American Elements president and chairman of the board Michael Silver is advocating that the Obama administration establish a U.S. Strategic Metals Reserve.
As Silver envisages the repository, it would be modeled on the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which began the year after the 1973-74 oil embargo, when OPEC member states' anger over U.S. support for Israel during its 1973 war led to an embargo of oil shipments to the U.S., temporarily tripling oil prices.
Silver said, "The cost of these key strategic metals has increased 25+ fold in the last year.
These metals are very precious to the health of our nation. So precious that U.S. manufacturing would grind to a halt within months if cut off. The Strategic Metals Reserve is exactly the type of action the federal government should take to assure our long term competitiveness. In manufacturing, the nation that has the raw materials, wins. Today, I'm calling for all of us to come together - private sector industry, universities, and the government - to spark a renaissance in American manufacturing and help our manufacturers develop the cutting-edge tools they need to compete with anyone in the world."
Silver's concept includes $100 million to "develop and deploy advanced materials."
According to Silver, "A portion of this money must be allocated to fund an SMR feasibility study group," American Elements reported on its website.
By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com
Charles is a writer for Oilprice.com More