Erin Benson, assistant professor of critical minerals for the WSU School of the Environment<\/a> and INEF faculty fellow, began with a short presentation covering the fundamentals of the topic, including what counts as a critical mineral and what does not. Ultimately, she said, a critical mineral is defined by two important factors \u2014 one being its vitalness to economic and national security, the other being its vulnerability to supply chain disruption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the United States, the most recently published critical minerals list<\/a> includes 60 materials, most of which are elements, Benson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe use the term critical minerals because it implies a resource that you\u2019re mining from the ground,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it\u2019s not a very accurate term.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Among those 60 items, she said, are the essential components that make up our smartphones, vehicles, electrical infrastructure, and more. And while most critical minerals are contained even in the rocks right under our feet, the resources required to extract such tiny amounts would render such efforts cost prohibitive \u2014 hence the importance of ore deposits, which contain high concentrations of specific minerals that can be mined and processed at a profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since these deposits are a product of geological circumstances, however, their distribution around the world is uneven, meaning some countries have easier access to certain high-value mineral deposits than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The topic of China came up several times throughout the discussion as one example of a geopolitical competitor that currently supplies critical minerals to the United States. They also account for an estimated 70% of global mining and processing of rare earth elements, one important subset of the U.S. critical minerals list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you can take one thing away from what I say today, mineral deposits are rare geologic phenomena,\u201d said Sidney Smith, government affairs manager for the American Exploration & Mining Association<\/a>, who presented next. \u201cThey really are hard to find.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n One benefit of domestic mining, Smith said, is that certain prized minerals are often \u2014 though not always \u2014 closely clustered with secondary minerals, some of which also appear on the critical minerals list. Gold mines, for example, often contain deposits of silver, copper, zinc, and antimony. Titanium exploration can likewise reveal associated rare earth mineral concentrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is important to understand because when you get your drill results as an exploration company, you\u2019re going to have to look at that entire buffet of minerals that come out in those cores,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe economics really have to pencil out as you \u2026 make that decision to go forward.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, the regulatory processes for domestic mining are lengthy and costly, Smith said, as are the steps for surveying and finance. The exploration phase for a new mine can last up to 10 years or more, and the permitting phase can take even longer, as each targeted site will need to be studied for surface water, groundwater, and soil impact, as well as threats to endangered species and a host of other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe National Academy of Science notes that only one in a thousand exploration targets will ever actually turn into an operating mine,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also noted that stringent regulatory standards are in place for a reason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe conditions in which these minerals are produced [outside the U.S.] are often appalling, frankly, in terms of environmental standards and human rights,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe are turning this around by reviving our domestic mining industry, which is the safest and most responsible mining industry in the world. \u2026 But that turnaround is going to take time, discipline, and a sustained focus.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the opinion of panelist Nabajit Lahiri, research scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory<\/a>, limited timeframes mean we cannot rely on traditional mining practices alone. His presentation focused on emerging innovations with the potential to reduce the environmental footprint of mining and speed up regulatory processes by avoiding certain impacts altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One such innovation Lahiri currently studies is in-situ mining \u2014 a practice that seeks to extract critical minerals buried deep underground by injecting fluids directly into the ore deposits. Those minerals are then pumped to the surface in a liquid-form solution that is ready for processing either on-site or at least domestically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat we do is very similar to what the oil and gas industry has done for decades. We will inject \u2026 a water-based fluid in the subsurface, and that fluid will then leach out the critical minerals,\u201d Lahiri said. \u201cThe rock stays where it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a contrasting example to nontraditional mining, Lahiri showed an image from the open-pit Kennecott Copper Mine in Utah \u2014 an excavation site that has resulted in a kilometer-deep crater visible from space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat happens to this rock when you excavate it? You process it partly domestically and then \u2026 this is shipped over to China or some other country overseas,\u201d Lahiri said. \u201cThat introduces a supply chain risk, because most of the chemical processing is likely done at those overseas sites. And then you have to import the copper back from those countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lahiri also spoke briefly on a few other developing technologies, such as bioleaching, which uses acid-secreting microorganisms to extract critical minerals from rocks, as well as phytomining, which utilizes rapid-growing plants known to absorb critical minerals from soil and rock substrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat I\u2019m trying to say is we need to be more open,\u201d Lahiri said. \u201cWe need to research. We need to deploy these nontraditional mining tools.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aaron Feaver, WSU\u2019s executive director for the Joint Center for Deployment and Research in Earth Abundant Materials<\/a>, concluded the presentation segment by calling attention to the many ways his statewide organization has been working to advance ideas and solutions to the critical minerals challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRecognizing some of the workforce development challenges and the fact that a lot of folks are really not aware of these critical minerals, we\u2019ve started on curriculum development program for K-12 students,\u201d Feaver said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The forum concluded with panelists addressing questions from the audience on related topics like waste recycling, geopolitical threats, and career opportunities in the critical minerals field. Smith was quick to respond to the latter question with an emphatic assurance that new talent is greatly needed, and all academic disciplines are welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMore than half of the mining workforce is eligible to retire by 2029, so we are in a crunch for mining engineers, geologists, and metallurgists,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut we also really need people who wouldn\u2019t think of themselves as miners or [being] interested in mining. If you think of yourself as an environmentalist and wanting to protect the environment, we need you too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n You can watch the full event recording on YouTube<\/a>. This was the second INEF community forum. The first event, hosted in 2025, convened around the topic of small modular reactors<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We look forward to hosting more forums on pressing energy topics soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n — <\/p>\n\n\n\n For more perspective on the critical minerals topic, be sure to check out the following write-ups in the (1) Captial Press and (2) Tri-City Herald:<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Critical minerals get spotlight during WSU community panel<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The demand for critical minerals is rapidly outpacing what current supply can meet, and traditional mining methods alone are unlikely to close the gap. Yet with improving technologies, advancing scientific […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":1079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsuwp.tricities.wsu.edu\/inef\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsuwp.tricities.wsu.edu\/inef\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsuwp.tricities.wsu.edu\/inef\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsuwp.tricities.wsu.edu\/inef\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsuwp.tricities.wsu.edu\/inef\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1068"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/wsuwp.tricities.wsu.edu\/inef\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1110,"href":"https:\/\/wsuwp.tricities.wsu.edu\/inef\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068\/revisions\/1110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsuwp.tricities.wsu.edu\/inef\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsuwp.tricities.wsu.edu\/inef\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsuwp.tricities.wsu.edu\/inef\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsuwp.tricities.wsu.edu\/inef\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Guest](\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-tricities\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/INEF-community-forum-4-1024x683.jpg\")
2. \u2018Critical minerals\u2019 will shape NW future<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n