Texas: A Strategic Hub for Critical Materials and Metals in the 21st Century

Texas, traditionally a cornerstone of the oil and gas industry, is undergoing a strategic transformation, positioning itself as a national leader in critical mineral extraction and refining, advanced steel production, and material recycling. This diversification is driven by the urgent need to secure domestic supply chains for vital sectors, including renewable energy, electric vehicles, aerospace, defense, AI, and semiconductors, solidifying the Lone Star State's role in the nation's industrial future.

Leveraging Existing Strengths:

Texas's established petrochemical industry provides a solid foundation for critical mineral extraction and refining. The state boasts a skilled workforce, existing pipeline infrastructure, and established industrial hubs throughout Texas and along the Gulf Coast, all of which can be repurposed for extraction and processing essential materials. Due to this competitive advantage in skills and infrastructure, companies are investing in Texas in innovative refining and recycling technologies, aiming to extract and purify critical minerals from diverse sources, including brines, ores, and even recycled materials and building mini mills to source steel critical for defense and aerospace.

Building a Resilient Critical Mineral Ecosystem:

In addition to oil and natural gas, Texas happens to be abundant in many resources included in the critical mineral list for technological advancements in the aforementioned top industry sectors. Texas is leveraging its natural resources to establish a robust critical mineral sector. The Round Top Project, is one example of this spearheaded by Texas Mineral Resources Corp. and USA Rare Earth in Hudspeth County. This venture aims to extract a diverse range of critical minerals, including rare earth elements, lithium, uranium, and beryllium, utilizing an open pit heap leach operation, significantly reducing U.S. reliance on foreign sources.

• Source: Round Top Rare Earth and Critical Minerals Project - NS Energy
• Source: Round Top project - Texas Mineral Resources

The Permian Basin also holds vast reserves of critical mineral that end up in waste water from oil and gas extraction. This polluted waste water brine, called "produced water" is often deemed too contaminated to be cleaned. Now, companies and institutions like Texas A&M University Engineering are pioneering extraction technologies to remove valuable resources like lithium, rubidium, cesium, gallium, and platinum group metals from "produced water" thereby yielding more cost effective extraction methods than traditional methods used for extraction.

• Source: Mining the Treasures Locked Away in Produced Water | Texas A&M University Engineering

Recognizing the importance of a circular economy, Texas is also investing in rare earth element recycling. Rare Resource Recycling (REEcycle) is developing innovative methods to recover these vital materials from electronic waste, reducing the reliance on imports from China who currently dominates the primary mining and processing of the majority of critical materials used in electronics.

• Source: Texas Firm to Extract Rare Earths From Electronic Waste for Defense

Like "produce water" from oil and gas extraction, critical and rare earth mineral deposits are also found in coal and ash. Such minerals include rare earth elements (REEs), gallium (Ga), germanium (Ge), scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), lithium (Li), zirconium (Zr), hafnium (Hf), niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta), and some base metals like aluminum (Al) and magnesium (Mg). These minerals concentrate in ash when coal is burned, thereby making coal ash a potential economically competitive source of extraction. For this reason, the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, with support from the Department of Energy, is further exploring the potential of mineral extraction from the Gulf Coast coal power plants as a source of critical minerals and rare earth elements.

• Source: Carbon Ore, Rare Earth and Critical Minerals | Bureau of Economic Geology

New Refining Investments:

The surge in critical mineral demand has also spurred substantial financial investment in Texas's mineral refining infrastructure. Companies are pouring capital into establishing state-of-the-art processing facilities capable of extracting and purifying high-grade critical minerals from diverse feedstocks. These investments encompass innovative hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical techniques, designed to maximize efficiency and minimize environmental impact. Furthermore, the strategic partnerships between established petrochemical companies and emerging mineral refining firms are leveraging existing infrastructure and expertise, accelerating the development of a robust domestic refining capacity. Such strategic investments and partnerships position Texas as a national hub for not only extraction but also for critical mineral processing, thereby, attracting further investment and fostering a thriving ecosystem of related industries.

Modernizing Steel Production and Advancing Metal Research:

Beyond critical minerals, Texas is modernizing its steel industry and building a circular economy to produce high grade steel and advanced metal alloys. Texas's strong aerospace industry and defense sector are the primary drivers of research into advanced metals, including new alloys for extreme conditions in spacecraft and military applications. Combined with a concerted effort to build-up capabilities in critical and rare-earth materials, Texas is driving the development of "mini-mills" for steel.

The creation of "mini-mills" includes the utilization of electric arc furnace (EAF) technology to recycle ferrous scrap metal to generate high grade streel from retired aerospace and naval equipment and other high grade equipment. Examples include Vinton Steel, LLC, and Steel Dynamics, both have invested in state-of-the-art EAF facilities that produce high-quality, low-carbon steel, including advanced high-strength steels.

• Source: Governor Abbott Announces JETI Expansion Project In El Paso County
• Source: Steel Dynamics Opens $1.9 Billion Next Generation Mill in Texas - BuildSteel.org

Economic Impact: Fueling High-Tech Growth:

By strategically leveraging its natural resources, investing in cutting-edge technologies, and fostering a collaborative research environment, Texas is solidifying its position as a key player in strategic tech sectors in the 21st-century economy. Such investments not only strengthen the Texas job market through ongoing job creation but also shores up supply chain stability through ongoing innovation for Aerospace, Defense, AI and Semiconductors. Developing and securing vital regional supply chains for materials in these strategic sectors will serve to strengthen resiliency in both national and economic security in the face of evolving global demands.