WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Mining Association (NMA) today issued the following statement on the federal government’s action to initiate a mineral withdrawal study of more than 220,000 acres of land in Minnesota.
Any limits on mining on public lands should be examined very closely – particularly something as significant as a 20-year withdrawal of vital domestic resources of copper, nickel and cobalt. Demand for these minerals is going vertical, yet a withdrawal of this type would accelerate our nation’s already grave supply chain vulnerabilities due to our heavy dependency on foreign sources for the minerals required for our manufacturing, energy, defense and technology supply chains. Our import dependence continues to grow because of unwise and unnecessary withdrawals, even as demands for minerals are increasing exponentially to meet the needs of future energy technologies such as electric vehicles, as well as renewable and battery technologies. We should be doing more to support mining in the U.S., where it is done according to the strictest environmental standards and creates stable, high-paying jobs, at a time when our economy desperately needs them.
The Twin Metals project holds the potential to serve as a significant domestic source of minerals that will help make our country’s energy, infrastructure and manufacturing ambitions possible. They are proceeding through the permitting process as intended and we firmly believe that transparent process should be allowed to continue.
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