Faced with ongoing tensions with China, the US president has announced the creation of a strategic reserve dedicated to critical minerals. The initiative, called “Project Vault,” has a budget of $12 billion.
“Project Vault”: a strategic reserve of critical minerals
The balance of power between the world’s major powers is shifting as technology advances, to the point where it now affects rare earths and other minerals that are essential to certain industries, such as microchips, smartphone batteries, and aircraft engines.
These raw materials are considered critical, and their extraction gives certain countries a clear strategic advantage on the international stage. It goes without saying that China is not shying away from its largely dominant position across the entire supply chain (extraction and processing capacity) to counter the customs pressures exerted by Donald Trump.
Against this backdrop, the US president has just announced the creation of a strategic reserve dedicated to rare earths and critical minerals, as part of a $12 billion “Project Vault.” The goal? To reduce US dependence on China.
For years, American companies have risked running out of critical minerals during market disruptions. Today, we are launching what will be known as “Project Vault” to ensure that American companies and workers are never penalized by any shortage.
Donald Trump
A dozen companies already involved
This initiative is in line with the country’s existing strategic emergency oil reserve, as well as the one Donald Trump has promised to create with Bitcoin, which is still in the theoretical stage.
In practice, this strategic reserve dedicated to civilian needs aims to store critical minerals such as gallium, cobalt, lithium, nickel, and others used in particular by the automotive and technology sectors, combining an estimated $1.67 billion in private capital with a $10 billion loan from the US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank).
According to Bloomberg, a dozen US companies have already announced their intention to participate in this project, including General Motors, Boeing, Google, Stellantis, and high-tech glass and materials specialist Corning. Hartree Partners, Traxys North America, and Mercuria Energy will be responsible for building up this emergency stockpile, which will have a capacity of 60 days.
Following this announcement, the shares of major US companies operating in the rare earths sector have rebounded significantly, as in the case of USA Rare Earth, Critical Metals, United States Antimony, and NioCorp Developments.
