Trump’s Mineral Stockpile Prepares Up to $1B in Loans

Project Vault, the U.S. government-backed critical-minerals stockpile, plans to choose an initial group of more than a dozen American manufacturers that could receive up to $1 billion in loans to help procure key materials.

VaultCo, the company established by the Trump administration to run the project, is in discussions with more than 70 firms across both the supply and demand sides of the critical minerals market to participate in the initiative, Executive Chairman Brett Lambert said in an October 14 interview.

“What’s likely to happen is we’ll announce several hundred million dollars, maybe a billion dollars, of loans to OEMs who have requested use of the Vault facility,” Lambert said. “In the first tranche, we’ll have more than a dozen firms, followed by more than a dozen shortly after.”

The first tranche of companies would mark a significant step forward in the rollout of Project Vault after the Trump administration unveiled the $12 billion initiative earlier this year. The cache is intended to reduce U.S. vulnerability to Chinese domination of production and refining of many key materials.

This story was originally published by SupplyChainBrain. Read the full story at SupplyChainBrain →