RENO, Nev. (AP) — Federal land managers have launched an expedited permitting process in Nevada for what would become the first vanadium mine proposed in the United States.
The metal unfamiliar to most long has been used as an alloy to strengthen steel used in the construction, auto and aerospace sectors. Vanadium is imported, usually from Austria, Canada and Russia.
Federal officials this month invoked a Trump administration order streamlining environmental reviews of projects critical to U.S. security.
Henry Ford is credited with the first commercial application of vanadium when he used it to toughen the steel in the frame of the Model T in the early 1900s.
