Financial Associated Press, August 26 (Editor Xiaoxiang)The U.S. government on Monday proposed adding copper, silicon and silver to its 2025 list of critical minerals because they are critical to the U.S. economy and national security.

The U.S. Department of Internal Affairs agency Geological Survey published the draft list of a total of 54 minerals in the Federal Communications and will publicly consult the public within 30 days.

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The latest minerals proposed to be added to the list are six, including copper, potash, silicon, silver, lead and rhenium. In addition, the U.S. Geological Survey also stated that it intends to conduct an analysis of the possibility of inclusion of uranium and metallurgical coal. Arsenic and tellurium were recommended to be removed from the list.

The list is typically updated every three years, according to the bilateral policy center, and items on the list can get federal funding, simplify licensing procedures, or become more competitive due to import tariffs.

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Bergham said that this draft list provides a roadmap to reduce the U.S. 's dependence on critical mineral imports and expand domestic production.

Previously, the US copper industry has been pushing for copper to be included in the critical minerals listto reflect the importance of the metal to the economy and national security. Inclusion in the list will provide financial incentives and simplify the licensing process for copper exploration, mining and processing projects.

The Trump administration has previously listed the revitalization of U.S. metal and mineral production as a key priority, including copper as an important material in the fields of home, power grid and transportation, which has also become an area of special attention in the industry.

Juan Ignacio Diaz, global president of the International Copper Association, said: "Copper fits this [critical mineral] criteria perfectly: not only is it a cornerstone of electrification, defence and clean energy, but its supply chain is increasingly under pressure. It is in the US interest to recognise the criticality of copper, which underpins its competitiveness and the energy transition."

The US copper industry has been making a strong push to include copper on the list of critical minerals (data map).

The American Fertilizer Association, an industry lobbying group, has been pushing for potash to be listed as a critical mineral.In order to provide a more sufficient reason for tariff exemptions. The Trump administration issued a separate executive order in March to support increased domestic production of minerals, including key crop fertilizer potash.

Most of the potassium used in the United States is imported from Canada, which accounts for about 80% of the mineral¡¯s imports.

After the announcement, the stock prices of fertilizer companies listed in the United States once rose in response. Among them, Mosaic once rose by 4.5%, Nutrien climbed by 2.9%, and then the increase narrowed.

The USGS supply chain disruption model also assesses more than 1,200 trade disruption scenarios for 84 mineral commodities, the potential impact on 402 industries and the US economy as a whole. The economic impact in the model is then weighted according to the probability of disruption scenarios.

For example, one scenario represents a complete restriction on net US imports of rhodium from South Africa. The impact of this scenario on US GDP is estimated to be $64 billion less, but the probability of its occurrence is only 3.9%, resulting in a probability-weighted impact close to $2.50 billion.

Based on estimates of the probability-weighted impact of supply disruptions on the US economy, the top 10 key minerals are samarium, rhodium, lutetium, terbium, dysprosium, gallium, germanium, gadolinium, tungsten and niobium.

¡°In the U.S. economy, even losing just one key mineral could lead to chain reactions across the industry, from semiconductors to defense systems, undermining production capacity, technological leadership and U.S. employment.¡±

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Kevin Rudd volunteered: Australia wants to be the US rare earth "fire brigade"

On August 20, local time, Australian former prime minister and current Australian ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd attended an event at the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), during which he said advanced military equipment such as submarines and invisible fighters were heavily dependent on rare-earth elements, and that Australia and the United States were committed to reducing reliance on key minerals in China.

¡°Whether we want it or not, the reality is that our most critical actions in the military sphere depend on availability of key minerals and rare-earth supplies,¡± he added, adding, ¡°As the Pentagon is eager to reduce its dependence on rare-earth China, Australia, as an ally of the United States, is ready to help, and we are capable of doing so.¡±

According to Nikkei Asia, Mr. Rudd also insisted that Australia was well placed to assist the US in diversifying its supply chain. "Geology has benefited many of our countries, whether it's Australia, the US or Canada. Given our advanced mining companies, our deep capital markets and the determination of governments in Washington and Canberra to turn things around, I think we can achieve a high level of resilience in our critical mineral resources."

China's foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiangkun said earlier that China's policy on rare earth issues is in line with international practice and that we are willing to continue to strengthen dialogue and cooperation in the field of export control with relevant countries and regions to jointly safeguard the stability and security of the global supply chain.

Australian Ambassador to the United States, Terry Quinn, participates in CSIS events (photo/video)

Kevin Rudd is a politician and diplomat from the Australian Labor Party. He has served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party, the foreign minister of Australia, and served as the prime minister of Australia twice from 2007 to 2010 and 2013. He is known as "China Hand" because he majored in Chinese history and literature during his university years and can speak fluent Chinese. His Chinese name is taken from the homonym of his English name Kevin Rudd (Kevin Rudd).

In his speech, Kevin Rudd took the U.S. Navy's latest nuclear-powered rapid attack submarine, the Virginia class submarine, as an example: "Produce a 'Virginia' class submarine, which contains approximately 4.5 short tons (1 short ton is about 0.9 metric tons) of key minerals-rare earths."

He added that similarly, a large part of the components of the F-35 supersonic stealth attack fighter, including engine magnets, targeting radars and lasers, are also made of advanced rare earth derivatives and processed products.

On March 13, 2023, then-US President Joe Biden held talks with then-British Prime Minister Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Albanese at the US Naval Base in San Diego, California, on the so-called "US-UK-Australia Trilateral Security Partnership" (AUKUS), and officially announced plans to equip Australia with nuclear submarines.

According to the plan, the United States will sell three American "Virginia-class nuclear submarines to Australia starting in the early 1930s, and may sell two more in the future. At the same time, the United States, Britain and Australia will cooperate to develop new nuclear submarines, which will be equipped by the United Kingdom and Australia in the late 1930s and early 1940s respectively. The entire plan is expected to be completed in 2055 and will cost US$245 billion.

The "Virginia" class nuclear submarine is considered to be the peak of U.S. military technology and a key asset inining its underwater advantage over China.

According to the Pentagon, a "Virginia" class nuclear submarine needs 9,200 pounds (about 4,173 kilograms) of rare earth elements; an F-35 fighter jet needs more than 900 pounds (about 440 kilograms) of rare earth elements, and an "Arleigh Burke" class destroyer needs 5,200 pounds (about 230 kilograms) of rare earth elements.

On July 30, 2004, in Connecticut, USA, the first "Virginia" class nuclear submarine returned to the electric boat shipyard in Groton after its first sea trial (data photo/CNN)

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, China has the highest reserves of rare earths, at 44 million tons, accounting for almost half of the world's total reserves of 90 million tons. Australia ranked fourth with 5.7 million tons, behind Brazil and India. The United States ranked seventh with 1.9 million tons.

According to a report by Hong Kong's "South China Morning Post" on August 10, India and Australia are currently negotiating to explore the establishment of joint ventures based on the critical minerals investment partnership to be launched in 2022. These joint ventures cover not only procurement, but also automotive, electronics and collaborative processing of rare earth elements critical to defense.

In this competition, India and Australia are increasingly approaching the establishment of a strategic mineral partnership, positioning themselves as a force to counter China¡¯s dominance.

In recent years, India has been stepping up diplomatic efforts to consolidate its own rare earth supply chain. At the same time, Australia has also positioned itself as a leading alternative supplier of key minerals, striving to break China's monopoly in the global market.

However, if the United States wants Australia to help in the field of rare earths, it will probably take many years.

The BBC, for example, reported in August that Iluka Resources, an Australia-based company, had built up a large stockpile of rare earths in recent years, but that was the easy part. Processing or refining rare earths is another challenge. While construction of the refinery is planned, it will take another two years for the refinery to be up and running, company officials said.

The Wall Street Journal also in March that during the Biden administration, Australian graphite mining company Syrah Resources received hundreds of dollars in loans from the U.S. government on several occasions, but these agreements and projects were either postponed or forced to suspend operations, causing heavy losses as China steadily dominated the key mineral sectors.

"Syrah Resources" graphite processing plant facility in Louisiana, USA

On April 2 this year, US President Trump held high the "tariff stick" on the whole world and imposed so-called "reciprocal tariffs". The tariff on China was once as high as 145%.

Subsequently, the Chinese side immediately introduced a series of precise counter-attack measures, in addition to the imposition of tariffs, it also implemented export controls on 7 categories of medium-sized rare-earth related items such as uranium, uranium, uranium, uranium, uranium. The Financial Times of the United Kingdom at the time cited insiders in the industry to reveal that China was establishing an export license system. In December 2024, China also announced that it had strictly controlled the export of U.S. uranium, uranium, uranium, superhard materials, graphics and other related two-use items.

On June 7, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce of China stated that China implements export controls on rare earths related items in accordance with the law, with the purpose of better safeguarding national security and interests, fulfilling international obligations such as non-proliferation, and reflecting its consistent stance of upholding world peace and regional stability.

The spokesperson pointed out that rare earths related items have dual-use attributes for military and civilian purposes, and the implementation of export controls on them is in line with international practice. China has noted that with the development of industries such as robots and new energy vehicles, the demand for medium and heavy rare earths in the civilian field in various countries is continuing to grow. As a responsible country, China fully considers the reasonable needs and concerns of various countries in the civil field, reviews export license applications for rare earth-related items in accordance with laws and regulations, has approved a certain number of compliance applications in accordance with the law, and will continue to strengthen compliance application approval work.

The spokesman said that China is willing to further strengthen export control communication and dialogue with relevant countries in this regard, and promote the convenience of compliant trade.