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List a blueprint for US push to secure supplies

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Copper vital for electric vehicles, power grids, data

centers

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Met coal aligns with Trump's fossil fuel support

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List includes uranium for reactors and fertilizer minerals

(Adds Rio Tinto statement in paragraph 17)

By Jarrett Renshaw, Ernest Scheyder and Timothy Gardner

Nov 6 (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Thursday

added 10 minerals to a list it deems essential for the U.S.

economy and national security, including copper, vital to

electric vehicles, power grids, and data centers, and

metallurgical coal, used to make coke fuel for steel production.

The Interior Department's critical minerals list guides

federal investments and permitting decisions and helps shape the

government's broader minerals strategy.

The administration is expanding the list amid efforts to

boost domestic mining and cut reliance on imports, particularly

from economic rival China.

LIST GUIDES FEDERAL INCENTIVES

The list serves as a blueprint for Washington's push to

secure supplies of materials needed for defense, manufacturing,

and clean energy technologies. It determines which projects

qualify for federal incentives, informs national stockpiling and

research priorities, and signals to private investors where the

government sees long-term strategic value.

Officials and industry leaders say strengthening domestic

production could help insulate the U.S. from potential supply

shocks or export restrictions imposed by competitors like China,

which dominates global refining of many critical minerals.

Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, said the expanded list

"provides a clear, data-driven road map to reduce our dependence

on foreign adversaries, expand domestic production and unleash

American innovation."

The new list also includes uranium, which is enriched to

fuel nuclear reactors, boron, lead, phosphate, potash, rhenium,

silicon, and silver.

Environmentalists slammed the move. Cameron Walkup, of

Earthjustice Action, said the administration was ignoring

economics, violating the law and opening the door for agencies

to rubber-stamp projects with insufficient protections for

communities from pollution. "Instead of prioritizing corporate

profits, we should focus on real solutions to meet our mineral

supply chain needs by rapidly scaling up reuse and responsible

recycling of critical minerals and updating our mining laws."

Potash and phosphate are used as fertilizers to grow crops

around the world. "These are two minerals where stable supplies

are absolutely necessary to fill our plates and feed our

communities," said Corey Rosenbusch, CEO of The Fertilizer

Institute.

Potash was on an original 2018 list, but neither phosphate

nor potash was included when it was updated in 2022, the

institute said.

U.S. COPPER OUTPUT LESS PROFITABLE

Copper is used widely across the global economy in power

generation, electronics and construction.

Freeport-McMoRan ( FCX ), the largest U.S. copper producer

with seven mines and controls of one of the country's two

smelters, said this year it could generate more than $500

million annually in tax credits tied to the 2022 U.S. Inflation

Reduction Act if the red metal were declared critical. The

Phoenix-based company was not immediately available to comment

on Thursday.

The average grade, or percentage of copper in rock deposits,

in Freeport's U.S. mines is lower than elsewhere, boosting costs

and making the U.S. the company's least profitable region. That

fact largely explains why Freeport pushed for the designation.

"We're not looking for handouts, but if the government is

trying to incentivize domestic (copper) production, it's

important to recognize that the U.S. doesn't have the same

grades that we have internationally," Freeport CEO Kathleen

Quirk told Reuters in March.

Rio Tinto, which operates the other U.S. copper

smelter, send the new list "sends a clear signal that America is

committed to building resilient supply chains for the

technologies that will define our future."

Putting met coal on the list aligns with President

Donald Trump's support of fossil fuels. Some U.S. met coal mines

have shut in recent months amid ample supply and a reduction in

exports to China, which put an additional 15% tariff on imports

of U.S. coal this year.

Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining

Association, said it will continue to seek the expansion of the

list to "ensure that the U.S. has the abundant domestic

resources it needs, when it needs them."