President Joe Biden and senior administration officials promoted investments in critical mineral and electric vehicle battery supply chains during an event at the White House on Tuesday afternoon.
WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, industry executives, labor leaders and others joined Biden in promoting public and private spending on domestic mineral projects.
"If I was going to follow through on my commitment that we were going to make it in America, we needed a supply chain that was reliable," Biden said. That includes steady sources of lithium, graphite, rare earth minerals and more, "which are badly needed for so many American products."
He noted that experts expect demand for certain minerals to skyrocket in coming years. That's linked to the auto industry's pivot to electric vehicles, which require more minerals like lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese to build the batteries that power them.
"Today, China controls most of the global market for these minerals," he added. "And the fact is we can't build a future that's made in America if we ourselves are dependent on China for the materials to power the products of today and tomorrow."
Increasing economic competition with China and pandemic-induced supply chain shocks have pushed mineral supply concerns to the forefront for auto executives and administration officials hoping to accelerate the EV transition.
China controls more than 75% of global battery cell production capacity, according to an analysis by the Department of Energy.
The Department of Defense announced Thursday that it awarded a $35 million contract to MP Materials Corp., a Las Vegas-based company that plans to build a facility for processing heavy rare earth minerals. General Motors Co. entered an agreement with the company in December to source magnets for EVs.
The company is also investing $700 million in the magnet supply chain and is creating 350 jobs, Biden said.
Alicia Knapp, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Renewables, spoke about a new demonstration project in the so-called Lithium Valley area of southern California, where the company expects it could produce 90,000 metric tons of lithium annually once fully operational.
Biden also mentioned a partnership between Redwood Materials and Ford Motor Co. and Volvo Cars Ltd. to extract lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite from batteries at a recycling facility in Nevada.
The White House also noted in a fact sheet about administration efforts that the Energy Department is investing $140 million in projects that aim to recover minerals from coal ash and mine waste, as well as $3 billion approved by the bipartisan infrastructure law to fund battery mineral refining and recycling.
Last year, Biden issued an executive order directing the administration to identify weaknesses in the supply chains for critical industries, including electric vehicle batteries.
Ahead of the anniversary of the executive order, the White House also announced efforts to recommend changes to mining regulations to promote mining with strong environmental and labor standards, according to the fact sheet.
The administration also aims to update the federal critical mineral list — it currently doesn't include nickel, which is common in EV batteries — and improve national stockpiling.
