By Rich Nolan
For all the investments the Trump administration has made in reshoring the nation’s mineral supply chains, its investment in America’s mining schools may prove to be the most important.
In early August, the Department of Energy announced $100 million for the nation’s 14 mining schools, with the goal of doubling the number of graduates earning degrees in mining, minerals and related supply-chain fields. The Department of War added another $80 million for major workforce development programs and technology innovation hubs at three schools to train geologists, metallurgists and mining engineers.
This initiative could not have come soon enough. Rebuilding – much less expanding – America’s mining workforce is an urgent national priority. The administration’s leadership is a critical step toward getting us back on track, but it must be the first step, not the last. These investments should be the starting gun for a broader revitalization of the nation’s mining schools and workforce.
The U.S. is desperately short of the engineers, geologists, metallurgists and other specialists needed to build the supply chains we urgently require. American universities currently graduate just 200 mining engineers a year, compared with 3,000 in China. Even doubling the number of U.S. graduates, as the Trump administration aims to do, will leave us scrambling to catch up.
We also face an acute shortage of the skilled trades needed to build and operate a modern minerals industry. From electricians and pipefitters to mechanics and welders, demand is far outpacing the supply of qualified workers. This is an urgent need the mining industry cannot tackle alone. And the stakes are enormous.
In the great competition to secure the materials shaping the industries and technologies of tomorrow, the U.S. has fallen woefully behind China. Beijing’s mineral dominance has upended the geopolitical balance, providing it with a tool of economic coercion that can not only cripple the U.S. economy but bring our defense industrial base to a grinding halt.
The race is now on in Washington and allied capitals to defang China’s mineral weapon. The scale of the challenge has mobilized a remarkable effort moving at uniquely Trump speed.
The administration is using an all-of-the-above strategy to rebuild U.S. mineral security. Streamlined permitting, loans, grants, offtake agreements and direct investments in domestic mining and processing are all part of that approach. So, too, is an energetic mineral diplomacy aimed at securing access to overseas resources beyond China’s control.
The breadth of this effort reflects the magnitude of the challenge. China not only dominates mineral supply chains, but global demand for these materials is soaring. Until very recently, America’s mineral dependence was not simply an alarming strategic vulnerability; it was a crisis growing worse by the day.
To be clear, it is too soon to know whether we have turned the corner. China will not surrender its mineral dominance without a fight. Beijing has spent decades securing raw materials and building its domestic industrial base. Wherever U.S. diplomacy seeks to secure new mineral supplies, China is often already there or close behind with an offer of its own.
It remains to be seen whether today’s investments can produce the secure supply chains we will need tomorrow. But the entire effort could be undermined if we fail to address one of China’s greatest advantages and one of America’s most pressing weaknesses: workforce.
Mining is the foundation of the nation’s industrial base. It provides the copper wiring in our homes, the lithium in our batteries and the rare earths in our smartphones and F-35 fighter jets. Breaking China’s mineral chokehold will require more than financing projects and issuing permits. It will require Americans with the skills to turn untapped potential into domestic production, build mines and processing facilities, and operate them for decades to come. The Trump administration has fired the starting gun. Now industry, academia and government must come together to carry this race to the finish.
Rich Nolan is the President and CEO of the National Mining Association.
This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.
