Neal Dunn: US Needs To Create 'Immediate' Demand For 'Every Level' Of Critical Mineral Supply Chain

Forbes Breaking News

During a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing last week, Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL) spoke about the United States' domestic critical mineral supply chain.

Transcript

00:00Recognize this gentleman from Florida, Mr. Dr. Dunn, for his questions for five minutes.

00:06Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

00:07To ensure the U.S. has a robust supply of critical minerals,

00:12private entities and the government have to navigate many market complexities,

00:17and that includes the upstream extraction, midstream processing, and downstream manufacturing.

00:23If we can't compete with China on this,

00:25and they're doing all these price-setting, export controls and whatnot,

00:30the U.S. is simply not going to have the industry or the economy needed to produce these critical minerals.

00:35So we have to create an immediate need for every level of that supply chain.

00:41For example, in order to have reliable minerals, we need to have qualifications,

00:46impurity standards, which we don't seem to have set off right now.

00:52Florida State University is in my district.

00:54It's home to the National Magnetic Field Laboratory,

00:57the largest and most powerful magnet lab in the world.

01:00I'm proud of that.

01:01The lab creates about $700 million a year in U.S. economic output.

01:06And these high magnetic fields are leading to discoveries in complex materials.

01:12The researchers are working to develop U.S.-based rare earth supplies in Florida.

01:18The FSU industry partners are currently working on new ways to remove,

01:24we think, over $30 billion worth of rare earths in minerals that are in Florida's phosphogypsum stacks,

01:32what they call the gypsum stacks.

01:34These are the old phosphate mines.

01:36This would create a U.S. supply of critical minerals needed to unleash American technology and energy needs

01:44and reduce our dependence on China.

01:46What we discovered in Florida is that these gypsum stacks have enormous reserves of rare earths in them.

01:54And if we could separate them, we think we have decades and decades of supply.

01:58It's alarming that the United States must rely on China to acquire the 50 most important minerals,

02:06rare earth minerals, that we work with.

02:10Something that hasn't yet been mentioned is that 27 of those 50 critical minerals can be found in the state of Florida.

02:18The only two that are currently being mined are zirconium and titanium.

02:22Mr. Chair, I would like to submit for the record a report from the FSU National Mag Lab.

02:29It's entitled Florida's Potential as a Production Center for Rare Earths, Critical Minerals, and Industrial Byproducts.

02:37Without objection, so ordered.

02:39Thank you so much.

02:40Ms. Hunter, you very clearly laid out America's market risks and the need for secure, qualified end products.

02:47She noted that to justify execution in high risk, firms typically will require market pricing, strong demand signals over time.

02:56Given these factors, how would you suggest the U.S. government expand its commercial base for these critical materials

03:02and execute a deterrence strategy against China?

03:08First, I want to recognize that different types of American ingenuity coming out of the national labs,

03:13universities to find alternative pathways, substitutes, different processes, even from biology,

03:19is very critical for us to explore as we decrease dependence on adversaries for these sources.

03:26In terms of how the U.S. can help both creating more alternative sources of supply at home,

03:32but then contending with these market manipulations that you laid out, Dr. Dunn, Congressman,

03:38I think we have to take kind of a two-pronged approach.

03:40First, dealing with the competitive disadvantages U.S. processors face,

03:45the many different costs in CapEx and OpEx that are higher in the United States

03:50compared to different parts of the world that I outlined in my written testimony.

03:55Additionally, looking at partnership with allies so that we can make sure there's no circumvention

04:01of U.S. unilateral policies like tariff sourcing provisions through third-party markets

04:06so that our producers can compete on a level playing field.

04:08These will be critical to be ensuring American competitiveness.

04:12Thank you for that.

04:13Ms. Hammond, China uses predatory tactics to block the U.S. ability to develop commercially

04:18and globally competitive domestic mining and production.

04:21We're suffering the consequences of decades of that and underinvestment, frankly, on our own part.

04:26Does China's mineral dumping intentionally harm the development of U.S. industries,

04:31and if so, what actions should we be taking?

04:33Is this a straightforward countervailing duties and anti-dumping case?

04:39Mr. Hammond.

04:42I'm sorry, Mr. Hammond.

04:44Well, that's one of the many challenges we face, right?

04:47How are we going to compete with China?

04:50In my view, the strongest case we have is making it more attractive to develop here.

04:57We have to create an environment where mining companies feel that this is the best place for the investment.

05:02Alex said earlier, he used the word crazy.

05:05You'd have to be crazy to develop here.

05:07And I've actually had a mine owner telling me that exactly when I asked him.

05:11I was like, you've got to be crazy to be doing this here.

05:13And he said, well, in some other places it's worse.

05:16And the mineral's here, so we're going to try here.

05:19This is after he'd been locked up in court for a while.

05:21But in my view, yeah, that's our number one, has to be our number one priority, is making this an attractive place to invest.

05:28Thank you very much.

05:29My time has elapsed.

05:31Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and I yield back.

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