Critical Minerals on CrossGov.com

US Government Takes Equity Stakes in Critical Minerals Companies: How Washington's Approach Compares With China and the EU

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In July 2025 the Pentagon became a major shareholder in the company that runs America’s only operating rare earth mine. The Defense Department bought $400 million of MP Materials preferred stock at $30.03 a share, with warrants, added a $150 million loan, and promised two things a market investor never would: a ten-year price floor of $110 per kilogram for the company’s neodymium-praseodymium oxide, and a ten-year commitment to buy all the output of a new magnet plant.

Project Vault Signs Glencore and Mercuria as the FORGE Critical Minerals Price Floor Agreement Stays Unsigned

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On 23 September Glencore and Mercuria became the first commodity traders to join Project Vault, the US critical minerals stockpile, committing $1 billion between them. Project Vault is backed by a $10 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank, the bank’s largest ever, plus about $2 billion of private money. It’s run by a private company, VaultCo, with EXIM as a non-voting board observer, and can buy any of the 60 minerals the US Geological Survey lists as critical. No purchases have been disclosed.

US-Japan Critical Minerals Pact Moves Toward Price Floors as China Squeezes Japan's Rare Earth Supply

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In March 2026, at a summit in Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced a US–Japan action plan on critical minerals. It’s meant to be the basis for a binding agreement among several countries, with minimum prices for minerals enforced at the border, coordinated stockpiles and joint financing for mining and processing projects. The same summit added a memorandum on deep-sea rare earths near Japan’s Minamitorishima island and a second tranche of Japanese investment, up to $73 billion, including 13 critical mineral supply chain projects.