Proactive Investor: American Battery Metals CEO Doug Cole says the US must do more to compete in the global critical minerals market
Lithium
At a recent hearing of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, senators discussed China’s domination of the market for lithium and other strategic metals
American Battery Metals Corporation (OTCMKTS:ABML) CEO Doug Cole released comments Tuesday regarding a recent Senate hearing on critical minerals, expressing that the US can and must do more to compete on the global stage.
At a hearing of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee on September 17, senators discussed China’s domination of the market for lithium and other strategic metals and what could be done to increase domestic production, according to a Reuters report.
“China is consolidating control of the entire supply chain for clean technologies,” Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Republican chair of the committee said at the hearing. “The United States is falling behind...and allowing that to happen is a strategic mistake."
Cole agreed that the US needs to do more.
"The US must lessen its reliance on foreign sources of critical minerals,” Cole said in a statement. "This is a crucial time for US and North American producers of battery metals. We need to pursue and develop domestic sources of metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel."
Murkowski, for one, has written a bill with that goal in mind: the American Mineral Security Act. The purpose of the bill as written is “to facilitate the availability, development, and environmentally responsible production of domestic resources to meet national material or critical mineral needs.”
Cole, whose company is focused on its battery metals exploration project in Nevada, argues that the problem is bigger than supplying the growing electric vehicle market.
"In addition to competing globally to supply the Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage markets, this is every bit a matter of national security," said Cole. "The US has the resources and intellectual capacity to make it happen, and this creates a lucrative convergence of factors for investors to be successful while supporting domestic interests."
It’s a challenge American Battery Metals says its prepared to take on from a variety of angles.
"We are focused on providing solutions throughout the supply chain, because it's not just one particular area or mineral that will make the US self-sufficient and competitive,” Head of Business Development Doug Nickle said in a statement.
"American Battery Metals Corporation is aggressively executing our exploration and mining programs. Simultaneously, we're developing an environmentally sustainable battery recycling strategy to take in battery feedstock, to then redeploy the recycled metals back into the supply chain."
By: Andrew Kessel
Source: Proactive Investor
