President Trump told executives from some of the world’s leading mining companies that his administration will dole out $180 million in grants, intensifying his efforts to boost the U.S. supply of critical minerals.
Increasing America’s critical mineral reserve has become a critical part of Mr. Trump’s national security and domestic manufacturing policy. The U.S. needs critical minerals to replenish stockpiles depleted during the Iran conflict and to reduce its reliance on Chinese critical minerals.
Speaking Friday at a roundtable on American mining, Mr. Trump said the funds will be used to promote careers in mining and encourage more students to enter the field. There is a shortage of engineers, geologists, miners and technicians in the mining industry.
“We are not doing you favors,” Mr. Trump told the mining executives. “We’re doing ourselves favors. We need your industry.”
Less than 170 mining engineers graduate annually from accredited mining programs in the U.S., while China has more than 3,000 graduates each year, according to White House data.
What’s more, roughly 50% of the U.S. mining workforce is expected to retire within the next three years.
“Together we are reawakening the spirit of the gold rush, the prospectors and the great pioneers of this country, people who built the United States of America,” the president said. “Very simply, we’re making mining great again.”
Representatives from the nation’s 14 accredited mining schools attended the event at the State Department.
Critical minerals are essential to modern missile and air defense systems and defense capabilities because they power guidance, propulsion and targeting. U.S. forces have burned through a large number of missiles and interceptors during the Iran war, which is now entering its sixth month.
“Critical minerals are more than an economic issue. They are a national security issue,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said. “We can’t depend on our foreign adversaries for the materials that underpin our industries.”
A July report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the U.S. military had 2,330 Patriot systems and 452 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Systems before the war, but now only has an estimated 759 to 827 Patriots and between 234 and 278 THADDS left.
Those systems are fueled by tungsten, germanium and scandium, critical minerals that are also used to manufacture fighter aircraft, armored vehicles, infrared sensors and other advanced weapons systems.
Mr. Trump recently said the U.S. is not running low on munitions, writing on social media that the military had massive amounts of munitions and large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S.
Friday’s gathering included roughly 200 people, including executives from some of the nation’s top mining companies. Vickey Peacy, the president of Resolution Copper; Jim Litinsky, CEO of MP Materials; Tom Albaense, chairman of American Ocean Minerals; Robert Friedland, chairman of Ivanhoe Mines; and Jesse Gary, CEO of Century Aluminum, which is building a smelter plant in Oklahoma.
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