Spotlight on American Rare Earths, page-3430

We have previously discussed that ARR is engaged in discussion around funding and next steps. We also noted that the DoD awarded US$35m to MP Materials to build heavy rare earth separation capacity at its Mountain Pass production site. It would be amiss not to mention that the DoD also awarded a US$120m contract to Lynas to build a commercial heavy rare earth facility in the US.

According to the Lynas announcement of 14 June 2022, the construction costs for the HRE facility were fully covered by the DoD contract. Back to home, could the DoD be currently involved in funding discussions in relation to facilities at Halleck Creek?

If one remembers, in the recent article published in the WSJ, Michael Auslin refers to the discovery at Halleck Creek as having the potential to make the US the world's indispensable mineral supplier and in giving the US an unparalleled economic and geopolitical edge against China and Russia. Is this the kind of project that the DoD would be interested in looking at to see how it might be progressed?

In order to understand the involvement of US government agencies in funding rare earth mining projects, reference is made to a publication from the Hoover Institution titled Progress on Critical Materials Resilience dated 25 July 2023. The authors make the point that the federal government has been given a mandate to go beyond technology development to support deployment of industrial scale facilities backed by substantial new resources for grants and loans.

Its interesting to note that Michael Auslin is a Research Fellow in Contemporary Asia from the Hoover Institution and is a participant in Hoover's Global Policy and Strategy Initiative. The GPS Initiative provides important insights into the mission to help the US navigate the emerging challenges in the national security landscape.