raw materials strategy and priorities

Incentives are applied usually through tax credits to spur private investment in particular areas of interest:→ Direct government investment is rare; incentives for investing in development and new technologies is of-ten driven through tax policy.

Free market response to raw material needs:→ Post Cold-War policy has been to allow the free mar-ket to drive the means and methods of raw material acquisition.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

International Raw Materials Observatory intraw.eu I observatory@intraw.eu I Twitter: @intrawobs

Raw Materials Strategy and Priorities

Best practice, challenges and recommendations from the benchmarking of five reference countries

The U.S. has substantial natural resource endowment enabled pro-duction of a large range of minerals:→ The United States has a wide range of mineral and energy re-sources, many of which became accessible during the peak of industrialisation.

Commodity Percent Major import sources (2013–16)2

ARSENIC (trioxide) 100 Morocco, China, BelgiumASBESTOS 100 Brazil, RussiaCESIUM 100 CanadaFLUORSPAR 100 Mexico, China, South Africa, VietnamGALLIUM 100 China, Germany, United Kingdom, UkraineGRAPHITE (natural) 100 China, Mexico, Canada, BrazilINDIUM 100 Canada, China, France, Republic of KoreaMANGANESE 100 South Africa, Gabon, Australia, GeorgiaMICA, sheet (natural) 100 China, Brazil, Belgium, AustriaNEPHELINE SYENITE 100 CanadaNIOBIUM (columbium) 100 Brazil, Canada, RussiaQUARTZ CRYSTAL (industrial) 100 China, Japan, Romania, United KingdomRARE EARTHS 100 China, Estonia, France, JapanRUBIDIUM 100 CanadaSCANDIUM 100 ChinaSTRONTIUM 100 Mexico, Germany, ChinaTANTALUM 100 Brazil, Rwanda, Australia, CanadaTHALLIUM 100 Russia, GermanyTHORIUM 100 India, United KingdomVANADIUM 100 Czechia, Austria, Canada, Republic of KoreaYTTRIUM 100 China, Estonia, Japan, GermanyGEMSTONES 99 Israel, India, Belgium, South AfricaBISMUTH 96 China, Belgium, PeruPOTASH 92 Canada, Russia, Israel, ChileTITANIUM MINERAL CONCENTRATES 91 South Africa, Australia, Canada, MozambiqueANTIMONY (oxide) 85 China, Belgium, BoliviaZINC 85 Canada, Mexico, Peru, AustraliaSTONE, dimension 83 China, Brazil, Italy, TurkeyRHENIUM 80 Chile, Belgium, Germany, PolandABRASIVES, fused aluminum oxide (crude) >75 China, Canada, FranceABRASIVES, silicon carbide (crude) >75 China, Netherlands, South Africa, RomaniaBARITE >75 China, India, Mexico, MoroccoBAUXITE >75 Jamaica, Brazil, Guinea, GuyanaTELLURIUM >75 Canada, China, Belgium, PhilippinesTIN 75 Peru, Indonesia, Malaysia, BoliviaCOBALT 72 Norway, China, Japan, FinlandPEAT 71 Canada DIAMOND (dust, grit, and powder) 70 China, Ireland, Russia, RomaniaCHROMIUM 69 South Africa, Kazakhstan, RussiaPLATINUM 68 South Africa, Germany, United Kingdom, RussiaSILVER 62 Mexico, Canada, Peru, PolandALUMINUM 61 Canada, Russia, United Arab Emirates, ChinaNICKEL 59 Canada, Norway, Australia, RussiaTITANIUM (sponge) 53 Japan, China, Kazakhstan, UkraineGERMANIUM >50 China, Belgium, Russia, GermanyIODINE >50 Chile, JapanIRON OXIDE PIGMENTS (natural) >50 Cyprus, Spain, France, AustriaIRON OXIDE PIGMENTS (synthetic) >50 China, Germany, Canada, BrazilLITHIUM >50 Chile, Argentina, ChinaTUNGSTEN >50 China, Canada, Bolivia, GermanyBROMINE <50 Israel, China, JordanZIRCONIUM MINERAL CONCENTRATES <50 South Africa, Australia, SenegalZIRCONIUM <50 China, Germany, JapanMAGNESIUM COMPOUNDS 47 China, Canada, Australia, BrazilGARNET (industrial) 46 Australia, India, South Africa, ChinaPALLADIUM 45 South Africa, Russia, Italy, United KingdomMICA, scrap and flake (natural) 42 Canada, China, India, FinlandLEAD 40 Canada, Republic of Korea, Mexico, IndiaALUMINA 37 Australia, Suriname, Brazil, JamaicaSILICON 35 Russia, Brazil, Canada, ChinaCOPPER 33 Chile, Canada, MexicoVERMICULITE 30 Brazil, South Africa, China, ZimbabwePUMICE 27 Greece, Iceland, MexicoFELDSPAR 26 Turkey, Mexico, Spain

2In descending order of import share.

2017 U.S. NET IMPORT RELIANCE1

1Not all mineral commodities covered in this publication are listed here. Those not shown include mineral commodities for which the United States is a net exporter (abrasives, metallic; boron; clays; diatomite; gold; helium; iron and steel scrap; iron ore; kyanite; molybdenum; sand and gravel, industrial; selenium; soda ash; titanium dioxide pigment; wollastonite; and zeolites) or less than 25% import reliant (beryllium; cadmium; cement; diamond, industrial stones; gypsum; iron and steel; iron and steel slag; lime; magnesium metal; nitrogen (fixed)—ammonia; perlite; phosphate rock; sand and gravel, construction; salt; stone, crushed; sulfur; and talc). For some mineral commodities (hafnium and mercury), not enough information is available to calculate the exact percentage of import reliance.

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USA net import reliance of mineral commodities (2017).Source: USGS (2018)

Stable and low cost energy supplies is a priority:→ The US economy is highly dependent on energy, and the focus on reliable, cheap energy, including shale gas, has helped energise some areas of manufactu-rering and has improved parts of the material supply chain.

New tax and proposed mining law changes have an uncertain impact on these dynamics:→ New 2018 tax and proposed mining law changes may reduce some regulatory burdens on mining and raw materials producers, but the extent and conse-quences of these changes are not yet understood.

There is use of bonding on major mineral development sites to ensure lifetime environmental compliance:→ Environmental compliance is often now structured through bonding of remediation, setting maximum lia-bilities and pre-expensing impact costs.

Development of Good Samaritan laws:→ Ownership of environmental liabilities is unclear when property ownership changes hands, and is often based on who last improved a property. New laws are being considered to enable new owners to remediate without assuming total liability.

A priority is to seek a stable supply of needed raw ma-terials and energy, either through domestic production or importation from stable and secure sources:→ Priority is stable source of supply, either domestic or international. This informs many policy decisions across the government.