Missouri May Begin Providing Important Minerals for Tech Industry

More and more people are reading labels on food items to get a better understand what's in them. If there were a label on the State of Missouri that listed off all of the minerals contained within the state, it would include many critical minerals for use in computers and electronics for cell phones, in cars and other areas.

Computer components, chips and boards require specific earth minerals.

The Show-Me State has most of the 50 critical minerals needed for the tech industries. One of the goals for the United States is to become less dependent upon foreign countries for these key minerals like tin, tungsten, cobalt, nickel, zinc, manganese and others found underground within the Missouri state boundaries. Extracting these from the ground is the goal. Missouri just needs to find safe ways to do it.

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The Environmental Protection Agency will have plenty to weigh in about as Missouri isn’t new to mining. In the past though environmental safety wasn’t a major concern to getting these things unearthed. In the 21^st century it will be crucial to keeping land values acceptable.

Southeast Missouri has a historic Lead Belt region.

The southern portions of Missouri are where most of these deposits (that have been found) are located. Many of these locations also happen to be some of the poorest in the state and would benefit from the infusion of industry and the jobs that come with it.

Hickory County, Missouri, has been measured as the poorest county in the state.

High tech manufacturing is an area that doesn’t look like it will be slowing down anytime soon. The United States has many companies that require these minerals to make the products that we depend on in our daily lives. The argument being that it’s better to have those minerals readily available in the U.S. instead of having to rely on negotiating with foreign states like China to obtain them.