Abstract

Even though there is widespread recognition that we need to mine more critical minerals for national security and energy needs, concerns about environmental impacts often lead to public opposition to proposed new mining projects. The literature lacks sufficient data from communities with proposed mineral projects to assess drivers of differences in support. This study investigates public preferences for mining projects in three states in the United States with proposed critical minerals projects, using a discrete choice experiment. Respondents evaluated projects that vary in job creation, state tax revenue, tailings reprocessing content, groundwater impacts, and surface water impacts. We also randomly assigned respondents to one of two information framings, which stipulated that the proposed mining project was to extract gold and silver or battery-critical minerals, to evaluate the effect of the product on respondents' preferences. Among 1908 responses, the results show job creation and state tax revenue significantly increased support among the respondents, and they preferred tailings reprocessing over new mining. In contrast, groundwater depletion and declining fish population due to mining significantly reduced support. Our framing had limited significant effect on preferences. The study advances our understanding of how economic, environmental, and contextual factors shape public preferences for mineral extraction.

Department(s)

Mining Engineering

Second Department

Economics

Publication Status

Full Text Access

Comments

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Grant SC-24-600

Keywords and Phrases

Critical minerals; Discrete choice experiment; Public preferences; Sustainable mining; Tailings reprocessing

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

2214-7918; 2214-790X

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2026 Elsevier, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jun 2026

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