North American net import reliance of mineral materials in 2014 for advanced technologies

Mining Engineering , 2018, Vol. 70, No. 7, pp. 107-112

Brainard, J.; Sinclair, R.G.; Stone, K.; Sangine, E.; Fortier, S.M.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.19150/me.8365

The U.S. Geological Survey and Natural Resources Canada conducted a study on the net import reliance of each North American country, and the impact of North American trade on the net import reliance of 12 nonfuel mineral commodities that are associated with advanced technology products: cadmium, cobalt, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, lithium, nickel, rare earth elements, selenium, silver and tellurium. The combined results for North America, using 2014 data, showed greatly reduced net import reliance for nearly all of the commodities evaluated, which is largely the result of pooling the resources of production and recovery in Canada and Mexico of materials that are consumed in the United States. This study highlights the mitigation of potential supply risk for critical materials that results from trade within the North American trade bloc.