Trump Kickstarts $12 Billion ‘Project Vault’ Critical Minerals Stockpile

President Donald Trump announced on Feb. 2 a new strategic private sector critical minerals stockpile. The newly launched “Project Vault” is being seeded with $1.67 billion in private capital and a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and is meant to insulate U.S. industries from market disruptions such as the seismic critical minerals rule change Beijing previewed last year. The Pentagon already has a critical minerals stockpile, kept in six locations across the country, in the event of a national emergency. However, Beijing last year announced a major rule change that would subject all sales of critical minerals mined or processed in China—which could be up to 90 percent of global supply—to review and approval from Chinese authorities....