Maintaining Energy Security

Mining powers America, from the fuels that feed our energy grid to the metals that carry power to our homes and businesses. Coal and minerals play a key role in every stage of energy delivery.

Americans expect reliable and affordable energy, powered by a diverse mix of coal, natural gas, nuclear power, oil and renewable sources. With more domestic reserves than any other country, coal remains a key partner in America’s energy future, reducing our reliance on foreign markets and providing us with secure and affordable energy. That energy picture also includes uranium, which is critical for the nuclear industry, and renewable energy from wind turbines and solar panels made from minerals like copper, aluminum, zinc, molybdenum and silver.

The development of a viable coal-to-liquid industry in the U.S. has the further potential to expand coal utilization beyond electricity generation to the transportation sector. Poly-generation plants can produce an even wider range of products. Advances in technology and more efficient combustion systems have enabled U.S. power plants to reduce their regulated emissions by more than 60 percent since 1970, while increasing electric power output over the same period by 140 percent. In fact, a coal-fueled power plant today emits 90 percent fewer emissions than the typical plant it replaces built in the 1970s. Ongoing advancements in high efficiency, low emission (HELE) coal technologies and carbon capture and storage (CCS) hold even more promise for the future.

    Member Feature Story

    Silver Demand on Rise Due to Solar

    Demand for silver is rising, and the Silver Institute shows that global silver demand has increased by 38 percent since 2020. We shouldn’t be surprised by the rise in demand – silver has high electrical and thermal conductivity, explaining its prominent use in solar panels, among other industrial uses.... Read More

    March 19, 2024

    Maintaining Energy Security

    Steadfast Service for U.S. Energy Needs

    The U.S. is facing an impending reliability crisis as we head into the cold months of winter, but there’s a reliable power source we can mine right here in the U.S: coal is a reliable and affordable source of energy and is an important piece of an all-of-the-above energy policy to ensure power to heat... Read More

    December 19, 2022

    Supporting Uranium Projects

    To supply energy to the grid, America needs a variety of energy sources, including coal, renewables, natural gas and nuclear power. Uranium, the material behind nuclear power, provides reliable and steady energy generation while also providing low greenhouse gas output. Nuclear power is efficient, producing... Read More

    October 20, 2022

    Copper to Power Us

    When we think of energy, we often think of the fuels that produce the energy. But getting the energy from the source to our homes and businesses is just as important, and for that, we need copper. Its high conductivity and ductility make copper ideal for wiring, and copper is also a necessary component... Read More

    August 24, 2022

    Affordable Energy to Rely On

    The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) released a reliability assessment in 2022, warning about capacity shortfalls and reliability concerns throughout the summer. As the grid adds more renewable energy and takes baseload power from fuel sources like coal offline, our steady supply... Read More

    July 08, 2022

    Uranium Powers Our Lives

    Nuclear power is a reliable baseload source of energy that offers both reliability and sustainability. This zero-emissions power generation is relied on across the U.S., with 28 states relying on at least one nuclear power plant in 2020. So it’s important to source the uranium on which nuclear power... Read More

    February 22, 2022