Only 14 universities in the United States offer mining and minerals engineering programs, according to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
Although mining accounts for a limited share of U.S. GDP, it maintains moderate-to-high strategic competitiveness thanks to its technological capabilities, investment, and mineral reserves. However, it faces growing challenges due to dependence on imports of critical minerals, competition from China, and long development times for new projects. Critical minerals are already a factor in industrial competitiveness.
Mining Engineering
In contrast, China had more than 38 mineral processing schools and more than 44 mining engineering programs in 2023. Furthermore, competition for critical minerals is also being waged in universities.
According to the NAM, U.S. memorandums of understanding on critical minerals should also focus on training and educational and workforce exchanges. These can help train U.S. workers and prepare them for the mining, processing, and refining jobs needed to support domestic projects.
As a result, manufacturers in the United States rely heavily on imports for many critical minerals. The United States is 100% dependent on imports for 13 mineral raw materials included in the U.S. Geological Survey’s 2025 Critical Minerals List. In addition, another 20 critical mineral raw materials had an import dependency exceeding 50% of apparent consumption. Consequently, import dependency reflects structural challenges beyond mining extraction.
While the United States is making significant progress in leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning in mining technologies through federal initiatives, more can still be done to increase public-private collaboration. Furthermore, access to global technologies can be promoted.
Geopolitical Partnerships
U.S. memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on critical minerals should explore ways to partner with countries such as Australia and Japan. These countries have set similar goals to increase the adoption of AI in the production of critical minerals. The United States also requires a wide range of manufacturing skills to expand mining and processing capacity. Therefore, control of value chains begins with the training of technical talent.
Emerging Power
China is a global powerhouse in mineral production and processing as a result of decades of industrial strategy. Furthermore, China’s increasing exploitation of its dominance in the mining sector—including export restrictions on more than a dozen critical minerals and rare earth elements set to take effect in 2025—highlights the serious vulnerabilities in U.S. mineral supply chains.
Mineral processing is just as important as extraction. Therefore, processing capacity is just as valuable as the availability of the resource. Furthermore, the concentration of mineral processing in a single country continues to pose a massive threat to U.S. mining security.
China maintains a near-absolute monopoly on mineral processing, refining between 40% and 90% of the global supply of rare earth elements, graphite, lithium, cobalt, and copper. It is imperative that the United States counter this monopoly by increasing its production capacity in the downstream stages of the value chain, including processing, refining, and magnet manufacturing.