ANALYSIS
The Biggest Mining Meeting in 120 Years
The last time a U.S. president sat down with this many mining executives, Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House. America mined more copper, lead, and iron than any country on earth. It didn't depend on anyone.
That was over 120 years ago. Last Friday, Donald Trump held what the White House called the biggest presidential meeting with mining leaders since Roosevelt. The room at the State Department held CEOs from Rio Tinto, BHP, Freeport-McMoRan, MP Materials, USA Rare Earth, and Energy Fuels. Today, the U.S. imports 100% of 16 nonfuel mineral commodities, 13 of which it calls critical to national security.
Jim Litinsky, the CEO of MP Materials, walked up and handed Trump a pair of magnets. They were made for General Motors at MP's Fort Worth factory — the endpoint of the only mine-to-magnet supply chain outside China. Ore processed at Mountain Pass, magnets made in Fort Worth.
Trump held them up. "We're putting our miners back to work," he said. "And we're reclaiming America's rightful place as the minerals superpower of the world."
Then came the money. Trump announced $3 billion in new critical minerals investments. The biggest: $1.4 billion to Sila Nanotechnologies for a battery plant in Washington state. Then $400 million for the world's first primary scandium mine in Australia. And $150 million to Niron Magnetics in Minnesota, which makes permanent magnets without any rare earths at all.
Plus $180 million for mining schools. China has a deep network of mining universities. The U.S. doesn't have enough trained miners to run what it's building.
The reason for all of it: war. The Iran conflict burned through weapons stockpiles at a pace nobody planned for. Missiles, guided munitions, and military drones all need rare earth magnets inside them. Those magnets come from supply chains that run through China. When that became clear, Washington started spending.
And it hasn't stopped. Since January 2025, the administration has signed 160 minerals deals worth nearly $40 billion. A $12 billion strategic stockpile launched in February. The Pentagon took a $400 million equity stake in MP Materials. Hundreds of millions more went to USA Rare Earth and Energy Fuels in loans.
The question now is speed. China refines about 91% of the world's rare earths and built that lead over 30 years. Mines take five to ten years to develop. Refineries take three to five. The money is flowing — but the gap is still wide.
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ALSO THIS WEEK
MAGNETS
The Pentagon Bets on a World Without Rare Earths
Niron Magnetics makes permanent magnets from iron and nitrogen — no neodymium, no dysprosium, no rare earths at all. On Friday, the Pentagon gave the company a conditional $150 million, 20-year loan to build a 287,000-square-foot factory in Sartell, Minnesota. The plant will produce up to 1,500 tons of magnets a year when it opens in 2027. The technology was developed at the University of Minnesota and is the first iron nitride magnet platform at commercial scale. It's a hedge: even as Washington pours billions into rare earth supply chains, it wants a backup that doesn't depend on them.
SUPPLY CHAIN
Iluka Lands Its First Rare Earth Customer
Iluka Resources signed its first binding rare earth offtake deal for its Eneabba refinery in Western Australia, with an unnamed global automaker as the buyer. The contract covers about 1,200 tonnes in total of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium over an initial four-year term starting in 2028. It's take-or-pay, priced at whichever is higher: a minimum floor or the market rate. That structure protects Iluka from a price crash and gives the automaker non-Chinese supply. The refinery is now more than 50% built, with commissioning set for 2027 and the final A$400 million of Iluka's A$1.65 billion government loan now released.
ECONOMICS
Western Rare Earths Will Cost More. That's the Point.
Benchmark Minerals added cost curves to its Q2 2026 rare earths forecast for the first time, comparing Western projects to their Chinese peers. The conclusion: building rare earth supply outside China is achievable, but it costs more. The gap is manageable for light rare earths like neodymium and praseodymium. For heavy rare earths — dysprosium and terbium — the cost difference is wide. Buyers who want supply that doesn't run through Beijing will pay a premium, and that premium may be the permanent price of supply security.
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"We're putting our miners back to work, and we're reclaiming America's rightful place as the minerals superpower of the world."
Sc
SCANDIUM
The Element
Scandium is one of the 17 rare earth elements, and most people have never heard of it. Add a small amount to aluminum and the alloy gets lighter, tougher, and more heat-resistant — which makes it perfect for fighter jets, drones, and missile casings. China controls most of the world's supply, and the metal trades around $3,333/kg on the Shanghai Metals Market. This week, the Pentagon committed $400 million to Sunrise Energy Metals to build the world's first primary scandium mine in Australia. Until that mine delivers — and NioCorp secures financing for its Nebraska project, where it has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Lockheed Martin for potential scandium supply — the U.S. has no reliable way to get it.
AROUND THE MARKET
Queensland Unveils $146M Critical Minerals Plan
Queensland released its 2026–2030 critical minerals plan, adding $146 million in new investment to expand downstream refining and manufacturing. The money targets rare earths, cobalt, and vanadium, building on a $245 million strategy launched in 2023.
Offtake Deals Are Now Government Tools
Rare Earth Exchanges published an analysis of how rare earth offtake agreements have shifted from standard commodity contracts into tools of government policy. The piece tracks how Washington and allied governments now back the buyer side of deals, guaranteeing demand for mines that don't exist yet. It's the same shift we flagged back when the MP Materials-Pentagon price floor first landed in this newsletter — now it's the rule, not the exception.
JCU Researchers Target Rare Earths in Mine Tailings
Scientists at James Cook University published a study in Minerals Engineering on extracting rare earths from legacy mine tailings in Queensland, including the former Mary Kathleen uranium site. The work explores chemical extraction methods that could recover rare earths without opening new mines.
— phys.org
USAR and TMC Stocks Jump 30% in a Week
Shares of USA Rare Earth and The Metals Company each jumped about 30% over the past week as critical minerals stocks rallied. TMC's CEO handed Trump a gold replica of a deep-sea mineral sample at Friday's roundtable.
