U.S. President Donald Trump during an American mining industry roundtable discussion at the State Department in Washington on Friday | BLOOMBERG
REUTERS
Aug 8, 2026
Washington – U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday the federal government would invest $3 billion into multiple critical minerals and battery projects as part of a push to increase domestic production and boost national security and industrial policy.
“We’re reclaiming America’s rightful place as the minerals superpower of the world,” Trump told more than 200 mining executives, educators, investors and fellow politicians at a roundtable discussion at the State Department aimed at supporting the industry, which he said had not received enough attention from Washington in recent years.
He announced a slew of investments during his speech, including a $1.4 billion conditional loan from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Strategic Capital for Sila Nanotechnologies, which makes lithium-ion battery parts. The OSC also extended a $400 million conditional loan to scandium miner Sunrise Energy Metals and a $150 million conditional loan to magnet developer Niron Magnetics. The U.S. Export-Import Bank will lend $58 million to Westwater Resources, Global Advanced Metals and 5E Advanced Materials.
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