Trump touts $3 billion in critical minerals projects to counter China
President Donald Trump touted $3 billion in US investments in critical minerals mining at a meeting Friday with top industry executives aimed at weaning the US off supply chains dominated by China.
Trump said the projects would “create thousands of jobs and promote our economic stability and security,” at an event at the State Department. “We’re putting our miners back to work, and we’re reclaiming America’s rightful place as the minerals superpower of the world,” he added.
Trump said the investments included a $1.4 billion loan agreement with Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. from the Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital. Other investments include $400 million by the Pentagon to expand production in Australia of scandium, which is critical to aerospace and defense industries, and $150 million with Niron Magnetics Inc., a Minnesota rare-earths firm.
The Export-Import Bank is also working to provide more than $1 billion in financing for Ivanhoe Electric Inc.’s Santa Cruz copper project in Arizona, along with a $25 million investment to launch a graphite mine project in Alabama.
The president also hailed plans to spend over $180 million to bolster educational programs for the mining industry, saying it would “train the next generation of American miners.”
Trump said his efforts would ensure the US “is never again reliant on hostile foreign nations for the resources our country needs to dominate in the future.”
The president was expected to be joined by executives from prominent companies, including Rio Tinto Group, BHP Group and Freeport-McMoRan Inc., MP Materials Corp., USA Rare Earth Inc., Energy Fuels Inc., US Antimony Corp., Sunrise Energy Metals Ltd., and The Metals Company.
The event showcases administration efforts to spur US critical minerals development and processing ahead of a planned visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Washington in September. Trump said that under his administration domestic mines were reopening at a fast pace, including what he said was the first American rare-earth mine in more than 70 years and the construction of the first new aluminum smelter since 1980.
Despite a trade truce that eased export controls over critical minerals and magnets essential to a host of cutting edge industries, rare earths remain a source of tension between the world’s two largest economies. The US has sought to partner with domestic companies to build out a mine-to-magnet supply chain independent of China.
The federal government has already pledged more than $10 billion of investments in a bid to jump-start nascent US markets for rare earths and permanent magnets. The Pentagon kicked off the spending spree more than a year ago, announcing it would take a $400 million preferred equity stake in MP Materials — the sole domestic rare earths producer — and the US has since announced other projects the government is championing.
While the scale of the US critical minerals build-out is enormous, there have been serious challenges and slow progress in developing the domestic industry.
(By Joe Deaux and Jeff Mason)
Trump administration to back three critical mineral projects with $58 million in financing
The U.S. Export-Import Bank is lending $58 million to three critical-mineral companies as part of President Donald Trump’s push to wean the country off Chinese supplies and bolster American mining and processing, according to a document seen by Reuters.
The funding is timed to coincide with Trump’s meeting in Washington on Friday with executives from some of the world’s largest mining companies to underscore the country’s need for better supplies of minerals used to build weapons and electronics.
“Critical mineral security is national security,” said John Jovanovic, ExIm’s chairman, adding the funding aims to “fortify our supply chains, restore crucial industries that support well-paying American jobs and safeguard everyday Americans from supply shocks.”
Westwater Resources will receive a $25 million loan for its Alabama graphite mine and processing facility. Graphite is the largest metal by volume used to build lithium-ion batteries.
The U.S. produces some so-called synthetic graphite from petroleum coke, a byproduct of oil refining. Battery manufacturers typically prefer one version or the other, depending on a range of factors.
ExIm is also lending $25 million to privately held Global Advanced Metals to expand processing of tantalum and niobium, neither of which the U.S. mines, making it reliant on foreign supply. The company mines the metals in Australia and processes them in Pennsylvania.
Tantalum is primarily used to make capacitors for smartphones, automobiles and other electronics, whereas niobium is used as an alloy to harden steel for pipelines and airplanes.
And 5E Advanced Materials will receive an $8 million loan to boost production of boron, which last year was added to a list of minerals considered critical by the U.S. government. The metal is used in the nuclear energy industry as well as in body armor and other defense-related products.
The U.S. imports most of its boron needs. 5E’s California boron project is slated to begin commercial production in 2028.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Washington and Ernest Scheyder in Houston; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Trump admin blocks tungsten, battery waste exports to boost US minerals supply
The U.S. Commerce Department said on Thursday it will block exports of tungsten scrap and battery waste, part of a push to boost the domestic recycling industry and critical mineral production.
The move, which was expected, comes after President Donald Trump last week signed an order giving federal officials the power to limit the overseas shipment of scrap containing valuable critical minerals to China and other countries.
The order prohibits the export of so-called black mass, which is essentially shredded lithium-ion batteries, as well as scrap containing tungsten, a metal used to harden steel and used widely in defense applications.
The action is the latest in a broader U.S. push to reduce reliance on China, which dominates global processing of critical minerals used in everything from EV batteries to weapons systems. Washington has increasingly used export controls, tariffs and domestic incentives to try to rebuild a U.S. supply chain, as tensions with Beijing over minerals access have escalated.
The order, published in the Federal Register, goes into effect on August 27 and runs for one year, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said.
“It’s great to see the administration recognize the importance of recycling recoverable critical materials from scrap,” said Zubeyde Oysul, a critical minerals policy manager at SAFE, a Washington-based think tank.
Waivers may be issued on a case-by-case basis only if companies can show “undue hardship” or “irreparable harm,” according to the order.
The U.S. exports nearly 33,000 metric tons per month of electronic waste and other scrap, much of it filled with critical minerals that can be recycled, according to data from the environmental group Basel Action Network.
Those exports have long irked the U.S. recycling industry, which has said that keeping the material in the country could help Washington better meet its minerals production.
Still, the U.S. does not have enough capacity to recycle all the scrap it produces. Several recyclers have also faced economic challenges in the past 18 months, including Li-Cycle and Ascend Elements, both of which filed for bankruptcy.
Amermin, a privately held tungsten recycling firm, praised Thursday’s move but said the country needs to do more to increase its ability to handle scrap.
“This ban is a band-aid,” said Ryan McAdams, Amermin’s CEO. “It’s going to buy us more time, but we’ve got to start building up the infrastructure here stateside.”
Amermin last year received an $11.5 million grant from the Energy Department but has not yet received the funds. The company’s commercial recycling facility would have been opened at least six months ago if it had access to those funds, McAdams said.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Rio Tinto, BHP summoned to critical minerals meeting with Trump
The White House has invited top executives from the US critical minerals industry to a meeting Friday with President Donald Trump meant to demonstrate the administration’s commitment to wean the nation off supply chains dominated by China.
The event is designed to showcase efforts to help spur critical minerals development and processing, with plans to unveil a handful of a deals and memoranda of understanding, according to people familiar with the summit, who requested anonymity to provide details ahead of a formal announcement.
Among those invited to the meeting are representatives from industry heavyweights including Rio Tinto Group, BHP Group and Freeport-McMoRan Inc., as well as participants from MP Materials Corp., USA Rare Earth Inc., Energy Fuels Inc., US Antimony Corp., Sunrise Energy Metals Ltd., and The Metals Company among others, the people said.
Some companies are still determining whether they will attend in person and if so, which executives to send, according to the people familiar. Trump is set to be joined by leaders of his National Energy Dominance Council, including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, executive director Jarrod Agen, as well as White House adviser David Copley.
The event has been in the works for weeks, though there’s been a rush to pull together final details in recent days, with a range of US government agencies tapped to participate, some of the people said.
Specifics on potential deals were not immediately available Thursday. Ahead of the session, White House officials asked government agencies to detail recently closed deals and MOUs that would help demonstrate momentum on the president’s critical minerals agenda, some of the people said.
A White House official said the administration is putting together a historic meeting of mining industry officials as the president advances measures to support critical mineral development.
Trump has regularly summoned top executives from industries, including technology and energy, to showcase his economic priorities and press them to back portions of his agenda.
Friday’s meeting comes more than a year after the US government launched a multi-billion critical minerals policy that’s embraced a new model of statecraft, with American taxpayers committing some $10 billion to build a so-called mine-to-magnet supply chain. The goal is ensuring robust US production of rare earths and critical products deemed essential to national security.
The policy went into hyperdrive last year after China rattled global markets by implementing export controls on certain rare earth minerals and permanent magnets, which are critical to a host of industries and used in a wide array of products including, automobiles, wind turbines and defense applications.
(By Joe Deaux)
Sunrise Energy Metals’ scandium project gets $400M conditional loan from US Department of War
The Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) announced Friday a $400 million conditional loan commitment to Sunrise Energy Metals (ASX: SRL) to build out the company’s scandium operations in New South Wales, Australia.
The company is backed by mining billionaire Robert Friedland, who said the Syerston project “will be the world’s first source of primary mine supply for scandium end-users”.
Scandium is currently harvested through byproducts of other industrial or resource extraction processes. No primary mine-source scandium supply exists globally, and foreign competitors dominate the supply side, accounting for approximately 80% of global mining production and nearly 100% of scandium processing.
With these funds, alongside private capital, Sunrise said it will develop a full scandium value chain, beginning with its primary mining operations at Syerston. Sunrise said it will build metallization and additive layer manufacturing capabilities to ensure Western alignment from mine to finished product.
The financing will provide the Department with a right of first offer on Sunrise’s output, and the scandium produced by Sunrise would support the demand of US companies, including defense industrial base companies.
“The contemplated Sunrise transaction marks a significant step in establishing supply chain resiliency for an increasingly critical mineral. This nearly $1 billion deal, bringing together public and private capital, would help address foreign dependencies in scandium supply and facilitate scandium’s use in critical defense and commercial applications,” said David A. Lorch, Director of the Office of Strategic Capital David A. Lorch said in a news release.
Claims of a China-free scandium supply chain are also being tested in the private sector. San Jose-based Bloom Energy is the West’s largest consumer of scandium oxide, using an estimated 30 tonnes in 2025—roughly half of global consumption—according to short-seller Hunterbrook Media.
On July 8, Hunterbrook alleged that Chinese scandium oxide was still reaching Bloom through Thailand, Japan, and South Korea. In a July 9 filing, Bloom described the report’s financial claims as false and misleading and rejected its conclusions about the company’s scandium sourcing.
The USGS estimates that global production totalled about 80 tonnes in 2025. Meanwhile, Sunrise Energy Metals’ Syerston project in New South Wales, designed to produce 60 tonnes annually and one of several proposed non-Chinese sources, has yet to begin construction.
Niron Magnetics lands conditional $150M Department of War funding commitment
Niron Magnetics announced Friday a conditional commitment from the Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) for a direct loan of up to $150 million with a 20-year term to support construction and equipment for the company’s advanced manufacturing plant in Sartell, Minnesota.
The Minneapolis – based company is working towards commercializing the world’s first rare-earth-free Iron Nitride permanent magnets, it said.
The financing would accelerate domestic production of Niron’s proprietary Iron Nitride permanent magnets, which do not require rare earth materials, and would expand domestic production of advanced permanent magnets.
The Niron conditional commitment was announced by President Trump at the American Mining Industry gathering in Washington D.C. and is intended to advance Niron’s commercialization and scaling of rare-earth-free Iron Nitride magnets.
Iron Nitride technology was developed at the University of Minnesota and scaled over the last 13 years, resulting in technology that provides manufacturers with an alternative to rare earth magnets.
Permanent magnets are essential components in defense systems, data centers, industrial automation, consumer electronics, robotics, aerospace applications, and advanced electric motors. Today, most rare earth permanent magnets are produced in Asian markets, creating strategic vulnerabilities for U.S. manufacturers.
Niron’s supply chain has no rare earth materials, offshore separation, or heavy rare earth exposure, it said.
“This conditional commitment recognizes the importance of Niron’s rare-earth-free approach and the urgency of building domestic manufacturing capacity for a technology the world increasingly depends on,” Niron CEO Jonathan Rowntree said in a news release.
“We are accelerating commercialization of an American-developed magnet technology that offers manufacturers a domestic path to high-performance permanent magnets built without rare earth materials.”
The conditional financing is intended to accelerate the buildout of Niron’s first commercial-scale rare-earth-free permanent magnet manufacturing plant scheduled to be operational in 2027.
The 287,000-square-foot Sartell plant would bring material-to-magnet production under one roof and produce up to 1,500 tons of rare-earth-free permanent magnets annually, the company said, adding that the plant is the first step in Niron’s modular manufacturing platform, with final site selection underway for a subsequent U.S. manufacturing plant capable of producing 10,000 tons of annual capacity that is expected to break ground in 2028.
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