In February 2026, the US convened with representatives from 54 countries and the European Commission at the 2026 Critical Minerals Ministerial, confirming decisive action to build secure and resilient critical minerals supply chains.
The US signed multiple bilateral agreements, memorandums of understanding, and critical minerals frameworks for collaboration on ensuring security of supply.
The gathered nations also celebrated the creation of the Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement to address the challenges in critical minerals supply chains and how to work together to overcome these challenges and build policies and projects to strengthen these supply chains.
The ministerial also affirmed that the problems in critical minerals supply chains cannot be solved by the government alone and that public-private partnerships are essential to drive investment into the sector and establish onshore refining and processing capabilities, end-use manufacturing, recycling, and reprocessing.
The US has already committed more than US$30 billion ($42 billion) in support for projects to help build out its critical minerals supply chains. The Office of the Spokesperson for the US Department of State notes that these investments “are having a multiplier effect, mobilising private capital many times greater than the US government outlay, which will generate billions of dollars in new projects to secure our supply chains”.
“Under the Trump Administration, the US is leading the global race for strategic minerals and advanced manufacturing.”
Project Vault
The launch of Project Vault in February 2026 is one of the more landmark initiatives by President Trump and the Export-Import Bank of the US (EXIM), which strives to establish a domestic strategic reserve for critical minerals, as previously reported by Mining.com.au.
Upon its launch, EXIM Chairman John Jovanic said that “Project Vault is designed to support domestic manufacturers from supply shocks, support US production and processing of critical raw materials, and strengthen the US critical minerals sector”.
Project Vault launched initially with a direct loan of up to US$10 billion for financing partnerships between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and private sector capital providers.
A key part of Project Vault is securing the supply of the critical minerals needed by OEMs and other industry manufacturers.
The 2026 Critical Minerals Ministerial underscored that securing supply is a global challenge requiring coordinated policy, capital, and innovation. Coupling international frameworks with domestic investment, Washington is signalling that the US intends to lead, not only in convening allies but in mobilising the resources needed to build resilient, transparent, and diversified supply chains.
With billions of dollars already committed and private capital helping to drive the impact, the US is laying the groundwork for landmark initiatives, such as Project Vault, that will directly contribute to strategic reserves and safeguard against supply shocks.
And while the Ministerial saw the creation of 11 international critical minerals frameworks, with more added since, the US is firmly committed to growing its domestic resource base.
President Trump has prioritised this as a matter of national security, with a March 2025 Executive Order focused on the immediate increase in American mineral production.
In November 2025, the US Department of Energy announced US$355 million in grants to expand domestic production of critical minerals needed for energy production, manufacturing, transportation, and defence.
Against this backdrop of federal commitments and landmark initiatives, attention is now turning to the projects in the US that will translate policy into tangible supply. A new wave of exploration and development is emerging across lithium, phosphate, antimony, and tungsten, among other metals, with companies positioning themselves to plug critical gaps in the domestic supply chain. These ventures are designed to deliver immediate value into the US’s domestic manufacturing, defence, and battery metals industries.
Venari advances Red Mountain to feed America’s lithium demand
Venari Minerals (ASX:VMS) is advancing the Red Mountain Lithium Project in Nevada in alignment with US federal initiatives as it aims to be a significant source of lithium for the US market.
The company’s Red Mountain Project, located in Nye County, Nevada, covers 33km2 of claims. In the maiden inferred Mineral Resource Estimate, the company outlined 500 million tonnes @ 1,139 parts per million lithium, with 3.03 million tonnes of contained lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), with a key zone of ‘high-grade’ focus at Red Mountain North.
The company currently has an exploration Plan of Operations under assessment, as part of the Trump Administration’s expedited National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) provisions. Approval on this front will allow Venari to expand its drilling footprint beyond the five-acre limit.
Once this is approved, Venari will have capacity to drill out the project to feasibility-level studies. The company plans to commence drilling following the Plan of Operations approvals.
Venari CEO Matthew Healy notes that in addition to lithium at Red Mountain, the project also hosts strontium, which is a strategic defence metal on which the US is currently wholly import-dependent.
“Venari intends to imminently engage with the Departments of Defense and Energy to look at grant funding opportunities for extracting strontium as a byproduct of lithium extraction.”
Looking at the project’s role within the US supply chain, Healy notes that the Red Mountain Lithium Project is able to produce a battery-grade lithium carbonate that can be used directly to produce cathodes for lithium-ion batteries, compared to a spodumene concentrate, which requires additional downstream processing.
“This means that lithium coming out of Red Mountain can go directly to US cathode or battery manufacturers, cutting out the ‘middle-man’ and the associated geopolitics,” Healy says.
“It is also worth pointing out that battery-grade lithium carbonate is a value-added product that sells for US$26,000 per tonne, compared to a spodumene concentrate, which is what most Western Australian hard-rock projects produce, which sells for US$3,000 per tonne.”
Healy highlights that the US’s lithium market is set to see a supply deficit in coming years.
“The US currently produces around 5,000 tonnes per annum of LCE, but demand in the form of battery production capacity is set to skyrocket to between 400,000–600,000 tonnes per annum of LCE by 2030.
“Advanced projects will not meet this level of demand, and so this creates an opportunity for juniors, such as Venari, to help in easing US import-dependence on lithium, as well as potentially for strategic by-products.”
Venari is currently focused on permitting for its next round of drilling, with plans to infill the ‘high-grade’ zone in the north of the Red Mountain Lithium Project to feed into an updated Mineral Resource Estimate and, ultimately, the first Scoping Study as well.
Nevada Organic Phosphate builds domestic fertiliser security amid global disruptions
Nevada Organic Phosphate (CSE:NOP) is positioning itself as the largest organic rock phosphate resource in North America in an environment where the domestic supply is severely constrained.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz and ongoing war in the Middle East has disrupted global fertiliser trade flows, leading to higher prices and a tightening of global supplies.
CEO Robin Dow notes that the global markets for phosphate are broadly controlled by a small number of exporters, including China and the Middle East, and with these markets now being exposed to export restrictions, chemical processing methods, and geopolitical chokepoints, “Nevada Organic Phosphate’s competitive positioning is built around being the opposite of those vulnerabilities”.
In this environment, Nevada Organic Phosphate is advancing a domestic, environmentally compliant phosphate project that Dow says “fits directly within federal and state priorities for US fertiliser security, critical-input independence, and rural economic development”.
“Our work at Murdock Mountain aligns naturally with current federal and state priorities around resource sovereignty, secure domestic supply chains, and reduced reliance on foreign phosphate imports.”
Nevada Organic Phosphate differentiates itself from global producers with its use of a chemical-free production pathway. While conventional phosphate fertiliser relies on sulphuric acid and ammonia — both of which are subject to price volatility and supply risk — Nevada Organic Phosphate’s product is able to avoid using these inputs entirely, which Dow notes gives it a structural cost and stability advantage.
Dow affirms that Nevada Organic Phosphate is focused on strengthening the US supply chain for organic phosphate material.
“For NOP, supply-chain resilience means developing a US-based phosphate source that isn’t tied to sulphur markets, export controls, or overseas shipping lanes. By keeping the entire value chain domestic and advancing the project with regulatory discipline, we’re building stability into the system from day one.”
Nevada Organic Phosphate is currently advancing its 2026 exploration program at Murdock Mountain. The team has mobilised drilling, pad construction is complete, and NEPA environmental work is underway.
“Drilling in 2026 is focused on evaluating thickness, continuity, and grade characteristics of the phosphate horizons,” Dow says.
“The NEPA Environmental Assessment work has been initiated for three new Bureau of Land Management application areas, with Stantec Consulting leading the NEPA Environmental Assessment process. This is a key step toward expanding future exploration access.”
Dow notes that as the team progresses exploration work this year, the company is focused on steady, disciplined progress that keeps the project moving forward.
American Tungsten strengthens US defence supply
American Tungsten (TSX-V:TUNG) is a Canadian exploration company with a focus on building America’s defence supply through its flagship asset, the IMA Mine Project in Idaho.
The IMA Mine Project is a near-term, fully permitted US asset, with clear strategic value within today’s critical minerals environment.
The company notes that more than 82% of the global production of tungsten in 2024 was produced by China, but its strategic inclusion across critical minerals lists in the US, Canada, the European Union, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has made the metal a key focus for national security.
Tungsten is also a market defined by supply scarcity as defence spending rises, geopolitical risk impacts supply chains, and more. According to Fastmarkets, the perceived supply scarcity has driven up demand and pricing.
American Tungsten notes that it is the only near-term US tungsten producer at the moment, with the IMA Mine project a brownfield asset that already has key infrastructure in place and historical production records.
CEO Ali Haji notes that American Tungsten is focused on “high-grade, low-cost production in a secure location, with a key advantage over Chinese supply through its domestic operations, regulatory certainty, and direct access to the US market.”
“Our operating model prioritises resilience and supply chain transparency, not just volume.”
The company is in active discussions with the Department of Defense and the Defense Logistics Agency among others to secure non-dilutive funding as well as offtake support as it works through a phased development approach toward initial production later in 2026.
Felix Gold enters antimony extraction phase
Felix Gold (ASX:FXG) has announced that it has begun extraction and stockpiling ‘high-grade’ antimony at its Treasure Creek Antimony Project in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Felix is focused on building an integrated domestic supply chain for antimony in the US, with its confirmed military-grade antimony ore and ore of direct-shipping quality.
Executive Director Joseph Webb says that with the company’s commencement of extraction operations, it has officially entered a new phase as it “is now physically extracting and stockpiling antimony ore in the US under permit, while advancing a pathway to domestic processing”.
“The vein system we are extracting from has previously yielded direct-ore assays meeting US military concentrate specifications, which is a different kind of starting point to most antimony projects globally.
“At a time when the US is fully import-dependent for antimony raw materials, having a domestic source of raw material supply in active operation is a meaningful step.”
Against the backdrop of broad federal commitments and landmark initiatives such as Project Vault, companies like Venari Minerals, Nevada Organic Phosphate, American Tungsten, and Felix Gold are translating policy into tangible supply.
These companies, among others, are making a place for themselves as key suppliers of critical minerals for the US market.
Together, these ventures underscore how the mining industry and government working together can reinforce supply chain resilience and position the US to lead in the global race for critical and strategic minerals.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: Mining.com.au, Venari Minerals, Nevada Organic Phosphate, American Tungsten, Felix Gold
