[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 128 (Thursday, August 3, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1603]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



[[Page E 1603]]


             AN APPEAL TO PRESERVE THE U.S. BUREAU OF MINES

                                 ______


                               speech of

                         HON. JAMES L. OBERSTAR

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 2, 1995
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, minerals are the building blocks of modern 
industrial society. Americans consume 75 percent of the world's entire 
minerals production: four billion tons a year--that's 20 tons per 
capita, the highest per capita mineral consumption of any country in 
the world.
  Yet, our domestic self-sufficiency in minerals has deteriorated over 
the last decade and a half, as the mining industry has, increasingly, 
turned to ore deposits that are leaner, deeper and more costly than 
those of the past.
  Minerals exploration has declined in America; new mine development 
has dropped; and, smelting and refining of American ores have 
regressed. Yet, mineral demand has increased and will continue to grow. 
Last year, our output of raw, nonfuel minerals was estimated at $34 
billion--a value growth of about 6 percent over 1993.
  In 1974, the year I was elected to Congress, the value of both raw 
and processed minerals imported into the United States was $9 billion. 
Three years later, when former Congressman Jim Santini and I organized 
the Congressional Minerals Caucus, we pointed out, in a White House 
meeting with then-President Carter, that mineral imports had jumped to 
$21 billion.
  Today we import $44 billion in nonfuel minerals and we have a $17 
billion deficit in minerals trade.
  More alarming than the trade deficit figures, is the fact that of the 
44 strategically important minerals, the United States imports 25 of 
them to the extent of more than 50 percent of domestic needs: 100 
percent of our manganese, 79 percent of our cobalt, and 66 percent of 
our nickel--all of which, incidentally, are vitally important to 
steelmaking.
  Moreover, for a wide range of strategic and critical minerals, we are 
dependent upon countries with a history of social and political 
instability, making the United States vulnerable to events over which 
we have little influence or control.
  These are sobering facts for this $360 billion industry, which 
employs almost 2 million workers and provides a more than $4.5 billion 
payroll.
  We, in Minnesota, know how crucial minerals are to the economic 
strength of the Nation and to our national security--we have supplied 
the iron ore for the domestic steel industry to carry America through 
two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, and other military actions of this 
century--nearly 4 billion tons of iron ore.
  Our mining industry must have the most efficient extraction, 
processing, and refining technologies possible to lower the minerals 
trade deficit, and without the Bureau of Mines and a coherent national 
minerals policy our economy will be hurt, and we will be limited in our 
ability to compete in the global marketplace.
  We northern Minnesotans also know that research has been the key to 
keeping our iron ore mining industry competitive. For us, that has 
meant the University of Minnesota School of Mines and brilliant 
researchers, lie Dr. E.W. Davis, the father of taconite, and the Twin 
Cities Research Center of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The Taconite 
Enhancement Committee that I founded 3 years ago has worked hard to 
combine the School of Mines, the U.S. Bureau of Mines, the Natural 
Resources Research Institute, and private sector engineering and 
research capabilities into a coherent, cohesive effort to keep the 
mining and processing of Minnesota ores ahead of the state-of-the-art 
and to keep our region economically competitive.
  The House Appropriations Committee's action to abolish the U.S. 
Bureau of Mines will be a very serious blow to our future 
competitiveness. Should this nefarious proposal succeed, it will 
eliminate a program that has created more jobs and generated more tax 
revenue every year than any other governmental initiative on behalf of 
the mining, minerals, and metal industry.
  The Bureau has a long tradition of innovation that has advanced the 
state of the art of mining and minerals processing, creating new 
industries, revitalizing old ones, and in some cases saving industries 
that have been threatened with extinction due to economic or regulatory 
constraints.
  I am going to mention just a few of the Bureau's contributions, 
beginning with the Tilden Mine operation in the Upper Peninsula, 
Michigan. The Bureau developed a process called selective floatation to 
treat the low-grade ores now being mined at Tilden during a 10-year 
research project whose investment totaled $2.5 million--from 1961-1971. 
During the subsequent 21 years that the Tilden has been operating, over 
98 million gross tons of high-grade iron ore pellets have been produced 
with a value of over $3 billion. Total production taxes generated over 
this time period were approximately $85 million. In 1994, production at 
the Tilden Mine was 6.1 million gross tons which represents 
approximately 11 percent of America's 56.7 million gross tons of iron 
oxide pellets and well over 800 employees are currently employed. That 
is an impressive return on investment--a very modest investment, at 
that.


                   gold and silver mining technology

  Gold and silver mining in this country was in rapid decline until the 
Bureau developed advanced technologies which reversed that trend. The 
Bureau's contribution in these technologies over the last 10 years is 
approximately $9 million. In 1993 there were 68 active heap-leaching 
operations in Nevada alone, using Bureau technology. The gold mining in 
Nevada contributes $2.7 billion to the economy. Only South Africa and 
Russia produce more gold than the State of Nevada. Considering the 
nature of the Nevada gold deposits, without Bureau technology, the 
industry would likely be only 20 percent of the current output.


                        reactive metals industry

  The Bureau's $10 million investment developed the Kroll Process and 
the consumable-electrode, arc melting process which are used to extract 
titanium and zirconium. Titanium is used in making jet engines and 
zirconium is an essential component in nuclear reactors. Without the 
developments of these processes, we would lose over $140 million in 
annual production, and our aviation industry would be dependent on 
foreign mineral resources and our nuclear power plants would be much 
less safe.
                               manganese

  Here, in Minnesota, the Bureau has been vigorously involved over the 
past 8 years in a research project now reaching fruition to extract the 
more than 2 billion pounds of manganese reserves on the Cuyuna Range 
and to produce an economically competitive product, the mining and 
processing of which can restore jobs and renew economic vitality on the 
Cuyuna Range.
  The Bureau of Mines has already taken its fair share of funding 
reductions and they are already going through a reorganization and 
downsizing which can be felt throughout the mining industry--facilities 
in Denver, Reno, Anchorage, and Spokane will be closed, the Mineral 
Institutes program, which supports minerals research at 32 
universities, will be eliminated, and administrative and informational 
offices across the country will be streamlined.
  The Bureau of Mines continues to succeed in its mission to help 
ensure that the Nation has an adequate and dependable supply of 
minerals and materials for national security and economic growth at 
acceptable economic, human, and environmental costs.
  We need national research centers for the development of minerals 
technologies and we need a national minerals policy, and I am afraid 
that without a coordinating agency, like the Bureau, to work in 
cooperation with industry, communities which depend economically on 
mining will drastically suffer.
  I deplore the action to terminate the Bureau of Mines, in an 
appropriation bill--without debate or opportunity to amend that 
provision. I urge the Senate to restore viable funding for the Bureau, 
and I further urge the House conferees to recede to the Senate on this 
point, and preserve this small, highly productive agency.


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