Mineral Mania

1. Global minerals mania – The U.S. government and allies this week announced the Minerals Security Partnership Finance Network, a global minerals investment operation focused on battery metals and other resources key to the energy transition.

• Along with the announcement came the disclosure of specific U.S. financing decisions – $600 million to Australian Strategic Materials for a rare earths project in New South Wales; $20 million to Electra Ontario Cobalt, a Canadian company, for a cobalt refinery; $50 million to ESS Inc. for iron flow battery assembly lines at its Oregon plant; and $3.6 million to Pensana Rare Earths for researching the expansion of a rare earths mine in Angola.
• This represents a new norm where U.S. dollars can go to mining overseas. I’ve covered mining my whole career and can safely say the U.S. has never organized this hard to counter China’s outsized influence in global minerals markets through direct investments.
• What else does this mean? Companies that rely on raw materials abroad are probably thinking internally about whether their resources could qualify for federal money one day, too.

2. Mining at home – Meanwhile, the Energy Department on Friday announced $3 billion (!) for 25 battery minerals and manufacturing projects in the United States.

• A noteworthy name on the recipient list: SWA Lithium, a joint venture between Norwegian state-owned oil major Equinor and the Koch-backed mining company Standard Lithium. The money will go towards extracting lithium chemicals from the Smackover formation in Arkansas.

3. Buckwheat bucked – Domestic lithium extraction got another major boost from the government late last week when the Bureau of Land Management published the final environmental review for the Rhyolite Ridge mine in Nevada, one of the few U.S. lithium mining projects close to completing its permitting.

• Publication of the review without adverse recommendations means the project is all but assured to be approved.
• It’s another blow to the Center for Biological Diversity, which has fought to block the mine because studies, including research funded by the mining company, show a clear danger to an endangered flower present at dig sites called Tiehm’s buckwheat.
• I’d expect litigation here from CBD. I’d also treat this as a bellwether for how the Biden administration looks generally at mining vs. species protection.

4. Semiconductors souped – Congress passed legislation on Monday to provide for federal regulators to fund semiconductor projects under the CHIPS Act without environmental reviews, sending it to the president’s desk where it’ll likely be enacted into law.

• Semiconductor industry representatives had bemoaned the risk of NEPA reviews impacting CHIPS money going out. Now they won’t have to worry.

5. Content standards – The Solar Energy Industries Association published a new draft standard for compliance with U.S. customs requirements against the use of inputs from the Xinjiang region of China, where the U.S. government suspects forced labor is involved with solar materials manufacturing.

• The draft standard is intended as a series of recommendations for companies to most easily meet the existing customs requirements.
• They’re open for comment through Nov. 4. You can comment here.

Here’s what else I’m watching…

• Anti-offshore activists in Nantucket petitioned the Supreme Court to take up their failed appeal of a lawsuit claiming the Vineyard Wind project violated the Endangered Species Act, citing the court’s recent decision to undo the so-called “Chevron Doctrine.”
• A Senate committee is poised to vote on bipartisan legislation this week that would create revenue sharing for states with offshore wind – which may not easily become law in an election year but could be on the horizon soon after.
• Nearly half of all IRA funding has gone to seven swing states for the U.S. presidential election, according to analysis conducted by a public policy firm at the request of The Guardian.
• Colorado is offering a fresh round of grant money to localities in the state that want to use automated rooftop solar permitting software.