DOL Provides Funding for Critical Mineral Supply Chains

On January 12, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the award of $22 million in funding to strengthen critical mineral supply chains.

The agency said the goal of the funding was also to "combat China’s reliance on labor abuse as a means of controlling the world’s critical minerals."

Awarded through four cooperative agreements, the grants support efforts to eliminate labor exploitation in key mineral supply chains in Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo that are essential to U.S. manufacturing, energy production, and national security.

"By addressing abusive labor practices overseas, these projects help ensure that American workers and companies that play by the rules can compete on a level playing field," the announcement said. 

DOL awarded $7 million to Winrock International, a nonprofit that provides solutions to some of the world’s most complex social and agricultural challenges.

Three million was awarded to the Center for Advanced Defense Studies to combat labor exploitation in Indonesia’s nickel supply chain. The Center for Advanced Defense Studies, founded in 2000, is a nonprofit organization with a mission to defeat the illicit networks that threaten global peace and security.

The department also awarded $7 million to Pact and $5 million to World Vision to combat egregious labor practices in the cobalt, copper, tantalum, tin, and tungsten supply chains of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Pact, founded in 1971, is an international nonprofit that builds resilience, improves accountability, and strengthens knowledge and skills. World Vision, founded in 1950, is a Christian humanitarian nonprofit organization dedicated to working with and empowering the victims of exploitative labor.

Administered by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, the projects will improve access to transparent, reliable sources of critical minerals while protecting American industries from supply disruptions, reputational risk, and legal liability.

This policy is in alignment with President Trump’s Executive Order, “Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production,”  to help "ensure American manufacturers are neither undercut by nor dependent upon producers like China that use exploitation and abuse to lower costs."