This coal-fired power plant near Beulah, North Dakota is slated to be replaced with a nickel refinery
Sam Fuqua
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Sam Fuqua
The United States has been so worried about trade imbalances for basic raw materials that it set aside tens of billions of dollars to support new domestic mines and metal refineries. The President even invoked the Defense Production Act to get the Pentagon involved.
That president was Joe Biden. President Trump is picking up where Biden left off, and making even more investments.
One which is getting support from the Bi-partisan Infrastructure Law is in the central North Dakota town of Beulah, population 3,000. Coal and farming have been the economic anchors here for decades. Now, a former coal mine is set to be transformed into the site of a new processing plant for nickel ore coming from Minnesota.
“Basically when you put all your eggs in one basket and something changes, it makes it difficult for your community to thrive and continue to grow” said Beaver Brinkman, Beulah’s Economic Development and Operations Director. “Hopefully, this will take and diversify our economy.”‘
In 2023, The US Department of Energy awarded a $114 million grant for the new nickel processing plant. Nickel is used in electric car batteries. Tesla signed a contract for 75,000 metric tons from the plant.
It’s also used in computers and to strengthen steel. Retired four-star Marine General John Allen says that makes nickel a strategic asset.
“What the Pentagon’s trying to do is to lock in and preserve these raw materials for the highly sophisticated technologically advanced warfare that the United States wields today,” he said.
Talon Metals owns both the Minnesota mine and the proposed processing facility in Beulah. The Pentagon gave Talon a $20 million matching grant to look for more minerals in the US. New mines don’t open very often here, and refineries to process what comes out of them are even more rare.
“The United States and Europe and other of the technologically advanced societies sort of backed themselves into an environment where we imported a lot of these materials, mostly from China,” Allen said.
Allen is on the board of the US arm of a security-oriented think tank called GLOBESEC. They estimate China controls 75% of the world’s critical metals and mining materials.
Talon vice president Jessica Johnson welcomes the federal backing.
“Across multiple administrations, I think it’s clear that domestic raw materials for our supply chains, everything from clean energy technologies to our defense and national security platforms and technologies– it’s a bipartisan issue,” she said.
There’s no organized opposition to the nickel plant in Beulah.
Over breakfast at the Country Kettle restaurant, retiree Garry Teske says it sounds like it could bring some good jobs. But he’d like to know more.
“I have nothing against it but it’s pretty hush hush around here,” Teske said. “We don’t hear much.”
Talon’s Minnesota mine is facing some opposition from a neighboring tribe and environmental groups. If approved, the company expects both the mine and the nickel processing plant to be operational in 2029.
