Biden Win Could Be Net Positive for Metals and Mining, Observers Say

October 20, 2020

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by Jacob Holzman and Gaurang Dholakia (S&P Global Platts) ... As a result, observers have predicted that producers of battery and base metals such as lithium and nickel could benefit from a Biden victory.

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The benefits to metals producers from a Biden win could stretch beyond the boundaries of the U.S., said Frank Mariage, a mining attorney with law firm Fasken. While a Trump win would maintain consistency in U.S. critical minerals policy, a Biden administration would prioritize the nation's EV supply chain as automakers in Europe move toward securing minerals from sources other than China.

"Obviously this would benefit not only mining companies in the U.S., but it would benefit mining companies in Canada or other friendly nations with the U.S.," Mariage said.

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On the campaign trail, Biden has demonstrated a willingness to avoid contentious debates around certain mining projects. While the former vice president spoke out against the development of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.'s contentious Pebble copper-gold project in Alaska, Biden has stayed out of the debate surrounding Antofagasta PLC's Maturi copper-nickel-platinum project in Minnesota, which has been criticized for its potential harm to a nearby wilderness area.

The prospects of a Biden administration shepherding his clean energy and infrastructure plans through Congress are unclear and would depend on whether Republicans or Democrats control the U.S. Senate come January 2021. But even if Biden wins the presidency and Republicans maintain their hold on their Senate majority, there is bipartisan support for a package of clean energy and minerals legislation known as the American Energy Innovation Act. The bill would result in substantial investments in clean energy research and development while setting policies around mineral security and permitting for certain mines producing minerals with a high national security priority.

"Democrats are clearly very focused on the deployment but have acknowledged that we need to have the minerals, the industrial base, and Republicans are very on top of the upstream both for defense and other reasons," said Robbie Diamond, president and CEO of Securing America's Future Energy, a D.C.-based nonprofit that advocates for the U.S. clean energy transition from a national security perspective. READ MORE

Exclusive: Biden campaign tells miners it supports domestic production of EV metals (Reuters)

Energy Department seeks to boost mining through loan programs Trump proposed cutting (The Hill)

Trump does U-turn on DOE loans for clean energy (E&E News)

MINERALS HITCH A RIDE? (Politico's Morning Energy)

Excerpt from Reuters: Joe Biden’s campaign has privately told U.S. miners it would support boosting domestic production of metals used to make electric vehicles, solar panels and other products crucial to his climate plan, according to three sources familiar with the matter, in a boon for the mining industry.

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The Obama administration enacted rigorous environmental regulations that slowed U.S. mining sector growth during its time in office.

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The U.S. Democratic presidential candidate also supports bipartisan efforts to foster a domestic supply chain for lithium, copper, rare earths, nickel and other strategic materials that the United States imports from China and other countries, the sources said.

President Donald Trump, Biden’s Republican opponent in the Nov. 3 election, has issued executive orders to encourage U.S. mining.

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Washington has been forced to rethink its long-term U.S. sourcing strategy as China has become the world’s largest producer or consumer of nearly all the metals used to make EVs, cell phones, weapons and other high-tech equipment.

“A Biden administration would emphasize green energy, and in order to get more solar panels, you need more raw materials,” said one of the sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “These materials don’t come out of a test tube.”

Biden agrees with the broad intent of Trump’s orders to encourage domestic mining, but opposes Trump’s anti-China rhetoric and his attempts to streamline federal permitting, two of the sources said.

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ScotiaBank analysts project the Biden plan will spark a multi-year boon for copper, one of the best electrical-conducting metals. EVs use twice as much copper as internal combustion engines.

That could bolster efforts by Chilean miner Antofagasta Plc’s Twin Metals subsidiary to secure federal permits to build a Minnesota copper mine.

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Lithium miners including Lithium Americas Corp, Albemarle Corp, Standard Lithium Corp and others, especially, are seen as additional winners in a Biden presidency, as the white metal is key to build EV batteries.

Donations by employees at U.S. lithium miners to Democrats this year have nearly doubled from 2016 levels, according to campaign disclosures.

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Biden’s planned support for mining will create tension with his environmental supporters who oppose new mines.

Biden declined this year to commit to opposing copper mining in Minnesota. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: MINERALS HITCH A RIDE?A provision in the latest Senate Republican offer for a coronavirus relief package contains the text of a Senate Energy Committee "proposal to make us less dependent on China and other unstable, unreliable and hostile regimes for critical minerals." That appears to refer to the American Mineral Security Act, S. 1317 (116), a bipartisan proposal that would require greater analysis of the nation's supply of critical minerals. However, Democrats appear unlikely to support Majority Leader Mitch McConnelll's slimmed-down offer.

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DOE ISSUES GUIDANCE FOR CRITICAL MINERALS: New guidance from the Energy Department aims to boost a domestic supply chain of critical minerals, including rare earth elements, through shifting federal loan funding that President Donald Trump previously proposed eliminating. A notice posted Tuesday in the Federal Register directs the department's Loan Programs Office to "broadly" interpret the Title XVII and Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan programs to encourage the manufacturing, recycling and recovery of critical minerals and other minerals, Pro's Sarah Cammarata and Eric Wolff report. A department official told reporters Tuesday that the programs had never been used to develop critical minerals before.

The guidance follows a September executive order from Trump that directed a multi-agency push to expand U.S. production of rare earth minerals. China has dominated the rare earth industry, and the U.S. is reliant on Beijing for the majority of its supply. The U.S. has no domestic production of 14 of the 35 critical minerals, a DOE official said. READ MORE