If you’ve ever used a phone, driven a car or flipped on a light switch, you’ve relied on critical minerals. These are special materials like lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements. They help power our batteries, electric vehicles, wind turbines and more.
But here’s the problem: The United States doesn’t mine or refine enough of these minerals. Instead, we import most of them from other countries – mainly China. In fact, when it comes to the rare earth category of critical minerals essential for defense, China mines about two-thirds of them and processes 85% of the world’s supply.
The good news? We already have many of these minerals right here in the U.S. — and while new mining projects are essential, we can also recover materials from areas we’ve already disturbed.
What Are Critical Minerals, and Why Do We Need Them?
Critical minerals are natural materials that are essential for modern technology, clean energy and national defense. You can’t build a smartphone, electric car or solar panel without them. They’re also needed for power lines, wind turbines, military equipment and even medical devices.
Here are a few examples:
- Lithium powers rechargeable batteries in phones, laptops and electric vehicles.
- Cobalt helps those batteries last longer and charge faster.
- Rare earth elements are used in magnets for wind turbines, computer chips and even fighter jets.
We don’t always see these minerals, but we rely on them every day. Without them, the technology and energy systems we count on would stop working – or cost a lot more.
Old Waste, New Opportunity
Across the country, there are piles of waste from old coal and metal mines. There are also closed factories, abandoned mine sites and tons of electronic waste like broken phones and laptops. Many of these leftovers still contain valuable minerals.
Thanks to new technology, companies can now extract critical minerals from these old materials. That means we can get what we need without opening new mines or disturbing untouched land.
This smarter approach saves time, money and the environment – and helps local communities grow again.
Why Should You Care?
You might wonder: Why does this matter to me?
Here’s how it affects your life, your family and your wallet:
- Higher prices – If we don’t have enough critical minerals, it becomes more expensive to make cars, batteries, electronics and even parts of the power grid. Those costs often get passed on to consumers.
- Unreliable products – Depending on other countries for materials can cause delays or shortages. That means fewer products, longer wait times and sometimes lower quality.
- Fewer U.S. jobs – When mining and manufacturing move overseas, we lose jobs here at home – especially in towns that could use the work.
By reusing old mine waste and recovering minerals from scrap, we keep jobs in the U.S., avoid shortages and keep costs under control.
What’s Already Working
Some projects are already proving that this approach works:
- In West Virginia, leftover coal waste is being used to extract rare earth elements needed for electric vehicles and wind turbines.
- In California, researchers are pulling lithium from hot underground water near the Salton Sea – a big win for U.S. battery production.
- In Pennsylvania, scientists are finding critical minerals in polluted mine water – cleaning up the environment and boosting supply at the same time.
These aren’t just ideas – they’re real projects making a difference.
What We Need to Do Next
To keep moving forward, we need smart policies that support this new way of getting minerals. That includes:
- Faster permits for projects that reuse old sites instead of digging up new land.
- Better recycling systems to recover minerals from old electronics and industrial waste.
- More investment in research to improve extraction methods and bring costs down.
- Recognizing waste piles and abandoned mines as resources, not just leftover junk.
These common-sense steps can help the U.S. compete, grow and protect consumers from rising costs.
A Win for Everyone
Reusing what we’ve already mined is a smart and practical way to strengthen our mineral supply. While new mining will continue to play an important role, recovering minerals from old sites, waste materials and recycled products adds another tool to meet demand, reduce costs and ease pressure on new resources.
Most important, this approach delivers real benefits to everyday Americans: more reliable energy, affordable products and good-paying jobs right here at home.
So the next time you plug in your phone or start your car, remember—meeting our energy needs isn’t about choosing one path. It’s about using every smart solution we have.