The Department of War announced a conditional loan commitment with Energy Fuels Inc. as part of a broader push to strengthen domestic rare earth mineral processing and reduce U.S. reliance on China.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Department of War is moving to expand U.S. rare earth mineral production through a $725 million conditional loan commitment aimed at strengthening domestic supply chains for defense, industrial and advanced technology needs.
The department announced Thursday that its Office for Strategic Capital has signed a conditional loan commitment with Energy Fuels Inc. to support construction of a new rare earth separation and metallization facility.
Rare earth minerals are essential to a wide range of products, including automotive components, computer systems, medical equipment, defense platforms and security technologies. The materials are especially important for specialty industrial products and permanent magnets used in high-tech and military applications.
China currently holds a dominant position in the rare earth sector as the world’s largest reserve-holder, producer and exporter. U.S. officials have identified that dependence as a major supply chain vulnerability.
The $725 million commitment, combined with private investment, is intended to help close that gap by expanding U.S.-based capacity for processing and refining rare earth elements after extraction.
“This partnership,” said the Honorable Emil Michael, under secretary of War for Research and Engineering, “drives an aggressive effort to close vulnerabilities in our industrial base and secure a resilient American supply chain for rare earth elements.”
The Energy Fuels announcement came two days after the department disclosed a separate conditional loan commitment totaling $500 million for Phoenix Tailings Inc. That funding is also directed toward rare earth minerals separation and metallization, as well as expansion of existing facilities.
Together, the investments are designed to address what officials described as the critical gap between raw mineral extraction and permanent magnet production.
The Office for Strategic Capital said it is focused on increasing domestic rare earth production to improve economic security, strengthen national security and reduce dependence on countries such as China for critical materials.
The effort is part of a larger fiscal 2026 financing push. According to the office, it has promised more than $5 billion in debt financing and assembled $11 billion from public and private sector sources to support the American industrial base.
The rare earth investments signal a deeper federal effort to build supply chains inside the United States for materials needed in defense systems, emerging technologies and core industrial production.
By supporting new separation and metallization capacity, the Department of War is seeking to move more of the rare earth supply chain beyond raw extraction and into the higher-value processing stages needed for magnets and other strategic components.
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