Loans and Grants16 Jun 2026 22:17
Another $500M being handed out today.
If only we had some heavy duty hitters on our new BOD that had some sort of access to the Dept of war and the White House?
43p. Might have to set up a joke thread to keep me sane!
Anchoring a roughly $1 billion financing push to expand U.S. rare earth processing capacity, the U.S. Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital has conditionally committed to a $500 million loan to support Phoenix Tailings Inc.'s buildout of critical metals production capacity.
While rare earths are found in relative abundance despite their name, the processing, separation, refining, and metal-making steps needed to turn them into usable materials remain concentrated outside the U.S., leaving energy, defense, manufacturing, and advanced technology supply chains exposed to foreign-controlled capacity.
That vulnerability is especially acute for praseodymium, neodymium, terbium, and dysprosium, rare earth elements used in high-performance magnets for electric vehicles, drones, energy systems, robotics, and military hardware.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Energy selected two demonstration projects under a $134 million rare earth program meant to recover, separate, refine, and produce rare earths from mine tailings, electronic waste, industrial residues, and other overlooked feedstocks inside the U.S.
Selected under that program, Phoenix Tailings was tapped to design, construct, commission, and operate a demonstration-scale facility in Ardmore, Oklahoma, to produce high-purity rare earth metals from domestic industrial waste-derived feedstocks, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology partnering on the work.
The funding commitment from the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital, coupled with private capital, is intended to provide approximately $1 billion to support a significant expansion of critical metal production at existing Phoenix Tailings facilities and a new rare earth separation and metallization facility in New Hampshire.
According to DOW, the $500 million conditional loan commitment is meant to scale Phoenix Tailings' domestic processing of rare earth elements, including midstream capacity that bridges the gap between raw extraction and permanent magnet production.
"Supporting domestic processing for critical minerals and rare earths is a key focus for OSC, and the rare earth midstream processing capabilities that Phoenix Tailings represents are key shortage areas that need to be rapidly addressed," said Office of Strategic Capital Director David Lorch. "We are pleased to support Phoenix Tailings in building the company's Freedom Facility, which will represent an important step in strengthening the full mine-to-magnet supply chain in the United States."
Sign In
Follow the stocks
