HOUSTON, August 7th (Argus) - US President Donald Trump stated at a crucial minerals roundtable meeting held at the White House on the same day that the United States will invest a total of over 2 billion US dollars in multiple key minerals projects both domestically and internationally to "revitalize the industry".
The funds for the new projects will come from multiple federal departments and agencies, including the Department of Defense, the International Development Finance Corporation, and the Export-Import Bank. The total investment for each of the latest batch of projects ranges from 80 million to 140 million US dollars.
The Department of Defense will provide the largest conditional loan of 1.4 billion US dollars to Sila Nanotechnologies for expanding the production of silicon-carbon battery anodes and building a lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing plant. Sila launched its first automotive-grade manufacturing plant in Moses Lake, Washington State last September, producing non-composite silicon anodes.
The Department of Defense also plans to invest in three other companies, including providing a 400 million US dollar loan to Sunrise Energy Metals, a 150 million US dollar conditional loan to Niron Magnetics, and an 85.5 million US dollar equity investment in Standard Bauxite.
Australian mining developer Sunrise Energy Metals plans to use this fund to develop a "full-value scandium value chain", including developing its Syerston scandium mine project in New South Wales, Australia - a primary scandium mine. According to the Department of Defense, the Department of Defense will have the priority purchase right for the company's output. The company received a letter of intent from the Export-Import Bank of the United States of up to 67 million US dollars last year.
US magnetic material producer Niron Magnetics is expected to use this conditional loan to support the construction of a 605 million US dollar rare earth permanent magnet factory in Minnesota. According to the Department of Defense, the plant will have the capacity to produce 1500 tons of magnetic materials per year. The company laid the foundation for this facility last September. Niron previously completed a two-year pilot project with the support of the Department of Energy, producing 1 to 2 tons of magnetic materials per year.
According to the Department of Defense, Standard Bauxite will use the expected equity investment from the Department of Defense to acquire and expand the First Bauxite mine in Guyana, develop processing facilities, and contribute to the later construction of a brown corundum factory in the United States.
The Export-Import Bank announced on Friday that it would provide funds for multiple projects, including providing 25 million US dollars to Westwater Resources Company (Alabama) for graphite production, 25 million US dollars to Global Advanced Metals (Pennsylvania) for tantalum and niobium production, and 8 million US dollars to 5E Advanced Materials for its 5E Boron Americas project.
According to the International Development Finance Corporation, the company will also invest 4.8 million US dollars in Harena Rare Earths to develop a rare earth mine in Madagascar.
In addition to the over 2 billion US dollars in project funds, the US government will also invest approximately 180 million US dollars for mining schools, aiming to improve the US workforce in the industry. The Department of Energy will invest 100 million US dollars in an initiative to expand educational and skilled labor opportunities in the industry.
The Department of Defense will total invest 80 million US dollars in projects at the Colorado Mining Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and South Dakota Mining Institute.
