The Biden Administration has put a 20-year mining ban over 225,000 acres in Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range which includes the Twin Metals mine that supplies important metals like copper and nickel. The ban also denies access to some less abundant metals like cobalt, platinum-group elements and taconite, which are necessary for advanced technology applications in defense systems, satellites, cellphones and other critical areas. The ban would force manufacturers to obtain the metals from China, which is more expensive and strengthens China’s monopoly of those resources. Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) called the policy “an attack on our way of life.”
