While MINExpo International was taking place in Las Vegas, NV Vice President Kamala Harris indicated that her presidential campaign would support increased mineral production in the United States.

As part of a $100 billion industrial policy plan, Harris vowed to create a national stockpile of critical minerals, saying a cache of the materials used in everything from batteries to defense systems is needed for economic and national security.

Harris also called for new incentives and the use of emergency government powers under the Cold War-era Defense Production Act to increase domestic processing of critical minerals.

Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s campaign focused on boosting raw materials tied to the energy transition as part of a broader industrial policy vision. The campaign also called for leveraging resources within the Energy Department and under the Defense Production Act — a Cold War-era law that grants the government emergency powers — to boost the processing of critical minerals, a part of the supply chain that China currently dominates for many minerals.

“Increased domestic production will be paired with innovative and sustainable steps to build stronger critical mineral supply chains alongside our allies and partners, including by incentivizing investments that expand U.S. and allied production of these resources,” the campaign stated. “These efforts will reduce our dependence on China, which leads production on many critical minerals.”

The National Mining Association (NMA) highlighted portions of the Harris-Walz economic plan, which focus on support for domestic mining.
Rich Nolan, President and CEO of the NMA, said, “Support for domestic mining must be a part of the election, and today we saw domestic mining—specifically ‘increased domestic production’—prominently featured in the Vice President’s economic plan. It is only with mined in America materials, produced under world leading environmental, labor and safety standards, that we can truly secure our supply chains for the benefit of American manufacturing, for U.S. jobs and to reduce our perilous reliance on China. Strong supply chains should be a nonpartisan issue and we’re pleased to see the need for responsible domestic mining emerge as an area of common ground.”