CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — President Donald Trump is taking a step toward granting the U.S. mining industry’s biggest wishes by singling out one metal as a focus of his domestic minerals policy: copper.
From talk of acquiring Greenland and its vast mineral wealth to prodding Ukraine for minerals in exchange for help fending off Russia's invasion, Trump has made the raw materials of modern life a pillar of his foreign policy.
An executive order Trump signed Tuesday calls for boosting the domestic copper industry by investigating the national security implications of imports and weighing tariffs as a response.
“The United States has ample copper reserves, yet our smelting and refining capacity lags significantly behind global competitors,” the order reads.
It could mean a new day for U.S. copper mining, and new worries for environmental groups that are contesting proposals such as the stalled Twin Metals project in northern Minnesota's Boundary Waters, a lake-filled wilderness on the U.S.-Canada border.
“The White House itself acknowledges that America has ‘ample supplies’ of copper. Sacrificing an irreplaceable national treasure for an insignificant amount of copper is reckless and unnecessary,” Ingrid Lyons, executive director of the Save the Boundary Waters, said by email.
Copper is in demand
Copper is at least as crucial as lithium and cobalt for rechargeable batteries and rare-earth elements for cellphones, LED lights and flat-screen TVs. Copper goes into the cords and transmission lines that plug gadgetry into power.
“Copper is, I think, the metal that is really the most critical because it is the electricity metal,” said Debra Struhsacker, a mining industry policy consultant. “The electricity demand is, I think, going to stay. And copper is indispensable for that.”
U.S. copper use, imports and exports have fluctuated somewhat over the past two decades, according to the Copper Development Association, but a dearth of smelting compared with the amount mined domestically has remained a consistent theme.
Where does the U.S. get its copper?
While the U.S. in 2024 mined an estimated 1.1 million tons (1 million metric tons) of copper and exported about a third of that in primarily unrefined form, it imported 810,000 tons (735,000 metric tons), nearly all of it refined, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Trump's executive order accurately refers to China as the world's leading refiner of copper, with over half the world's smelting capacity. China, however, does not directly factor into U.S. supplies. Two-thirds of U.S. imports of refined copper comes from Chile, which is the world's leading copper producer, with lesser amounts from Canada, Mexico and Peru.
How much those numbers might change with rising copper demand to support construction of transmission lines and manufacturing of wind turbines and electric vehicles remains to be seen. Some predict global demand to double by 2030 and keep rising, notes the National Mining Association.
Even before Trump's plan for copper, the association was encouraged by Trump executive orders promoting mining. One lifts government rules and regulations responsible for “undue burdens” on mining and mineral processing, calls for updating the U.S. Geological Survey's list of minerals deemed critical to the nation and backs efforts to find and mine new sources of those minerals.
“Made in America, America first, starts with American mining and American miners that supported this president across the country,” National Mining Association president and CEO Rich Nolan said.
Copper projects have faced delays
The mining association's top priorities include:
— The planned $1.7 billion Twin Metals copper-nickel-cobalt mine that environmental groups contend poses an unacceptable risk to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota, the most visited federally designated wilderness area. The latest blow to the project came when a judge refused to reinstate mining leases.
— The stalled $1 billion NewRange Copper Nickel mine, also in northeastern Minnesota, which developers look to redesign to make more environmentally and cost-efficient after a series of court and regulatory setbacks.
— The contested Resolution Copper project at Oak Flat in central Arizona, which is believed to be the world's third-biggest deposit of copper ore and was the site of a battle between locals who want the mine for economic development and native Apache who consider the land sacred. An appeals court panel in 2024 refused to block a crucial land transfer for the mine.
— Southern Arizona's proposed Copper World copper-molybdenum mine, formerly known as the Rosemont mine, which has been delayed by a court ruling that limited how mining companies can discard tailings on U.S. Forest Service land under the 1872 Mining Law.
All four projects are led by non-U.S. companies including Toronto, Canada-based Hudbay Minerals Inc., developer of Copper World.
Some mines don't operate at full capacity
The federal government should have a national strategy to protect the environment and public health by avoiding new terrain and increasing production at existing mines operating at less than full capacity, said Rob Peters, executive director of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, a group opposing Copper World.
“That would make sense, right? But there’s nothing like that. Instead, it’s sort of like the Wild West where companies — in our case here in Arizona, the majority of them foreign companies — just can come in. And the only decision-making process is the company figures out where they think they can make the most money,” Peters said.
Decades ago, Arizona copper made the U.S. the world's top producer. Now it ranks fifth.
To Struhsacker, the industry consultant, lack of government coordination has stalled permits and stifled mine development. Trump's executive orders recognize the need “to make permitting work again,” she said.
Mead Gruver, The Associated Press
