Yesterday the US House of Representatives passed the National Strategic and Critical Mineral Production Act (HR 4402) by a vote of 256 to 160.
The bill, which would speed up the permitting process for applications to mine certain minerals, including rare earths, is widely supported by Republicans, together with a handful of democrats.
However, given the overriding Democrat opposition to the proposed legislation, the bill is expected to fail in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
On 10 July 2012, the White House issued a statement publicly...