The US Army has awarded long term conditional leases to four companies to design, finance, build, and operate critical mineral processing facilities on Army installations. The companies were selected under the Army`s Strategic Capital Initiative, a landmark public-private partnership aimed at bolstering the US defense industrial base. The selected companies include Titan Mining Corp, Energy X, Ioneer USA Corp and REalloys.
The announcement positions the Department of War as an active participant in reshoring mineral processing capacity.
Dr. Jeff Waksman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment said, “The ability to process critical minerals on U.S. soil is a national-defense priority required for munitions, missiles, sensors, batteries, and the platforms our Soldiers depend on.”
He further said, “Leveraging our legal authorities and land, the U.S. Army is able to help nurture a critical minerals industrial base which equips and sustains America’s Soldiers without putting any taxpayer dollars at risk.”
The lease targets critical minerals like Graphite, Lithium, Boron, Dysprosium and Terbium. These are used in energy storage, armor materials, rocket propellants and magnet production.
According to the lease underutilized land at Army installations based in Alabama, Arkansas, Texas and Utah will be used to house processing facilities for converting raw or semi-processed ore into refined materials.
Historically processing has been the more economically and technically demanding bottleneck. Even where domestic ore deposits exist, the absence of refining infrastructure has meant raw materials are often shipped abroad for processing before returning as finished inputs. That round-trip dependency introduces both cost inefficiencies and supply chain vulnerability.
According to US Geological Survey, the US has 50 percent net import reliance for Lithium, 80 percent for rare earths like Dysprosium and Terbium and 100 percent for Graphite. These dependencies present supply chain challenges as some of the import sources are located in adversarial or geopolitically unstable nations.
Overseas supplies also present challenges of export restrictions which can constrain production of military systems at scale during a conflict or period of heightened tension.
The press release states that formal lease agreements with the four companies is still under negotiation. Although facility development is slated to begin in 2027, with an Initial Operating Capability targeted by 2028.
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