Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals

The Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals is a national sectoral strategy of the United States of America. Its main objective is to improve the ability of the advanced technology, industrial, and defense manufacturing sectors that use critical minerals to adapt to emerging mineral criticality issues; reduce risks for American businesses that rely on critical minerals; create a favorable U.S. business climate for production facilities at different stages of critical mineral supply chains; and support the economic security and national defense of the United States; all of which will reduce the Nation’s vulnerability to critical mineral supply disruptions.
More specifically, it aims to (1) Advance Transformational Research, Development, and Deployment Across Critical Mineral Supply Chains: Assesses progress toward developing critical minerals recycling and reprocessing technologies, technological alternatives to critical minerals, source diversification, and improving processes for critical mineral extraction, separation, purification, and alloying; (2) Strengthen America’s Critical Mineral Supply Chains and Defense Industrial Base: Discusses ways to improve critical mineral supply chains, which could help reduce risks to U.S. supply by increasing domestic critical mineral resource development, building robust downstream manufacturing capabilities, and ensuring sufficient productive capacity; (3) Enhance International Trade and Cooperation Related to Critical Minerals: Identifies options for accessing and developing critical minerals through investment and trade with America’s allies, discusses areas for international collaboration and cooperation, and ensures robust enforcement of U.S. trade laws and international agreements that help address adverse impacts of market-distorting foreign trade conduct; (4) Improve Understanding of Domestic Critical Mineral Resources: Provides a plan to: improve and publicize the topographical, geological, geophysical, and bathymetrical mapping of the United States; support mineral information collection and analysis of commodity-specific mitigation strategies; focus and prioritize interagency efforts; and conduct critical mineral resource assessments to support domestic mineral exploration and development of conventional sources (minerals obtained directly through mining an ore), secondary sources (recycled materials, post-industrial, and post-consumer materials), and unconventional sources (minerals obtained from sources such as mine tailings, coal byproducts, extraction from seawater, and geothermal brines) of critical minerals; (5) Improve Access to Domestic Critical Mineral Resources on Federal Lands and Reduce Federal Permitting Timeframes: Provides recommendations to streamline permitting and review processes related to developing mining claims or leases and enhancing access to domestic critical mineral resources; and (6) Grow the American Critical Minerals Workforce: Discusses the activities related to critical minerals needed to develop and maintain a strong domestic workforce to foster a robust domestic industrial base.