration began making serious federal policy moves to secure critical mineral supply chains by invoking the Defense Production Act and passing sweeping legislation to increase domestic production of minerals used to develop batteries for electric vehicles and other energy storage applications. The move signaled a recognition that without securing critical mineral supply chains, the US would not be able to compete in emerging energy technology markets and we would not be able to meet electrification and decarbonization goals.

To many in the domestic mining industry, the move was a surprising turn of favor, and all indications are that the change in federal priority is not temporary. It is a result of geopolitical trends that are challenging global supply chains for critical minerals and domestic energy priorities that increase critical mineral demand. The context is that we are in a global race for the future of energy, making the capacity for critical mineral extraction, refining, and clean tech manufacturing in today’s economy equivalent to the historic development of petroleum extraction and refining capacity.

To further explore the potential of domestic mining and refining of critical minerals and discuss the challenges, we talked to two experts working in the Midwest. We first talked with Dr. Snehamoy Chatterjee, associate professor of geological and mining engineering and sciences at Michigan Tech about the mining process, domestic needs, and mining innovations. And we talked with Dr. Al Gedicks, emeritus professor at UW- La Crosse about the historic and current challenges facing sulfide mining in the Midwest.

Host: Nick Hylla, MREA Executive Director

Guests: Dr. Snehamoy Chatterjee, Associate Professor, Geological & Mining Engineering & Sciences, Michigan Technological University, and Al Gedicks, Emeritus Professor of environmental sociology, UW – La Crosse

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Show notes –

0:20 – Critical Mineral needs for an energy transition

4:28 – Domestic mineral requirements in recent federal legislation

10:17 -Expanding existing mining operations

11:50 – Minerals required to pursue electrification

14:11 – China's dominance of mineral processing

15:53 – Mining methods and processes

20:48 – Mining vs mineral processing

23:49 – Workforce and other needs of the mining industry

29:00 – Feasibility of fully domestic mineral supply chains

31:53 – Discovery vs. Exploration

33:50 – Timeline from permitting to start of mining operation

36:06 – Steps to approach mining successfully

39:15 – Metallic sulfide mining and tribal communities

43:20 – Material processing in metallic sulfide mining

52:30 – Process to develop a mine in Wisconsin

57:15 – Community concerns surrounding mining operations

1:01:00 – Mining operations’ impact on communities

1:06:12 - Boom and Bust nature of mining operations

1:07:38 – Optimal locations to pursue mineral extraction and next steps

1:16:12 - The psychology of inevitability

Get Connected:

• UW - La Crosse: https://www.uwlax.edu/
• Michigan Technological University: https://www.mtu.edu/
• The Energy Fair: https://www.theenergyfair.org
• MREA: https://www.midwestrenew.org