Conference: CAS - Climate: Resilient Supply of Critical Minerals, Rolla, MO, August 9-10, 2023

Missouri University Of Science And Technology, Rolla MO

Investigators

Abstract

In 2019, the Department of State fulfilled a 2017 Presidential Executive Order and identified 35 "critical minerals" that are vital to the U.S. economy and national security. The newer 2022 list includes 50 critical minerals and the U.S. remains import reliant for most of these commodities. Removing materials from the critical minerals list requires a multi-disciplinary approach that encompasses mineral exploration, material flow analysis, sustainability, mining methods, public policy, mineral economics, extractive metallurgy, and production process. To provide a platform for stakeholders from academia, the private sector, and government agencies that represent these disciplines, Missouri S&T University will convene an in-person workshop on “Resilient Supply of Critical Minerals’ on the university's campus in Rolla, MO, on August 9-10, 2023. Themed topical sessions will discuss the resilient supply of critical minerals from cross-disciplinary, convergent perspectives, including mineral exploration and source diversification, mineral processing and recycling, policy making, and resource sustainability. National leaders in their respective fields will give keynote presentations, followed by TED-style talks, panel discussions, and breakout sessions. The breakout sessions will be structured for interdisciplinary engagement, to provide a convergent perspective that includes economic, technical, social, and policy aspects. Research road maps will examine and evaluate the concept of criticality and recognize the cross-disciplinary nature of techniques required to enhance supply resilience. The workshop findings will be summarized and disseminated in a workshop report. The in-person format of this workshop will help to develop and nurture personal relationships between participants from academia, government agencies, and the private sector – thereby facilitating multi-disciplinary collaborations in critical minerals research. Increasing critical mineral supply chain resiliency remains important to the U.S. economy and defense. Existing research has yet to span fully the multi-disciplinary nature of approaches available to enhance supply chain resilience. Geologic, mining engineering, metallurgic, economic, environmental, and social components associated with critical minerals are usually discussed separately with little convergence among the different fields. This in-person workshop will address this gap by providing a platform for engineers, geoscientists, economists, and political scientists from industry, academia, and the government that rarely meet otherwise. The workshop organizers will prepare a comprehensive report that can be used to inform decision-making in pursuit of increasing supply chain resilience, ranging from mineral exploration, separation, and recovery to environmental and social impacts, as well as political processes. The workshop will help nurture an emerging national community with a wide range of expertise in critical mineral supply resilience, spanning academic, industry, and government entities. Travel grants, particularly for students and early-career researchers, will help build a community that spans generations and ensure the meeting's lasting impact. The development of a healthy and active critical mineral community is pivotal to national security and the economy because the U.S. is currently import-reliant for most of the commodities on the critical minerals list. This workshop will develop and publish roadmaps for guiding efforts to gradually decrease import reliance for individual critical minerals, thereby strengthening the economic competitiveness of the U.S. Further, this workshop will generate insights into how U.S. universities can meet the projected future demands for the nation's critical minerals workforce, particularly in rural areas which are most likely to contain undiscovered resources. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.