The United States Department of Energy has made an innovative move by allocating $16 million to advance training in critical mineral skills. This investment aims to create a skilled workforce to enhance domestic mineral production capacities. In 2025, only 163 mining engineering degrees were awarded across the United States, while China awarded 3,000 degrees, highlighting a significant gap.
Need for Investment in the Mining Workforce
According to forecasts, the U.S. mining workforce will need at least 6,000 mining engineers in the next decade to maintain the critical mineral supply chain. Meanwhile, China currently holds 72% of the world's mineral processing capacity, and this figure is on the rise. In 2023, China processed 90% of rare minerals, which is projected to decrease to 85% by 2025. However, China's share in processing critical minerals overall has increased from 70% to 72%.
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PROSPECT Planning Prize Initiative
The U.S. Department of Energy has introduced the PROSPECT Planning Prize, identifying 16 different educational programs in mining schools, each set to receive $1 million. The goal of this prize is to train graduates capable of producing, processing, recovering, and recycling critical minerals. Audrey Robertson, Deputy Secretary of Energy, described this initiative as "very aggressive awards with measurable outcomes" and emphasized that the ultimate goal is to meet the needs of America's industrial revitalization.
The United States is also working to establish more agreements with key producers of critical minerals. The Trump administration reported signing over 150 critical mineral agreements worth a total of more than $40 billion since the beginning of his second term. However, the United States has fallen behind China in this area and has struggled to make progress in some markets where China already has influence.
For example, the Biden administration has made efforts to sign agreements in the South American lithium triangle but has faced challenges in communicating with leaders from Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia. While China was able to secure agreements in this region years ago, political sentiments have shifted towards maintaining processing capacity and adding value within the region, largely sidelining American companies from the market.
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