Biden cancels long term leases on mines needed to supply copper, lithium etc. Disagree strongly on this one. These minerals will be mined elsewhere inthe world, by foreign workers, with much less regulatory control Twin Metals mine cancellation is a gut punch to US steelworkers, gift to China (msn.com) Last week, the Biden administration effectively canceled two long-standing mineral leases at the Twin Metals mine located in northeastern Minnesota. This decision is not only a serious blow to the thousands of union workers who would have built and operated the mine but is also antithetical to the president's stated climate and energy goals, which need a substantial, and stable, supply of minerals to operate. The Twin Metals mine is a state-of-the-art underground copper, nickel, cobalt and platinum group metals (PGM) operation using some of the most advanced and precise methods of extraction. It is a part of the Duluth Complex in northern Minnesota that, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, contains the largest undeveloped deposits of nickel, cobalt and PGM in the world. These metals are necessary components to modern life and crucial to the expanded development of green energy technologies. The cobalt mined from Twin Metals could be used to build lithium-ion batteries, the nickel could be used in advanced battery storage technologies and the copper could be used in solar panels and wind turbines. Instead of being canceled, these jobs should be heralded as the green energy jobs the president often touts. How important is a Twin Metals mine to supply critical minerals? | MPR News "The World Bank has said we're going to need as much copper in the next 25 years as we've mined in the last 5,000,” said Julie Padilla, chief regulatory officer for Twin Metals. “And every year, we can produce enough nickel for 280,000 electric vehicles from this project." The World Bank report Padilla cited estimates the world will need to increase production of minerals such as graphite, lithium and cobalt by nearly 500 percent by 2050 to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies. These include solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicle batteries that experts agree will need to be deployed in huge numbers to stave off the worst effects of climate change. "The renewable energy transition is not going to happen without the mining industry. That's just a fact,” said Jordy Lee, who manages the Supply Chain Transparency Initiative at the Colorado School of Mines. But that critical need for minerals is bumping up against another reality: Many mining projects proposed in the U.S. face fierce local opposition.
A little confused after reading the USA Today version of the story…. They call it a “proposed mine” (I.e. never built) and say the company held the lease for 50 years…. Is that true? They did nothing for 50 years, but now that it won’t be renewed, it’s critically important?
in case you haven't noticed, the demand for lithium, copper etc. has changed in the last decade. how do we build solar panels and windmills, and batteries, and electric cars and trucks without the raw material
I just love liberal politicians. Really, they are no different than Trump, they just don't show it in public. So Biden wants to end this because we are going to clean up our act, yet all it does is move to somewhere else on the globe which coincidentally, impacts the climate just as badly, if not worse. Then he'll go on his campaigns saying how he cleaned up the environment until some truth comes out that we instead polluted another country in the process. Embarrassingly, California is the #1 reason why the Amazon rain forests have been culled. Almost 70% of the materials that region creates is used by the great state of California. That way California can say they are the #1 most net carbon-zero state. Wait they aren't, by a long shot. Interesting, in order to be green, we have to pollute, in some cases far worse than coal mines.
Lol, okay you are definitely going to need to back that one up. 70% of all materials from the Amazon are used by California? Link?
I am sure the Chilean's, who own the Twin Metals mining company, are devastated that they will not be able to sell Ni and Cu mined in the US on the global market at top dollar.
I’m more questioning your article’s claim that the mine “IS a state-of-the-art underground copper, nickel, cobalt and platinumgroup metals (PGM) operation using some of themost advanced and precise methods of extraction.” That current tense makes it sound like it’s a running mine being shut down, when all the other articles describe it as an unused lease area that simply isn’t being renewed….
Do the Twin Metal lease holders contribute to the GOP? Biden decision does not comport with National Defense considerations to maintain a domestic supply of critical resources.
Are you sure? Maybe I am looking up the wrong Twin Metals Minnesota, but their website sure states that they are a wholly owned subsidiary of a Chilean Company. Relevance? All of this BS about minerals and metals for the US?? Total BS. The plan is to mine the metals, and sell through the international commodities exchanges. There is no patriotic non-sense here. Antofagasta - Twin Metals
It's hard to see that Biden has any comprehensive energy plan, if on the one hand he is demanding that the U.S. switch to electric cars, and on the other preventing the mining of materials critical to production of those cars. Sounds like a long-term plan to shut down the economy, or hand over our money to China. Bonus? This mine would have also produced nickel, which is used in producing stainless steel. The price of stainless steel increased 36% last year. Seems foolish, much like the idea of shutting down construction of the pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast. With all of the inflation going on (price of timber is still high), seems like poking the economy with a sharp object is not the smart thing to do. If there were environmental concerns, those could have been addressed without shutting the whole operation down.
Another case of Biden undoing the BS that Trump was pulling. A Plan to Mine the Minnesota Wilderness Hit a Dead End. Then Trump Became President. (Published 2019) "In the waning months of the Obama administration, a Chilean conglomerate was losing a fight with the United States government over a copper mine that it wanted to build near a pristine wilderness area in Minnesota. Beginning in the early weeks of Mr. Trump’s presidency, the administration worked at a high level to remove roadblocks to the proposed mine, government emails and calendars show, overruling concerns that it could harm the Boundary Waters, a vast landscape of federally protected lakes and forests along the border with Canada." Wow... with so much to do, why was it one of the first things Trump focused on? Oh the article helps us with that too. "Just before Mr. Trump took office, Mr. Luksic added a personal investment to his portfolio: a $5.5 million house in Washington. Mr. Luksic bought the house with the intention of renting it to a wealthy new arrival to Mr. Trump’s Washington, according to Rodrigo Terré, chairman of Mr. Luksic’s family investment office, which handled the purchase. The idea worked. Even before the purchase was final, real estate agents had lined up renters: Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump." I can't post any more from the article, but you get the drift. Trump and crew skirted every environmental law so that his kids could get some free rent.
Or keep the water supply clean ... I'd also point out how hard Obama failed at crippling the country, since stock market gains under Obama are only second to Bill Clinton for 8-year presidents.
Sounds like a complicated issue and there is no way I can form an intelligent decision based upon 10 minutes of reading.
