There are a lot of copper mines in the US that have been delayed for years by environmentalists objections, including a major one in New Mexico. I read yesterday in Chile that they have an area rick in copper and cobalt that the US is helping to fund restarting the mine which has been dormant for 80 years. They recognize the need to get other suppliers other than China.

In New Mexico I used to go out to a "secret" spot where you could literally pick up raw copper off of the ground. I used to pick those things up and sell them for five bucks a pop on eBay, nowadays they would probably go for twenty dollars or more. The US is rich in minerals, but mining them is difficult due to over regulation.