More good news. Spending on the economy is up.
Economists were expecting that durable goods spending would be down. Durable goods are your big ticket items. Autos, computers, machinery. Just the opposite happened.
Orders for durable goods rose far above expectations in February, climbing 0.9 percent to $289.3 billion, according to the Commerce Department’s report released Wednesday.
US miners eye copper comeback as demand rises.
This article is a reprint from a recent FOX article.
Herriman, UTAH – The demand for copper in the U.S. is set to double in the next 10 years – but the nation lacks the production to meet that demand unless steps are taken to ease restrictions on new mines.
President Donald Trump hopes to change this after signing an executive order on Thursday to increase American mineral production.
“The United States possesses vast mineral resources that can create jobs, fuel prosperity, and significantly reduce our reliance on foreign nations,” the order reads. “The United States was once the world’s largest producer of lucrative minerals, but overbearing Federal regulation has eroded our Nation’s mineral production.”
The Bingham Canyon Mine, also known as the Kennecott Copper Mine, in Utah. (Rio Tinto / Fox News)
The order will focus on priority projects for minerals such as copper, uranium, potash and gold, among others. This is welcome news for the nation’s copper industry, which struggles to compete with the more relaxed mining regulations of other countries.
“We’ve got to create more mines. Open up some of those resources that we have right here in the U.S. and bring them online,” Clayton Walker, COO of Copper at Rio Tinto, the second-largest mining company in the world. “That then feeds the manufacturing, the folks that actually take that raw material and turn it into something usable the consumers can enjoy. So I feel like it’s just a critical path for making manufacturing again here in the U.S. It all starts at the mines with that raw material.”
Rio Tinto has been trying to open a new copper mine in Arizona for 17 years, dubbed the Resolution Copper mine. Officials say the mine could provide as much as 20% of the demand. But it’s run into roadblocks over the years, including land rights issues and environmental concerns.
“The challenge we have right now in the U.S., it takes about 29 years to get a mine permitted. And so I’m all for doing the right thing. And I think we have some of the best standards and highest standards in the world, and I’m all for that,” said Walker. “But we’ve got to figure out a way to bring those mines online a little faster than, say, 29 years.”
The Bingham Canyon Mine, also known as the Kennecott Copper Mine, in Utah. (Rio Tinto / Fox News)
One way the permit process could be expedited: adding copper to the critical minerals list.
A critical mineral is defined by the Department of Energy as, “Any non-fuel mineral, element, substance, or material that the Secretary of Energy determines: (i) has a high risk of supply chain disruption; and (ii) serves an essential function in one or more energy technologies, including technologies that produce, transmit, store, and conserve energy.”
Adding copper to the list would ease restrictions on the production of copper, meaning Rio Tinto and other companies could open new copper mines quicker in the U.S.
Copper cable wrapping is monitored by a factory employee. ((Photo by DENIS CHARLET/AFP via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
“I think we need to make copper as a critical mineral. Not having it on the list is hurting us and keeping that valuable metal from getting those resources that are needed,” added Walker. “I think we got some great standards. We can do it better here than anywhere. We just need to do it a little faster.”
Rio Tinto’s Kennecott mine, just west of Salt Lake City, is the largest open-pit mine in the world, spanning 2.5 miles across and about 4,000 feet deep. At more than 120 years old, the mine has produced more copper than any other on the planet.
Bingham Canyon Mine, also known as the Kennecott Copper Mine, in Utah. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images / Getty Images)
“The history of Kennecott is what keeps me here. I just am absolutely enamored with it. Twenty-five percent of the metal that the Allies used in World War II came from here,” Nate Foster, Kennecott’s managing director, said. “The Allies don’t win World War II without Kennecott.”
Kennecott also has the distinction of being one of only two locations in the country that can mine, smelt and refine their own copper. In comparison, China has over 50 copper smelters. This means that much of the copper that’s mined in the U.S. is shipped to other countries to be refined.
“We’re right now [the U.S.] is actually exporting over 400,000 tons of concentrate a year, which is going to other countries to be processed and then shipped back to us in another form,” says Walker.
The Kennecott smelter is an engineering marvel – at 1,215 feet, it’s the fourth-tallest chimney in the world.
“The fact that we have one of the cleanest smelters in the entire world makes it actually pretty unique,” added Foster. “And where we really think we’re well positioned with a very strategic asset with our smelter and the refinery to be able to help continue to… invest in America.”
Kennecott is a 365-day, 24-hours-a-day operation. Ninety-seven oversized haulers, capable of carrying 360 tons in a single load, work day and night to extract around 120,000 tons of copper ore per year, which accounts for 20% of the copper produced in the country.
The Kennecott Copper Mine outside Salt Lake City, Utah. (Planet One Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The operation is all done in-house. After being mined and crushed, the ore makes its way via a 5-mile-long conveyor belt to the concentrator. It’s then turned into a sludge and piped to the smelter. From the smelter it becomes a 700-pound copper slab. After spending time in an electrolyte bath, it becomes two 300-pound copper plates – 99.99% pure copper.
“That is the highest quality that you’re going to find anywhere in the U.S.,” said Foster. “And when you look at the amount of emissions that we don’t have here in the U.S., as we produce to some of the highest environmental standards, other smelters across the world don’t have to comply with those same standards. So we pride ourselves on that.”
Trump has threatened to add a 25% tariff on imported copper, which accounts for 47% of the copper used in the U.S. While this could be a boon for U.S.-based copper mines, it’s a complicated issue for companies like Rio Tinto, which operates mines all over the world.
“We’re working hard with the administration to be part of that solution. And if you look at the way tariffs work, it’s all in how you set them up and structure them,” said Walker. “And if we can get those structured the right way, I think it will benefit the domestic supply.”
NBC had to admit that we’re on the right track.
What’s it tell us when even NBC has to admit that the country is moving forward. Back in November (Under Biden) only 27% of the country said we were on the right track. That’s changed.
https://twitter.com/i/status/190127540145793036044% of Americans say the country is headed in the right direction under President Trump, up from just 27% in November.
“If that doesn’t seem like a lot, the last time it cracked 40%, you gotta go back to 2012. The last time it actually hit 44% or higher — January 2004.”
Why Tariffs or the threat of, work.
So far President Trump has paused Tariffs on the auto industry until April 2nd. He recently spoke with the big three. And it looks as if he’s getting results.
GM and Stellantis both have made commitments to spend more on US plants. GM said their investments can be as high as 60 billion. No word yet from Ford.
Honda who’s not part of the big three has stated that a new plant is going to be built here. All this because of a threat. Winning.
After last night, who wouldn’t be proud to have Trump as their President?
Last night the whole world heard our President and what he would do to fix all the issues that the past administration created. Yes their were disruptions from the losers on the left, and yes our President took note and called out the disrupters.
Below are a few highlights from last night. If you missed last night, you missed the master at work.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1897114031078694925Some of the appalling waste we have already identified.”
-$22 billion for housing & cars for illegal aliens
-$45 million for DEI scholarships in Burma
-$40 million for inclusion of sedentary migrants
-$8 million to promote LGBTQ+ in Lesotho
-$60 million for Afro-Colombian empowerment
-$8 million for making mice transgender
-$32 million for left-wing propaganda in Moldova
-$10 million for male circumcision in Mozambique
-$20 million for Arab Sesame Street
-$1.9 billion for Stacey Abrams & decarbonization
-$3.5 million for lavish fish monitoring
-$1.5 million for voter confidence in Liberia“We have ended weaponized government where, as an example, a sitting president is allowed to viciously prosecute his political opponent, like me.”
“How did that work out?”
So what do you with 500 billion? Invest it in the Trumps USA.
Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that Texas is the place you want to be when it comes to building a 250,000-square-foot manufacturing plant. We have this from Mr. Cook.
“We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. “And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.”
We’re talking 20,000 new jobs.
The U.S. Economy Depends More Than Ever on Rich People.
How many of you realize that the top 10% account for almost 50% of all the spending? Yes Virginia, the poor and lower middle class the past four years have sat on the sidelines and cried the blues.
Hey I don’t blame them. This past administration did nothing to help stimulate the economy. If anything they were the ones who sunk the ship.
During the Biden pandemic, Americans across the spectrum saved at record levels. They spent less because they were stuck at home and received extra money from the government’s various stimulus measures. By early 2022, households socked away an extra $2.6 trillion.
Then inflation struck, and prices rose sharply. Most Americans turned to their extra savings to keep up with their rising bills. But the top 10% of earners kept most of what they had saved up.
Bottom line? Spend it like you stole it.
California Coastal Commission must be abolished.
Initiated by voters and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in his first term, the 1976 Coastal Act was a response to unregulated shoreline development. Almost immediately after its passage, beachfront owners and interest groups across the state began pushing to amend or repeal sections of the law.
Grenell told the audience. “Everyone who’s involved knows that the California Coastal Commission is a disaster, and it needs to absolutely be defunded. And from just a way to think about government, we already have local government making these decisions.
You want to know what President Trump has been up to the past week?
The White House Press Corps received a reality check to wrap up this week’s news.
Daily Caller White House Correspondent Reagan Reese posted to social media platform X Friday a 3-page document that was handed out that day listing all of President Donald Trump‘s accomplishments for the week.
If Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and her team always plan to bring their A-game, unlike her predecessor and apparent diversity hire Karine Jean-Pierre, the press needs a report like this every week.
This article used as a source The Western Journal.
Let’s look at DOGE. And who started firing employees. Clinton, Gore, Obama.
Remember that Trump didn’t start the cutting out of deadwood employees and government waste. Also DOGE was already in place.
Let’s look at what happened under Clinton/Gore.
