A Force for Progress: How Mining Can Help to Rebuild Our Nation

What You Need to Know:

• The COVID-19 pandemic has crippled American supply chains.
• The mining industry will continue to supply minerals needed for nearly every U.S. industry.
• Action must be taken to guarantee access to capital under crucial lending facilities.

Letter From The President and CEO:

In the ongoing battle against COVID-19, the mining industry is taking action to protect our workforce, support local communities and keep up with the demand for minerals. The administration is aware of the essential work we’re doing, and how we can help form our country’s future. The National Mining Association is participating in the administration’s Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups – comprised of key stakeholders that are capable of charting a course to America’s recovery.

Mining is the tip of the U.S. supply chain, providing raw materials required for nearly every industry and consumer product, including for essential health care applications and even medicines. Border restraints have created fissures in already-fragile supply chains, as our worst fears become a reality. From the antimicrobial metals that can reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus to the manufacturing inputs that form our infrastructure, minerals are integral to every sector that keeps society functioning – directly employing 421,000 Americans and contributing to more than 737,000 additional indirect jobs in related industries.

American mining companies are continuing to safely supply the minerals needed to endure this crisis, while also proactively planning how to kickstart an economic revival after we emerge from this period of hardship.

In the coming weeks, action must be taken to guarantee access to capital under the crucial lending facilities designed to ensure eligibility and encourage participation, where needed, provide regulatory certainty, and support mining companies’ ability to continue to respond to the pandemic. Doing so will help essential industries like mining, continue to secure domestic supply chains as the nation begins its economic recovery. A revival isn’t possible without the cash flow and available credit that’s required. Policymakers must see what’s at stake for the downstream sectors dependent on mining to fix our roads, build our bridges and get society moving again.

Understanding the gravity of this situation, we ask that your policymakers support our mission which will undoubtedly impact all of us.

Thank you,
Rich Nolan