The U.S. government will invest $3 billion in critical minerals and battery projects as part of a push to increase domestic production and boost national security and industrial policy. “We’re reclaiming America’s rightful place as the minerals superpower of the world,” U.S. President Donald Trump told more than 200 mining executives, educators, investors and politicians in early August at a roundtable aimed at supporting the industry.
He announced a slew of investments, including a $1.4 billion conditional loan from the War Department’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) for Sila Nanotechnologies, which makes lithium-ion battery parts. The OSC also extended a $400 million conditional loan to scandium miner Sunrise Energy Metals and a $150 million conditional loan to magnet developer Niron Magnetics.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank will lend $58 million to Westwater Resources, Global Advanced Metals and 5E Advanced Materials. “Critical minerals are the raw materials of American strength that power everything from advanced weaponry to automobiles, and we want these essential products to be mined, refined and made right here in the USA,” Trump said. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and National Security Council official David Copley attended the announcement.
The White House needs critical minerals to replenish weapons stockpiles and reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese supply chains. Several executives came with gifts for Trump. Tom Albanese, chairman of deep-sea mining firm American Ocean Minerals, gave Trump a gold replica of a nodule that the company hopes to mine from the Pacific seabed. Trump last year said he may bypass the U.N.-backed International Seabed Authority and issue international seabed mining licenses.
Jim Litinsky, CEO of rare earths firm MP Materials, gave the president magnets that had been produced for General Motors at the company’s Texas plant. Other attendees included executives from Lithium Americas, which is building the largest U.S. lithium mine, NioCorp, which is building a scandium mine to supply defense contractor Lockheed Martin, and Energy Fuels, which received a $725 million OSC conditional loan in June.
Supplies of minerals including rare earths, tungsten, germanium and scandium are essential for manufacturing precision-guided missiles, fighter aircraft, armored vehicles, infrared sensors and other advanced weapons systems, according to Pentagon officials and defense companies.
Since returning to office, Trump has launched a $12 billion strategic minerals stockpile, backed equity investments in companies developing U.S. mines and processing facilities, and sought to secure defense supply chains against Chinese sourcing.and sought to limit defense contractors’ reliance on supplies from China.
The administration says government support is needed to counter decades of Chinese investment that left Beijing dominant in the mining and processing of many strategic minerals.
Australia’s government welcomed the U.S. loan to Sunrise Energy Metals, which is developing a scandium mine in the country’s New South Wales state. “The Sunrise Scandium Project hosts the world’s largest and highest-grade known scandium resource, which has a range of vital aerospace, defence and clean energy applications,” Resources Minister Madeleine King said in a statement.