A maxi-public-private fund to secure American supply chains: the White House launches Project Vault to reduce dependence on Beijing on rare earths and critical metals, pillars of defense, automotive and technology. But there is no shortage of doubts.
The American administration led by Donald Trump he is working to the creation of a large strategic reserve of minerals considered indispensable for the economy and national security of the United States. The project, with an estimated value of around 12 billion dollarsaims to strengthen American industrial capacity in the face of possible supply crises and to structurally reduce dependence on Beijing for rare earths and critical metals. The new initiative, named Project Vaultshould be based on a mix of public and private capital. As illustrated by White Housethe plan foresees approximately $1.67 billion in private investment supported by up to $10 billion in financing granted by the US Export-Import Bank, intended for the purchase and storage of raw materials from large industrial groups, from the automotive sector to technology companies. Over the course of half a century, rare earths have transformed into the most sought-after materials globally, driven by the strategic role assumed in the technological revolution of the last twenty years. It is no coincidence that they are defined as “technological metals”: key elements that support entire industrial sectors, from electronics to advanced manufacturing – including petrochemicals, defense and aerospace – up to renewable energy and medical applications. THE Rare Earth Elements they are present in a myriad of everyday objects: televisions, semiconductors, hard disks, touch screens, electronic circuits, permanent magnets, wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, low consumption lamps, batteries for electric vehicles, laser components and smartphones. Without them, much of the modern high-tech ecosystem simply wouldn’t exist. Precisely for this reason, rare earths represent a decisive factor for the technological, energy and military competitiveness of states, with demand destined to grow at an increasingly accelerated pace.
«In the last twelve months we have put in place exceptional tools to guarantee the United States the full availability of strategic minerals and resources rare earths that the country needs,” he declared Trump give it Oval Officeat the end of a meeting with representatives of the Congress and industry representatives. The announcement comes amid growing tensions over the global supply chain for critical minerals. In recent years the China has used its dominant weight in the refining and processing phases to put pressure on Western industries. Over the last year, Beijing introduced new authorization requirements for US companies interested in purchasing rare earth magnets, effectively limiting access to key components for the defense and automotive sectors. According to the International Agency forEnergythe China today controls around 90% of global rare earth processing capacity. During the presentation of the plan, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum summarized the administration’s approach with a joke: «After “drill, baby, drill”, now it’s time for “mine, baby, mine”», underlining the intention to bring strategic resources back under national control.
As part of the project, Trump he also met the leaders of some large companies. Among these the CEO of General Motors, Mary BarraAnd Robert Friedlandfounder and executive co-chairman of Ivanhoe Mines. Bar he remarked how «a solid and resilient supply chain is essential not only for the automotive sector, but for the entire production system of the country». Friedland instead, he defined the initiative as a decisive step “both for national security and for the industrial relaunch of the United States”. As the Wall Street Journal writes, the project, anticipated in recent days by Bloombergis compared in many places to Strategic Petroleum Reservethe federal reserve of crude oil created in the 1970s after the energy shock. Again, the goal is to prevent critical supply disruptions. The basket of Project Vault should include rare earths And strategic metals as gallium And cobalt.
According to an official of the White Houseover a dozen companies have already joined the initiative, including GM, Stellantis And Google (Alphabet). The board of directors of Ex-Im Bank in the meantime, it has approved the authorization for a fifteen-year loan, guaranteeing long-term financial coverage for the partnership between industry and private investors that will support the entire operation. The project is interesting however, there is no shortage of doubts as he points out Giovanni Brussato mining engineer among the leading experts on the subject: «It’s called Project Vault but it’s a version in “Trumpian sauce” of the National Defense Stockpile (NDS) established in 1939 through the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act when the US was still a mining power. The limits of the development of this “strategic escort“reside in the supply itself: perhaps it is not yet clear that Beijing has established a tracking system that obliges the buyer to provide essential information on the destination of that metal. The problem arises again: who will provide the heavy rare earths as terbium, dysprosium or samarium to build the permanent magnets needed for supply chain industrial but, first and foremost, to that of defence if today only Beijing is able to produce them?».
