Trump expands critical minerals list to copper, coal and uranium

• Outline a plan to push the US to secure supplies.
• Copper vital for electric vehicles, power grids, data centers.
• Coal Met aligns with Trump’s fossil fuel support.
  

The Trump administration on Thursday added 10 minerals to a list it considers essential to the U.S. economy and national security, including copper, vital to electric vehicles, power grids and data centers, and metallurgical coal, used to make coke fuel for steelmaking.

The Department of the Interior’s critical minerals list guides federal investment and licensing decisions and helps shape the government’s broader minerals strategy.

The government is expanding the list amid efforts to boost domestic mining and reduce reliance on imports, particularly from economic rival China.

The list guides federal incentives

The list serves as a blueprint to push Washington to secure supplies of materials needed for defense, manufacturing and clean energy technologies. It determines which projects qualify for federal incentives, informs national storage and research priorities, and signals to private investors that the government sees long-term strategic value.

Officials and industry leaders say boosting domestic production could help insulate the U.S. from potential supply shocks or export restrictions imposed by rivals such as China, which dominates global refining of many critical minerals.

Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, said the expanded list “provides a clear, data-driven roadmap to reduce our dependence on foreign adversaries, expand domestic manufacturing and unleash American innovation.”

The new list also includes uranium, which is enriched to fuel nuclear reactors, boron, lead, phosphate, potash, rhenium, silicon and silver.

Environmentalists criticized the move. Cameron Walkup, of Earthjustice Action, said the government was ignoring economics, breaking the law and opening the door for agencies to seal projects with inadequate protection for communities from pollution. “Instead of prioritizing corporate profits, we should focus on real solutions to meet our mineral supply chain needs, rapidly scaling up the reuse and responsible recycling of critical minerals, and updating mining laws.”

Potash and phosphate are used as fertilizers to grow crops around the world. “These are two minerals where stable supplies are absolutely necessary to fill our plates and feed our communities,” said Corey Rosenbusch, CEO of The Fertilizer Institute.

Potash was on an initial 2018 list, but neither phosphate nor potash was included when it was updated in 2022, the institute said.

US copper production less profitable

Copper is widely used in the global economy in power generation, electronics and construction.

Freeport-McMoRan FCX.N, the largest U.S. copper producer with seven mines and control of one of the nation’s two smelters, said this year it could generate more than $500 million a year in tax credits tied to the 2022 U.S. Inflation Reduction Act if the red metal is deemed critical.

The Phoenix-based company was not immediately available for comment Thursday.

The average grade, or percentage of copper in the rock deposits, at Freeport’s US mines is lower than elsewhere, driving up costs and making the US the company’s least profitable region. This fact largely explains why Freeport pushed for the designation.

“We’re not looking for handouts, but if the government is trying to incentivize domestic (copper) production, it’s important to recognize that the U.S. doesn’t have the same qualities that we have internationally,” Freeport Chief Executive Kathleen Quirk told Reuters in March.

Placing coal on the list aligns with President Donald Trump’s support for fossil fuels. Some U.S. coal mines have closed in recent months amid abundant supplies and declining exports to China, which is imposing an additional 15 percent tariff on U.S. coal imports this year.

Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, said he would continue to seek to expand the list to “ensure the U.S. has the abundant domestic resources it needs, when it needs them.”