Niocorp Developments Ltd (NB)

[The_Gman]

Uncle Sam Wants You to Join the Mining Industry
A major talent squeeze is complicating Washington’s critical mineral ambitions.
By Christina Lu

Today in Washington, where concerns about Beijing’s supply-chain grip run deep, many U.S. lawmakers are intent on building out domestic mining capacity—and finding enough people to take part. While China boasted some 1.4 million mining students in the 2022 academic year, only 600 students were enrolled in accredited undergraduate and graduate mining programs across the United States over the same time period, Rep. Pete Stauber said at a hearing last year.

“There’s a serious need to strengthen our mining workforce,” Stauber said. “If we don’t take swift action to reverse this trend, there will be no way for American-made mineral supply chains to meaningfully compete on our world stage.”

To boost those numbers, U.S. lawmakers last year introduced bipartisan legislation, the Mining Schools Act of 2023, which would allocate some $10 million per year, from 2024 to 2031, into a grant program for mining schools to recruit new students and conduct research. The bill, which is co-sponsored by 14 senators, would also establish an advisory board to help evaluate those grant applications.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/05/09/united-states-critical-minerals-mining-workforce-china/