2025 has been quite a year for the mining industry. M&A, commodity prices soaring (especially for gold) amid geopolitical tensions and, in the United States, a change of administration. Donald J. Trump assumed office for the second time on January 20, 2025, and soon after, a cascade of executive orders was issued. Many of these are intended to protect and boost the mining industry. Such measures have been broadly welcomed by an industry long vocal about the lack of support from a permitting perspective, and delays that has been holding back one of the US’s main goals: Mining sovereignty. 

As it becomes more common for nations to use commodities to pressure markets or gain leverage, especially in the rare-earth space, weak spots in global supply chains are easier to spot. In the US, these include a shrinking workforce, bottlenecks in copper smelting, the lack of a centralized government body to oversee mining, and little to no production of certain minerals that are vital for the US tech economy and the defense industry. Now progress is underway: Copper projects in Arizona are advancing to produce copper cathodes and bypass smelting bottlenecks; lithium projects are poised to break ground; and new developments in critical minerals are taking shape. On the government side, Washington is intervening like never before. The Pentagon, for instance, has announced plans to acquire US$1 billion worth of critical minerals and add them to the US national stockpile, and has taken stakes in companies like MP Materials to back domestic mining and processing. It is fair to say that there has not been a more interesting time to cover the US mining industry. 

For decades, the Western USA has been the heart of the American mining industry, but as the value chain becomes more connected, GBR saw an opportunity to report all across the country. This year, we launch the USA Mining 2025-26 pre-release, a snapshot capturing insights from over 70 executives and decision-makers across the value chain and from coast to coast, sharing not only how the industry is changing, but also where it is heading next.