Secretary Zinke Signs Order... Creating First Ever National Survey of Critical Minerals

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, following President Donald J. Trump's executive order to break America's dependence on foreign minerals, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke signed a secretarial order directing the initial steps to producing the first nationwide geological and topographical survey of the United States in modern history. The order also directs Interior bureaus to begin work on identifying immediate domestic sources for critical minerals.

"Right now the United States is almost completely reliant on foreign adversaries and competitors for many of the minerals that are deemed critical for our national and economic security. As both a former military commander and geologist, I know the risk this presents to our nation," said Secretary Ryan Zinke. "The problem is we can't fix the problem if we don't know where the minerals are within our own borders. Other nations are far ahead of us with mapping of their mineral resources, leading to private sector investment overseas rather than right here at home. Drafting a complete topographical and geographic survey of the United States is exactly the kind of task the USGS was created to do."

The USGS is full of geologists. There might be some deep staters there, but geologists are generally most interested in making geological discoveries.

This literature about strategic minerals at Grand Escalante makes me wonder if taking coal off the market was the real reason for the Grand Escalante designation. The rare mineral deposits make sense, given the Riady connection and what China was doing back then to corner the rare mineral market.

As far as the Steel issue went, if memory serves, some of Traficant's Stand Up for Steel remarks were posted here ~1999, with mixed results.

The Dept. of Interior project to do a national mineral survey is NOT new, only maybe if done in a coordinated nationwide manner.

I’ve been doing research in Record Group 16, Entry 17, Office of the Secretary of Agriculture, at the National Archives in College Park, Md.

During WW2, “mosaic” and limited aerial surveying of possible mineral deposits were done by a number of government agencies with the help of contractor civilian aerial photography/surveyings companies.

Many maps were made for the Dept. of Agriculture divisions such as the Agricultural Adjustment Agency, the Soil Conservation Service, etc, as well as by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Bureau of Land Management, the Army Mapping Service (AMS), the Air Force/Navy, the U.S. Geological Service, the Forest Service, etc.

The purpose was to try and make as complete an updated national map collection of topographical, soil, aeronautical, forests, and possible mineral deposits from both photographic maps/mosaics of specific regions/areas into quadrangle maps (which were photographed/surveyed by county/subsectors).

In Record Group 51, Office of Management & Budget (the old Bureau of the Budget), they have the records of the old Federal Board of Surveys and Maps, esp. records rel. to the status of Federal mapping projects, Boxes 1-12.

This Fed. Bd of Surveys and Maps had numerous name changes including the Federal Bureau of Surveys and Maps, 1936. During much of WW2, there was created in the Estimates Division, a new position, Assistant to the Division for Surveying and Mapping (1942-52. The Resources and Civil Works Div. came later. In 1967-73, this Division was renamed the Natural Resources Program Division, then it became the Natural Resources, Energy and Science Division (1973-76).

The 1919 original mission of the Board of Surveys and maps was “to coordinate and promote improvement of surveying and mapping activities of the Federal Government”, and this included mineral deposits surveying on the ground and by aerial photography.

What Secy of Interior Zinke has done today is to make what was an often patchwork effort, esp. during WW2, to survey and catalog the mineral resources of the U.S., into a nationally coordinated program.

For more information on minerals exploration, see the U.S. Government’s Bureau of Mines annual “Minerals Yearbooks” which detail the explorations for specific minerals by year, state and even county/mines.

As we used to say in Geology class, “Dig, Baby, Dig”.

Are these samarium cobalt magnets, or one of the “neodymium” family?

The last time I looked, a few years ago, I could buy any grade I wanted in any quantity I wanted, that I had the $$ for, from Chinese suppliers, hindered only by typical customs paperwork and the fact that if they were supplied magnetized, they can’t be shipped in quantity by air.

I can build these into any commercial device I like, provided it passes the same sort of safety regs as most anything else. A “neo” magnet built into some device like a drill or headphones is far safer than, say, lithium based batteries.

Now, granted I don’t have millions of $$ to spend on magnets, so maybe in the case of really big purchases, some sort of restrictions set in??? And, it IS a bit crazy that we have not maintained at least a modest domestic supply for military use, since we have the ore...

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