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SALT LAKE CITY — A U.S. senator wants to ban the import of essential minerals from Russia with legislation introduced this week targeting eight critical minerals, including copper, zinc and palladium.
The bill by Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., was introduced after the announcement by Montana's Stillwater Mine that it is laying off 700 employees.
Daines said the layoffs can be attributed to the Biden-Harris administration allowing imports of critical minerals from Russia rather than relying on Montana mines to provide critical minerals to American markets.
In addition, he said the import of Russian minerals is actively funding Russia's war against Ukraine, adding that Montana is home to the only platinum and palladium mine in the United States and a top producer of copper.
"Joe Biden and Kamala Harris failed to protect Montana jobs. Rather than relying on our own Montana mines to provide palladium, the Biden-Harris administration is allowing critical mineral imports from Russia, which is costing Montana jobs and funding Russia's unjust war against Ukraine," Daines said. "There is no reason the United States should be importing critical minerals that we can find right here at home. Montana is rich in minerals, and we need to be supporting American mines and American jobs, not Russia's."
According to the Montana Free Press, Sibanye Stillwater, the South African company that operates the nation's only major palladium mine in south-central Montana, said it plans to lay off about 40% of its Montana workforce as it scales back its operation in an effort to offset losses caused by low metal prices.
The West Stillwater section that the company plans to shelve has been in operation since 1986, according to the media outlet.
The company blamed its financial woes on current palladium prices — now below $1,000 an ounce, versus $2,305 an ounce two years ago — and on "Russian dumping." While the U.S. has banned imports of many Russian products as part of economic sanctions levied in protest of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, it has not banned Russian palladium imports, the paper said.
Daines wants the United States to stop importing from Russia these critical minerals: braggite, copper, nickel, palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium and zinc. Those minerals would be prohibited for import from Russia until it ends its hostilities with Ukraine, Daines added.
Utah connections to critical minerals
Rio Tinto's Bingham Canyon Mine produces modest amounts of platinum and palladium as a by-product of the precious metal refining process, according to the Utah Geological Survey. The open-pit Kennecott operation produces on an annual basis 275,000 tons of copper and is one of the top-producing mines in the world.
Copper is always in high demand and alloying copper with nickel, aluminum, silicon, tin and zinc gives copper alloys different conductivity and resistance properties.
Trading Exports reports that the United States imported $14.53 billion worth of copper in 2023. Only a sliver of that came from Russia.
But Daines and others say the Biden administration must cease reliance on Russian imports because it is hurting the U.S. mining industry and its employees and putting money in the coffers of a foreign advisory waging a brutal war in Europe — the likes of which has not been seen since World War II.
The U.S. International Trade Commission reports that approximately two-fifths of the global palladium supply, and over one-third of 2021 U.S. imports, is sourced from Russia. As of 2022, one Russian mining company (MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, the world's largest nickel producer) produces about 40% of Russian palladium.
Palladium, a silvery-white metal, is one of the six platinum group elements, alongside platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium, according to First National Bullion. Of these, palladium has seen a surge in demand in recent years, largely driven by its role in reducing harmful emissions from vehicles. Palladium's unique properties make it suitable for catalytic converters, fuel cells and hydrogen storage.
It's not just about the ban, but extraction credits
On Friday, Daines sent a letter to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, urging Secretary Janet Yellen to include extraction costs in the final regulations for the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit, called 45X, to ease pressures on the mining industry.
He said the current guidance from the Treasury Department excludes extraction credits.
"This very specific and unnecessary omission in the guidance comes at a cost for Montana's and the nation's mining jobs and must be corrected. As such, I request that treasury issue guidance for the 45X credit to include extraction costs immediately," he wrote.
"The omission of extraction in the 45X credit is just the latest in a long line of absurd economic actions from this administration," he continued. "Mining plays the largest role in producing these critical minerals, so the exclusion of extraction costs is not only puzzling, it negates the purpose of the credit itself."
