LEE, DEAR LEE: The United States needs to dig deeper to help our military

President-elect Donald Trump's pre-emptive threat several weeks ago against the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, etc.) that want to usurp the US dollar as a global currency was a strong and prescient move. But as night follows day, a BRICS leader China immediately responded with a counter-strike: Denying the United States access to many important minerals that America needs for national defense but now imports largely from the BRICS countries.

On New Year's Day, China upped the ante. She added 28 American defense industry companies To the Export Control List, which restricts these companies from exporting “dual-use” items that have both commercial and defense uses.

What does this mean? If the Chinese Communist Party uses this to justify an export ban on components containing critical materials such as rare earth permanent magnets – which I believe they will do – then the critical minerals war we have long feared will begin. This was to be expected FoxNews.com pages in early 2023.

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China launched these attacks ostensibly in response to actions taken by the Biden administration. But China knows that linking critical minerals to the US military serves several strategic goals that benefit both China and the BRICS cartel:

China and other BRICS countries could harm the US military by restricting rare earth minerals. FILE: A rare earth mine is shown in Baiyun Ibu or Bayan Obu, a mining town in Inner Mongolia, China. (Bert Van Dijk / Contributor)

• It directly weakens America's national security without even having to fire a shot.
• It is a strong response to restrictions on US exports without engaging in a losing battle against the US tariff master.
• It should increase revenues for BRICS metal producers, weaken global competitors, and possibly exacerbate inflationary pressures in the United States.
• It enables China and its BRICS allies to enter the ring with an adversary – the United States – which in recent decades has tied its hands behind its back regarding the production of critical minerals.

But the BRICS countries may have made a serious miscalculation: they are underestimating America's ability to unleash a new era of power. “Mine, baby, mine” in the Trump era. Mining critical minerals domestically in the United States — including in much-talked-about areas like Greenland — is key to removing the dangerous influence that the BRICS countries have on our economic and national security.

BRICS starts with a significant advantage over the United States. They all possess rich mineral resources and the will to extract their value for their economic, military and geopolitical benefit. Collectively, they control or significantly influence the global supply chains for rare earths, niobium, scandium, titanium metal, vanadium, nickel, antimony, cobalt, lithium, graphite, gallium, platinum and many others. The breadth and depth of this geopolitical power sends shivers down the spine of any serious American military planner.

For example, government-controlled entities in China and Russia manipulate the pricing of important mineral commodities to seize market share. They surreptitiously flow their molecules through third parties to hide the source and evade tariffs. It invests more than the United States in minerals research, development, and training of a specialized workforce, enhancing its enormous competitive advantage.

The BRICS countries have even been credibly accused of stoking anti-mining sentiment in the United States by funneling money to global anti-mining activists working for Linking American mining projects In endless routine and litigation.

If the United States wants to compete with China, we must expand our production of rare earth elements. File: An open pit mine at Molycorp's rare earths facility in Mountain Pass, California. (Reuters)

China provides the primary fulcrum for the BRICS' mineral influence. CCP-controlled companies have helped China become the largest producer and/or refiner of more than half of the 50 minerals identified by the US government as critically important. Moreover, the Chinese Communist Party clearly wants to weaponize this advantage, as recent moves to restrict US access to some important minerals show.

Make no mistake, restrictions on exports of critical minerals to the United States are likely to increase. At some point, such a ban — especially if it extends to rare-earth magnets, as I believe is now inevitable — means that newly built F-35s can't fly, smart bombs get dumb, and advanced submarines can't be built. Soldiers future supplies of night vision goggles.

How can the incoming Trump administration confront the threat of BRICS metals? In the interest of transparency, let me point out that I have been in the mining industry for over 40 years, and today my team and I are developing an advanced critical minerals project in Nebraska. I have a personal interest in seeing America step up mineral development. But I make the following suggestions on behalf of industry and, more importantly, American national security.

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• Providing low-interest loans to new mines that have already obtained all necessary federal, state and local permits and that have strong support from local communities.

• Focus on polymetallic mines that can produce multiple important minerals from a single ore body and can also expand production by recycling post-consumer waste streams, such as rare earth permanent magnets.
• Expanding the authority of the US Department of Defense, through the Office of Strategic Capital and Title III programs, to become a major source of funding for new mines. You could also enable the National Defense Stockpile to build a much larger store of defense-critical minerals and enter into forward purchase agreements with U.S. mines that are not yet in production.
• Encouraging the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) to accelerate debt financing for critical domestic mineral projects. To its credit, EXIM has already launched the first effort in its history to finance domestic American projects. What's more, EXIM's loan revenues have historically covered its operating costs and allowed it to generate net government revenue. Few government agencies offer such value.
• Waiving National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews for critical defense mineral projects that are not otherwise subject to NEPA but receive federal funding.

CCP-controlled companies have helped China become the largest producer and/or refiner of more than half of the 50 minerals identified by the US government as critically important. Moreover, the Chinese Communist Party clearly wants to weaponize this advantage, as recent moves to restrict US access to some important minerals show.

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• Legislate reasonable limits on litigation deadlines. It now takes an average of 29 years to get an online mine in the US, with only Zambia doing worse.
• Streamlining federal permitting processes. The first Trump administration made excellent progress in this regard, but much of that has been reversed by subsequent executive orders. Allowing reform through changes to US laws is a must.

The United States mines and processes minerals more efficiently and with greater concern for the environment than any other country. Let us reclaim and unleash America's entrepreneurial spirit and “mine, baby, mine” our way to a more prosperous and secure future.