Tag: natural resources

China has Banned US Exports of Key Minerals for Computer Chips – Leaving Washington with Limited Options

China recently banned the export of the minerals gallium and germanium to the US amid growing tensions between the two countries on trade.

The minerals are of critical economic value because they are used in computer chips, in military technology such as night vision goggles, and in the renewable energy industry, where they are important for manufacturing electric vehicles and solar cells. All of these areas are very sensitive sectors for the US and EU.

China has overwhelming market power over supply, because it is the source of 98% of primary gallium and 91% of primary germanium. Primary refers to “raw” sources such as mineral ore. In several sectors where the minerals are used, there are no substitutes for them.

Gallium and germanium are present in very low concentration as byproducts of major minerals – they’re known as trace minerals. Germanium’s primary source is the residue from zinc refineries and coal fly ash (a powdered residue produced when coal is burnt in power plants).

Gallium is mainly produced as a byproduct of bauxite ore (which is the main source for aluminium) as well as the processing stage to extract aluminium from bauxite.

The Chinese ban on exports of these minerals to the US closely followed Washington’s third crackdown in three years on China’s semiconductor (computer chip) industry. The US wants to curb exports of advanced chips to China that could be used in applications that threaten America’s security.

For example, advanced chips could be used in electronic warfare applications that make use of artificial intelligence (AI), or in advanced weapons systems such as hypersonic missiles. China said its ban on gallium and germanium was because of the minerals’ “dual military and civilian uses”.

According to a report in Reuters in 2023, the US Department of Defense holds a strategic stockpile of germanium, but no reserves of gallium. In October 2024, the US Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that a total ban on the export of gallium and germanium could result in a US$3.4 billion loss to US GDP.

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What Are Ukraine’s Top 10 Minerals?

The Kiev regime is trying to curry favor with the incoming Trump administration by offering concessions on Ukraine’s critical mineral deposits – valued up to $11.5 trillion, according to the New York Times.

So, what are the top 10 natural resources and why are they so important?

Lithium: Ukraine has an estimated 500,000 tons of lithium reserves. The mineral is key to making batteries for electric vehicles (EVs). Two of Ukraine’s major lithium deposits are now under Russian control in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions.

Titanium: The US Geological Survey estimates Ukraine’s titanium reserves at 8.4 million tons, primarily in the central regions. Titanium is crucial to the military, aerospace, medical, automotive and marine industries.

Gallium: Ukraine was the world’s third-largest producer, generating around 4 tonnes of gallium annually. Gallium, found in small concentrations in other metal ores, is vital for semiconductors and LEDs.

Manganese: Estimated reserves of about 140 million tonnes of manganese are concentrated in the Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye regions – the second now part of Russia. Manganese improves the strength and workability of steel and other alloys.

Beryllium: Ukraine has proven reserves of 5,515 tons, primarily in the northwestern Zhitomir region. Beryllium is essential for the nuclear power, military, aerospace, acoustic and electronic industries.

Graphite: Ukraine holds 17.9 million tons of graphite, concentrated in the Zhitomir, Kirovograd and Dnepropetrovsk regions. The Pryazovsky site is now in Russia’s Zaporozhye. Graphite is critical for producing telecommunications, medical and military equipment.

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Why Trump is Pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement (again)

It’s going to be at least four years of “Drill baby, drill!” as President-elect Donald Trump has said numerous times over the last few years.

With Trump’s election, the United States will now definitely withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Trump is seeking to overhaul energy and environmental policies, aiming to dismantle the Left’s climate agenda and eliminate programs that impede the country’s economic growth. While President Joe Biden’s negotiators will be at this week’s COP talks in Azerbaijan, nothing they agree to will be binding for the Trump administration.

In fact, Reuters is reporting that Trump’s transition team has already prepared executive orders and proclamations on withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement and shrinking the size of some national monuments to allow more drilling and mining.

The new Trump administration will push for a major ramp up of oil and gas exploration within the US, roll back environmental protections as well as impose heavy tariffs on electric vehicles and solar panels coming from China.

Trump is also expected to end the pause on permitting new liquefied natural gas exports to big markets in Asia and Europe and revoke a waiver that allows California and other states to have tighter pollution standards, according to a New York Times report.

Trump is also reported to be under pressure to pull the US out of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for the first time if he becomes president.

While leaving the Paris Agreement would be legally straightforward, legal experts had previously been divided on whether Trump could withdraw the US from the UNFCCC without the approval of the US Senate and – if he did – how easy it would be for a future president to re-join.

However, given that the Senate is now in Republican hands, Trump could move forward on this should he so choose.

The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement is an international treaty aimed at limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, with efforts to keep it under 1.5 degrees.

Democrats have made climate change and the goal of limiting global warning a new religion.

They claim Trump risks derailing American climate policy, as well as the global fight against climate change.

They have called his election a “crushing blow,” a “dark day for the climate,” and “the greatest civilizational and climatic setback on our planet.”

Democrats believe the Paris Climate Agreement represents a positive, collective global effort to address climate change.

As part of the Agreement, countries set nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fostering accountability and progress tracking. Developed nations pledge financial and technical support to help developing countries transition to greener economies and adapt to climate impacts, which can alleviate economic inequality.

The US has already committed billions in American taxpayer dollars to developing countries, a move many conservatives are upset about.

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A victory for energy and climate sanity

Now that President Donald Trump has easily defeated Vice President Kamala Harris, Americans who desire freedom of choice and are at their wits’ end with sky-high energy prices can breathe a massive sigh of relief. Moreover, the millions of Americans who are sick and tired of the never-ending climate alarmist narrative courtesy of the federal government can also rest easy.

In a few months, Trump will return to the Oval Office in one of the most spectacular comeback stories in American political history. As he has said on multiple occasions during the campaign, one of his first priorities will be addressing the energy cost crisis created by the Biden-Harris administration.

Since President Biden entered the White House in January 2021, his administration has declared war on American energy independence as well as the fossil fuel industry in general. From killing the Keystone XL pipeline to slow-walking leases for oil and gas exploration on federal lands, Biden has made it abundantly clear that he sides more with climate alarmists than ordinary, hard-working Americans.

On the other hand, Trump’s track record during his first term and what he has outlined that he will do in his second term tells us that he will embrace commonsense energy policies that puts Americans first, regardless of the propaganda spewed by climate radicals and those who benefit greatly from the scam that is known as the green energy transition.

Unlike Biden and Harris, Trump believes in American energy independence. More accurately, Trump is a strong supporter of American energy dominance. Although these terms sound similar, it is important to understand the difference between the two. When we talk about energy independence, we are basically describing a situation in which the United States does not need to import oil and other energy sources from countries like Venezuela or Saudi Arabia. When we talk about energy dominance, we are describing a scenario in which the United States can supply energy to our allies across the world, especially in Europe.

By mid-2020, Trump had achieved American energy independence for the first time in decades. This is a key reason why gasoline prices, and energy prices in general, plummeted under Trump.

It is no great secret how Trump managed to turn the United States into a net energy exporter during his first term; he simply lifted the throttle off of U.S. energy producers. Trump allowed more fracking, opened up more federal lands for exploration, and reduced regulations that have hindered the industry for far too long.

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Trump Has Sweeping Plans For His 2nd Administration: Here’s What He Has Proposed

Projected President-elect Donald Trump has made a number of sweeping proposals for a second term in office, outlining a wide-ranging agenda that targets federal regulations, taxes, immigration, and social issues.

As of Wednesday morning, The Associated Press projected that Trump is the winner of the election after securing enough electoral votes over his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris.

Early Wednesday, the former president and president-elect claimed victory in the 2024 presidential contest, telling supporters that voters had given him an “unprecedented and powerful mandate.” Early projections show that Trump may win not only the Electoral College but also the popular vote, something he’s never done in his previous two campaigns.

Immigration

Since 2015, Trump has made curbing illegal immigration a cornerstone of his campaigns. As president, he built or reconstructed about 400 miles of border barrier along the U.S.–Mexico border and implemented a number of rules curbing illegal migration into the country.

During the campaign, Trump often said that he would initiate the largest “mass deportation” effort in U.S. history if elected. Recently, he also warned Mexico that he would impose a 25 percent tariff targeting the country if it fails to curb illegal immigration and that he would raise that tariff if Mexico doesn’t comply.

Also, he’s suggested more enhanced screenings for immigrants, ending birthright citizenship—which may require a constitutional amendment—and reimposing certain policies enacted during his first term such as the “remain in Mexico” protocol.

Tom Homan, a former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who is expected to join the new administration, told media outlets last year that the scale of deportations depends on what resources are available.

During a “60 Minutes” interview in October, Homan was asked about whether families would be separated. Homan responded, “Families can be deported together.”

Vice President-elect JD Vance said in his debate with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Oct. 1 that deporting criminals would be a second Trump administration’s initial focus.

“You’ve got to reimplement Donald Trump’s border policies, build the wall, reimplement deportations,” Vance said, adding that the United States has 20 to 25 million illegal immigrants in the country.

“What do we do with them? I think the first thing that we do is we start with the criminal migrants.”

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The Next President Needs a Foreign Policy Reality Check 

On top of ongoing conflicts in Europe and the Middle East and rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, the next administration will inherit structural domestic and international obstacles that have been mounting for decades. Addressing these challenges while keeping our current U.S. foreign policy strategy on autopilot simply won’t cut it—it is time for a new approach. 

Since America’s victory in the Cold War, our national security elites in both parties have avoided asking fundamental questions about what missions the United States should be engaged in. These experts insist that maintaining a heavy military footprint across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia simultaneously is necessary for American security. 

Focusing on how to resource these missions without reflecting on their wisdom or sustainability misses the forest for the trees. Twenty years of open-ended nation-building efforts in the Middle East cost thousands of service members’ lives. These conflicts also came at the price of $6 trillion, damaged American military readiness, and aided our great power rivals by diverting our focus and energy.  

After decades of deficit spending, our national debt is approaching $36 trillion, a ten-fold increase from the end of the Cold War. After the COVID pandemic, our nation’s debt hadn’t been so large in relation to our economy since the Second World War. At this point, our interest payments alone are exceeding U.S. defense spending from this year. 

On top of these challenges, the trust funds for our biggest domestic programs—Social Security and Medicare—are on track to be insolvent in a decade and impose benefits cuts unless the next administration makes difficult domestic choices to secure their future.  

Taken together, the United States now experiences a strategic scarcity that our national security class has not had to deal with for generations.  

We cannot buy our way out of these constraints, as the Commission on the National Defense Strategy recently called for. Voters, especially in swing states, are already disillusioned with America’s level of involvement in conflicts abroad. Americans are not going to make the painful fiscal sacrifices needed to secure our financial future only to see trillions more squandered on flawed defense strategies.  

In the face of these challenges, Concerned Veterans for America’s new report, “Realism in Practice,” offers a fresh, disciplined path forward for U.S. foreign policy, rooted in assessing our strategic situation as it is, not as we might wish it to be. 

American strategic goals need to align with America’s available resources. Policymakers also need to use the right tools to achieve these goals, avoiding overreliance on an already overstretched, undermanned military. Our allies can and should take greater responsibility for their own defense. The United States needs to concentrate its military resources on regions most vital to its core interests, while relying more on diplomatic and economic engagement elsewhere.

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Lithium Fields: Another Dark Side to the Electrical Vehicle Industry

Chile’s Atacama Desert is hailed as one of the Earth’s most extraordinary places. It’s the driest nonpolar desert on Earth, which stretches across around 600 miles (1,000 kilometers, or km) in a piece of land between the coastal Cordillera de la Costa Mountain range and the Andes Mountains.

The entire area is an oasis of geologic formations and has provided scientists with seemingly never-ending research opportunities.

As with so many areas in our wonderous planet, it also has a history of being raped for its minerals. Prior to the 1930s, it was for nitrate minerals that were used in fertilizers and explosives. But more recently other minerals such as lithium, copper and iodine are also being mined.

Unfortunately, lithium mining is hugely toxic and poses a significant danger to the environment, particularly in South America.

Despite the mining industry’s exploration of technological advancements aimed at reducing the industry’s ecological footprint, the question remains … Should we continue to rape the earth for lithium in the race to electrify?

Do electric vehicles (EVs) do more good than harm? Are the supply chains for the resources needed to electrify our world sufficiently transparent for us to evaluate them properly? Can we really call the move away from fossil fuels toward hyper-electrification another green revolution?

None of us are in a position to fully answer these questions as the data required are just not available. But what we do know suggests we should be concerned — very concerned.

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Hurricane Helene Destroys NC Town Containing ‘Purest’ Quartz Mines, Disrupting Semiconductor Industry

The devastation in a small North Carolina down from Hurricane Helene may cause unexpected issues to the semiconductor production industry, as nearly all of the world’s supply of a necessary mineral comes from that area.

The “purest form” of quartz is mined in Spruce Pine, which has a population of just 2,600 people, according to CNBC. 

With the town’s electricity and running water still out more than a week after the storm and raging flood waters ripped through the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the $600 billion global semiconductor industry may be crippled, the outlet reported. 

Before Helene, companies like Sibelco and The Quartz Corp. extracted the high-quality quartz before refining it and shipping it to global manufacturing facilities, primarily in China and other Asian countries. 

Those operations have all been placed on pause as the Appalachian community grapples with getting basic necessities such as food and water. 

Neither of the major companies has released a timeline on when they could possibly resume mining. 

“Hurricane Helene has significantly impacted North Carolina, USA, and the Spruce Pine community has been hit particularly hard,” Sibelco said in a September 30 statement, before saying that “many people,” including their own employees and families, are facing “displacement.”

“We have confirmed the safety of most employees and are working diligently to contact those still unreachable due to ongoing power outages and communication challenges,” the company continued. “As of September 26th, we have temporarily halted operations at the Spruce Pine facilities in response to these challenges.”

“The Spruce Pine community has been hit particularly hard,” Sibelco said in a statement on Sept. 30. “We have temporarily halted operations at the Spruce Pine facilities in response to these challenges.”

In a similar October 1 statement, the Quartz Corp announced that “operations at our facilities were stopped on September 26th in preparation of the event and we have no visibility on when they will restart.”

“This is second order of priority. Our top priority remains the health and safety of our employees and their families,” company officials added, noting that they have successfully made contact with all of their Spruce Pine workers. 

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Pipeline Wars Again

An interesting development. As you can see at a glance from the map, the Druzhba pipeline feeds into the heart of Central Europe and services countries countries that, by and large, are skeptics regarding war on Russia. Czechia is a partial exception, although it is doubtful that the population in general is as anti-Russian as the current president.

1/ The US backed and led ex-state of Ukraine said that it would block Druzhba oil pipeline toward Central and South Europe.
This is the second US sponsored attack on European infrastructure , after the US blew up NordStream pipelines for Germany.

2/ A few corrections :
– Gazprom’s contracts expire the end of 2024. The Russians wills NYET to new ones. It’s over.
-EU-peons have 4 months to decide which one is better:
green energy…US LNG 20 times more expensive …new European Ice Age
Choices… 

My assumption is that this decision was not left up to Ukraine—it was arrived at by NATO and the EU—which is to say, by the Anglo-Zionists. It looks like an effort to force these countries to toe the Anglo-Zionist line in its war on Russia. The result will be devastating for the economies of these countries, but that’s not the point, is it?

My guess is that this development will be added to the scales in Putin’s consideration of whether to bring the war in Ukraine to an end sooner rather than later. It’s fashionable to say that Russia has written off the West, but “the West” isn’t a simple concept. Are the Central European and Balkan countries “the West”? Some may believe they are, but my impression is that they are not so regarded—except for political and military expediency—by the traditional West: Britain, France, Germany, non-Finnish Scandinavia, Spain and Italy. Poland undoubtedly considers itself to be a Western country, but most of the traditional West simply regards Poland as a pain in the ass—with no offense intended on my part.

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Why The U.S. Faces Chinese Dominance For Critical Energy Minerals

More than three years ago, in May 2021, I wrote a piece here detailing the importance of a relatively obscure mineral, antimony, to the ultimate success of alternative energy sources like wind and solar and electric vehicles, and thus to the progress of the energy transition itself.

Even more pressing is the fact that antimony is critical to the needs of major weapon systems used by the U.S. military. The piece also discussed the urgent need for policymakers to find ways to speed up the permitting processes for mining of this and an array of other critical energy minerals if the United States were to avoid becoming almost wholly dependent on China for its future energy needs.

The story was focused on the struggles of Perpetua Resources, a mining company that had at the time struggled for over a decade to obtain the needed local, state, and federal permits to mine a long-known major resource of antimony at the Stibnite mine in Idaho. Stibnite is a long-ago abandoned gold mining operation that Perpetua says it could quickly place into antimony production once all the needed permits are secured.

Since that time, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and fellow sponsors have tried to move federal permitting reform bills in both 2022, and again this year. The 2022 bill failed in the face of bipartisan opposition, and this year’s effort currently seems doomed to the same fate. It must seem to Sen. Manchin that no one in Washington, D.C., other than himself and a handful of fellow members of congress, is serious about getting anything real done on this pressing issue that is essential to the entire energy transition effort.

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