UW Professor Co-Chairs New Report on U.S. Mineral Resource Development

A new study co-chaired by University of Wyoming Professor Emerita Carol Frost identifies key challenges to meeting mineral resources needs in the United States and recommends a way forward for the nation.

Minerals are essential to the nation’s core economic sectors, including manufacturing, energy and technology. Expansion in these industries is increasing demand, especially for critical minerals such as lithium and cobalt, used in energy storage; platinum, in the automotive industry and fuel cells; and germanium, used in superconductors. Producing accurate estimates of available mineral resources and planning for their domestic development is especially important, to guard against instability in global supply chains and bolster national security.

The newly released report, “Meeting Future U.S. Mineral Resource Needs: The Role of the U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program,” was produced by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), an independent review board contracted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to review the effectiveness of its Mineral Resources Program (MRP). The study committee, co-chaired by Frost, included professionals from academic, government and private sectors.

“To me, the value of NASEM reports is that they are consensus reports by a spectrum of experts who work in different areas and for a variety of employers, and each study member must agree on the recommendations,” Frost says. “They provide unbiased, reliable assessments for everyone to use.”

The study identified seven key challenges to meeting mineral resources needs in the United States and made seven recommendations for the MRP to address those challenges. The challenges include: making predictions for future demand based on industry trends; ensuring consistent supply access; characterizing what mineral supplies are available and their extraction potential; making optimal use of data tools, including artificial intelligence and machine learning; ensuring innovation can be applied to best effect; minimizing environmental and social impact; and ensuring the workforce has the necessary education and training to meet evolving needs.

Among its duties, the MRP is responsible for maintaining the list of national critical minerals. According to the Energy Act of 2020, critical minerals are defined as those “that are essential to the economic or national security of the United States; have a supply chain that is vulnerable to disruption; and serve an essential function in the manufacturing of a product, the absence of which would have significant consequences for the economic or national security of the U.S.”

To make these determinations, the MRP provides unbiased science and data to inform decision making through mineral resource research and assessments. It also maintains earth mapping resources, including Earth MRI, which collects baseline data for mineral development by mapping subsurface regions of the U.S. Additionally, the MRP investigates how mining waste and unconventional resources might be leveraged to supplement supply chains.

After analyzing the current activities of the MRP, the authors of the study concluded that these services continue to be vital to national economic security and made the following recommendations for the MRP: to be proactive in anticipating future mineral resources needs and the infrastructure that will be needed to develop them; to develop targets for future domestic production of a select number of “priority” minerals; to further develop the Earth MRI program to serve as a more robust “live” national atlas of domestic mineral resources; to increase the use of data science tools and deliverables to improve services to key stakeholders; to establish an advisory system that can help negotiate between the needs of various stakeholders, including industry, academia, federal agencies, international partners, states, tribes and the public; to update the current strategic plan in consultation with the interests named above; and to promote additional collaboration between the USGS and its many partner entities.

To continue the momentum from these findings, the committee and NASEM staff are providing briefings for USGS staff and others at the federal level. Frost will present the results of the report at two professional meetings this fall: the Geological Society of America annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, and at AGU (formerly American Geophysical Union) at its annual meeting in New Orleans, La.

The Earth MRI program, in particular, has been of significant benefit in Wyoming, where its detailed mineral resource surveys are used for research by UW faculty members and students, in close partnership with the Wyoming State Geological Survey. Earth MRI data has been key, for example, in Frost’s research on the critical minerals potential of the Rattlesnake Hills in central Wyoming.

“Many of the surveys have been in Wyoming,” Frost says, “and they provide incredibly detailed subsurface information for mineral development by private enterprise.”

Several UW students have gone on to work on the Earth MRI program with the Wyoming State Geological Survey as well, and there is additional potential for workforce development in partnership with the university as a result of the report findings.

“The great value of these reports is that they provide a roadmap for … the USGS on how to make best use of their talent and budget so that the U.S. meets the challenge of producing the mineral resources we need in a sustainable, responsible way,” Frost says.

She knows firsthand the value of these kinds of reports, as a previous study that she commissioned as division director for earth sciences at the National Science Foundation has been widely read and referenced.

“It is an honor to be co-chair of the USGS MRP study, and I hope it will be equally helpful,” she says.

To view the full report, go to https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/29068/meeting-future-us-mineral-resource-needs-the-role-of-the.