The launch of the US-led FORGE alliance on critical minerals and rare earths could prove a historic moment for the global mining industry.
On 4 February, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined with US Vice President J.D. Vance and other senior officials to launch the Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement (FORGE), an alliance of 54 nations and the European Union (EU), which aims to ‘reshape the global market for critical minerals and rare earths’.
Critical minerals and rare earths are essential for our most advanced technologies, and will only become more important as artificial intelligence, robotics, batteries, and autonomous devices transform our economies. Today, this market is highly concentrated, leaving it a tool of political coercion and supply chain disruption, putting our core interests at risk.
‘We will build new sources of supply, foster secure and reliable transport and logistics networks, and transform the global market into one that is secure, diversified, and resilient, end-to-end,’ the US Department of State said in a 4 February announcement.
FORGE succeeds the previous Minerals Security Partnership, with the US Government supporting projects with more than US$30 billion (A$42.5 billion) in letters of interest, investment, loans and other support in partnership with the private sector.
The move followed US President Donald Trump’s launch of Project Vault on 2 February, aimed at establishing a US$12-billion ‘domestic strategic reserve for critical minerals’. The initiative is led by the Export–Import Bank of the United States, which has already committed US$350 million for cobalt and nickel production in Australia, among other investments.
The Trump administration has ramped up efforts to secure domestic supplies of rare earths following China’s announcement of export restrictions in April 2025. In July 2025, the US Department of Defense agreed to invest US$400 million in MP Materials’ Mountain Pass project in Nevada, with the deal also including a floor price nearly double the prevailing market price.
China dominates the rare earths supply chain, accounting for around 70 per cent of mining and 90 per cent of processing. Beijing’s announcements in April and October 2025 of export controls on rare earth elements sparked an industry scramble for supply. In January 2026, its tightening of export controls on ‘dual use’ items bound for Japan saw ex-China prices hit record highs.
Australia is seen as a reliable supplier of ex-China sources of rare earths, signing a bilateral framework on critical minerals and rare earths with the United States in October 2025 – targeting a US$8.5-billion project pipeline, including the Alcoa-Sojitz Gallium Recovery Project in Western Australia and Arafura Rare Earths’ Nolans project in the Northern Territory.
Demand for rare earths has doubled over the past decade and could double again by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency. With Australia holding around four per cent of the world’s rare earth reserves, the nation’s miners are well placed, including Lynas Rare Earths’ Mount Weld project and Iluka Resources’ Eneabba refinery.
‘FORGE, Project Vault and the US–Australia framework are groundbreaking agreements that will help end the industry’s current monopolistic structure. This is a genuine game changer for the rare earths industry, and Australian rare earths companies have the resources and technologies to support this global effort,’ says Tim Harrison, Managing Director of rare earth magnet recycling company Ionic Rare Earths.
According to Ionic, recycling is ‘the fastest path to supply chain independence from China in magnet rare earth oxide (REO) production – fully circular, green, integrated, low risk and low capital expenditure’.
Its UK subsidiary, Ionic Technologies, is currently the only Western recycler producing separated and refined magnet REOs.
In January 2026, the company announced it had been provided with an ‘Offer in Principle’ for a £12-million (A$24 million) capital grant from the UK Government to support the development of a commercial magnet recycling facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Melbourne-based Ionic is also targeting the US market, signing a memorandum of understanding in November 2025 with Missouri-based US Strategic Metals to develop ‘vertically integrated, multi-metallic rare earths production from recycling’.
The company’s international expansion includes Brazil, where its Viridion joint venture with Viridis Mining and Minerals aims to develop South America’s first rare earth refining and recycling hub in the state of Minas Gerais.
‘Speed and tonnes are at the centre of our efforts to build ex-China rare earth supply chains,’ says Ionic’s Executive Chairman, Brett Lynch ‘We’re taking small steps, but quickly, to develop potentially multiple magnet recycling plants across the United Kingdom, United States and other markets as we work to develop sustainable and secure supply chains of rare earths for decades to come.’
In Europe, European Resources (previously Prospech) has advanced its Korsnäs rare earth elements project in western Finland amid an increasing focus from the EU on securing its own domestic sources of rare earths.
In February 2026, the company announced ‘outstanding’ results from the drilling of six diamond drillholes at Korsnäs, with assays showing ‘broad rare earth element mineralised intervals and strong neodymium-praseodymium enrichment’.
Metallurgical test work was also progressing across multiple workstreams, including programs under the auspices of the EU-funded REMHub program.
Commenting on the results, European Resources Managing Director Jason Beckton says the drilling program ‘delivered exactly what we set out to achieve’.
In December 2025, the company also expanded its landholding at its Jokikangas critical minerals project in northern Finland, securing a larger position over a highly prospective yttrium, hafnium, niobium, and heavy rare earth elements corridor amid surging European prices for rare earths like yttrium.
‘Finland is widely recognised as a Tier-1 mining jurisdiction, regularly ranking near the top of the Fraser Institute’s global investment attractiveness surveys (currently number one) for its stable regulatory framework, superior infrastructure and competitive power prices,’ Beckton adds.
‘We’re delighted to be building a strong critical minerals footprint in mainland EU as the race for supplies of yttrium and other rare earths intensifies.’
For Australia’s rare earth miners, the race is on and, backed by the United States and other governments, the industry has received unprecedented support to end China’s iron grip on the sector.
