Secure Land. Secure Supply.

For most of the 20th century, the United States led the world in the production and processing of essential minerals. Copper, tungsten, vanadium, titanium — these were the backbone of American industry, fueling the rise of manufacturing, aerospace, and defense. But over time, that dominance slipped away. How America Lost Its Edge Starting in the 1980s, a mix of global and domestic forces reshaped the mining landscape: Rising environmental regulation made U.S. mining more exp

Few people outside the geology world know the term ophiolite . Yet these ancient rock formations may hold the key to America’s next industrial and energy transition. Ophiolites are slices of ancient oceanic crust and upper mantle thrust up onto land over geological time. Within them lie rich concentrations of critical minerals such as vanadium, titanium, nickel and cobalt—materials essential to modern industry, batteries, aerospace and green-energy systems. On top of that, t

Every industrial era has its defining material. Iron powered the railways. Oil fueled the age of engines. Silicon made the digital revolution possible. Now, as the world races toward clean energy, critical minerals are becoming the backbone of the next transformation — and vanadium may quietly be the most important of them all. What Are “Critical Minerals”? The U.S. Geological Survey defines critical minerals as materials “essential to the economy and national security, bu