Trump Announces $12B Rare Earth Stockpile || Feb. 6, 2026
The Trump administration has announced a plan to create a $12 billion stockpile of rare earths. The goal is to create a buffer against any supply disruptions, but this is just a band-aid.
Depending on the metal and use case, this stockpile might give the US a five-month supply. But the core problem still exists: the US doesn't have any domestic refining or processing. It's not all that hard or expensive to extract and process this stuff; the US just hasn't invested in the infrastructure to do so.
If the goal was to establish real supply security, this stockpile isn't the way to go about it. But hey, at least we've got an extra five months.
Comments (28)
Does this mean the US has mine tailings that can be used to obtain the minerals you are talking about?
Seems like one of the major hurdles in this area is NEPA and 50 SEPAs. https://www.epa.gov/nepa/what-national-environmental-policy-act https://ecology.wa.gov/regulations-permits/sepa/environmental-review
Caery Freeman: The Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine, about 65 miles SW of Las Vegas, is a case in point: After three decades of operation, in the 1980s, the operation had about 60 off-premise spills of 600,000 gallons of radioactive and other hazardous waste sludge onto the San Bernardino County desert floor, under Unocal (now part of Chevron) ownership. A further spill in 2002 closed the site until it was sold to its present operators six years later. The operator went through Chapter 11 in 2015, and is now 51% owned by two hedge funds. What could possibly go wrong?
We’ve got Mountain Pass mine right here in the US producing REEs as their primary product? Processing and metal fabrication is our shortfall currently. And lack of heavy rare earth production, which is needed to dope magnets with to withstand high temps (military applications).
Brody Loomis, you're right that this open-pit site southwest of Las Vegas is a significant, and rare, treasure-trove of 8% to 12% rare-earth oxides, something not seen in natural concentration anywhere else to my knowledge. The mine can furnish cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, europium, samarium, and heavier lanthanides -- about 15% of the entire planet's production. The ore is naturally infused with radioactive radium and thorium. (Not my field; just something I've encountered in readings.) Update: As of 2020, a report for Center for Strategic and International Studies says the mine is still completely dependent on China to process the ore for all downstream refining steps. No idea whether that situation improved since then. https://defense360.csis.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Hansen_Rare-Earth_v1.pdf
Hey, Hi Ya'll,, yup, Trumpy wants Greenlnd as theres an $84 Billion rare earth stockpile under that too we hear, enough to pay off the USA'S DEBT PERHAPS? You/they need to hire a guy like me to fix this debt, tjere are many ways of doing it, all bar none dempcrat, so Trmp wont be doing THOSE any time soon anyways neither. How do I get to work for the USA Economy when this upstart Mk 2 Hister( Hitlers original name, we hear ?))) gets dragged back down from his flagpole and stuffs can start snapping back to some form of normal Pete?
Rare earths are not mined, and Greenland cannot possibly have a "stockpile" of them. They are meticulously refined from other ores. Did you even listen to Peter's presentation today?
Wouldn't REE's be highly concentrated in electronic waste? We generate a lot of that
Recovering REEs from electronic waste is increasingly seen as important for enhancing U.S. supply chain resilience. Many valuable materials are embedded in discarded electronics, making them a significant resource for extraction. Establishing infrastructure for recycling these materials can lead to significant environmental benefits and reduce the carbon footprint associated with mining and processing new materials. A number of companies are developing techniques to extract REEs, as well as lithium, nickel, cobalt, etc., from batteries from electric vehicles, energy storage systems, and consumer electronics. Two that I know of are American Resources (working with its minority-owned subsidiary ReElement Technologies) and Australia’s Ionic Rare Earths, which just received a UK government grant to build a refining plant in Belfast, Ireland, which is expected to produce 400 metric tons of high-purity separated rare earth oxides annually.
Hey Peter, check out Ucore, a Canadian company which has developed Rapid SX, a new, faster and more environmentally friendly method for refining rare earth elements. It uses a proprietary column-based solvent extraction system that reportedly operates three times faster than conventional solvent extraction processes. After extensive testing refining all types of rare earths (light and heavy) from different types of ore, it is slated to start commercial production of refined rare earths at its Alexandria, Louisiana plant mid-2026.
Canadian company? But not building a facility in Canada? Is that because the raw feed stock is not in Canada? Also, I can imagine some sizeable regulations to overcome up north. Trump administration seems to be all about deregulation right now. So perhaps just easier in the US?
All this talk about being self-sufficient away from the rest of the world is such BS
Do you have a particular outfit or song or dance in mind for this possibility?
The fact that we don’t have a six-month strategic reserve after what China did to Japan shows the shortsightedness of the United States. I’m also not surprised that there has been no production towards making rare earth in the United states at scale… Trump does not have an industrial policy, if they actually cared about American industry, they would not have cut so much of the inflation reduction act
Not to mention Build Back Better™️
Agreed, its a good first step, need to see where it leads with this admin and the next.... I'm surprised that the technology for rare earths is 100 yrs old; can't we do it cleaner and quicker now?
I'm a geologist and have worked on several REE projects in North America. It always confuses me when Peter references REE as being a byproduct of silver, copper and zinc. Mountain Pass in California is the only operating mine in NA and is a primary REE mine. Yes there are are uranium mines with REE, but many/most sources of actual production are primary mines (Bayan Obo in China is an iron mine, but supplies majority share of global REE). Next up would be monazite type deposits and placer sands, and heavy ionic soils. Stay away from silicate REE mines, like those in Greenland. And this talk of separating from coal is bullshit.
The term i'm looking for is Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. I've listened to Peter for years and trust just about everything he says. I think he's confusing Rare Earths (Lanthanides/NdPr) with Critical Minerals (the growing basket of obscure metals that includes REE).
The entire global rare earth market for the entire world is $15 billion. So a $12 billion stockpile would have to last longer then 1-5 months for the US.
I think he's confusing Rare Earths (Lanthanides/NdPr) with Critical Minerals (the growing basket of obscure metals that includes REE).
I help companies apply for federal funding. There are a ton of DOE grants for critical mineral and material production actually, so they are actively funding projects. You can search NETL, EERE and Infrastructure exchange to see. Also DoW has a bunch from DLA, NDS and through consortia like DIBC.
A stockpile is a good idea to cover short term supply issues or emergencies. And to have at least some small but reliable local extraction mines makes sense. But, I would add for the most common rare earths in demand such as neodymium, cerium, lanthanum, and yttrium, funding research for alternatives seems like the best way to go. Also, research in finding ways to extract rare earths that is more efficient and productive. BTW, the pollution footprint for rare earth extraction is...dreadful. A couple examples: for every ton of rare earth elements extracted, up to 2,000 tons of toxic and radioactive waste are produced. Also, the refining process is energy-intensive, generating up to 15,000 kg of CO₂ per ton of refined rare earths. There's more, too. Ugh!
I’m about 30 years past my school daze, and I only took 1 semester of Inorganic Chemistry, but I find it hard to believe that there are alternatives to the “Lathanides” (aka rare earths (sic)). Because of their atomic structure, and their F electron orbitals specifically, we can do all these amazing things with our electronics. I will admit I haven’t read a peer reviewed journals in three decades, and the ones I did were mostly for Pharmacognosy,but it seems more likely as we’ll replace metal wire wires (Al, Cu, Ag, Au etc) with “substitutes” as find alternatives the elements used in doping
Mount Weld, Western Australia.
Great source for ore, but only about 5-8% of world supply and actual extraction occurs elswhere, such as Malaysia. The statistic to ponder is that China supplies about 90% of the world's FINISHED rare earths. And, they are willing to use that supply as a political weapon.
It's great that half the world has started developing a stockpile recently. In my view, the bigger story was this week, 54 countries met in the US for the Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement (FORGE). This will build a global trade bloc to solve the processing problem and counter China's dominance and market manipulation. Including price floors. https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/02/2026-critical-minerals-ministerial/
Yeah, when I read the $12 bil, all I could think of was: “That barely covers Coalie’s mesothelioma and COPD treatments, not to mention his raging opiate addiction from that accident in ‘17.” He looked so happy in that picture.
This is actually more tangential to the idea of “We need to build out more industrial capacity for processing rare earth minerals.” https://www.waynecountynews.com/wayne-water-do-not-consume-order-continues-wyoming-county-faces-new-spill/article_ee798a6a-491c-41ed-9dbd-8170751c19ea.html Our ability to maintain our current industrial plant in a way that doesn’t ruin communities is not exactly great.