By Anthony Fensom
The Trump administration is actively investing in rare earths and other critical minerals projects as it attempts to break China’s stranglehold on the sector. Can Australian miners take advantage?
Following a string of investments, the US Government has now offered to buy equity stakes in Australian critical minerals companies to expand supply and reduce reliance on China, according to a 2 October Reuters report.
The push is part of a plan to establish alternative mineral supply chains after China’s export controls on rare earths and permanent magnets, which caused a virtual shutdown of the Western automotive industry.
An Australian delegation of critical minerals companies reportedly visited Washington and New York in September to hold talks with senior officials in the Trump administration.
The US Government funding could include both debt and equity, as well as offtake agreements, the report said.
‘The Trump administration is keeping all options open to accomplish this America First goal while guaranteeing a good bargain for American taxpayers,’ White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers was quoted saying by Bloomberg.
‘A priority of President Trump’s energy dominance agenda is to build the strongest mining sector in the world, and boost the production of critical minerals, which will strengthen our economic and national security.’
Ionic Rare Earths (IonicRE) Executive Chairman Brett Lynch says the deal-making was spurring a wave of activity by Australian rare earths miners.
‘The investments announced by the Trump administration are a game-changer for the rare earths industry, in building secure and sustainable ex-China supply chains,’ Lynch says.
‘Australian miners are well placed, given our nations’ longstanding security alliance, and our ability to deliver minerals that are critical to US defence and advanced manufacturing.’
On 6 October, Reuters reported that Trump administration officials were discussing obtaining a stake in New York–based Critical Minerals, which holds the ‘largest rare earths project in Greenland’. This follows moves by the US Government to take a five per cent equity stake in Lithium Americas and a five per cent stake in the company’s Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada.
In July 2025, US rare earths producer MP Materials announced a ‘transformational’ public-private partnership with the US Department of Defense (DoD), under which the DoD would invest US$400 million in the Nevada-based company, operator of the Mountain Pass rare earth mine.
Importantly for the industry, the agreement also included a floor price of US$110 per kilogram for MP Materials’ neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) products – nearly double the then market price.
UBS analyst Dim Ariyasinghe describes the deal as ‘the biggest catalyst yet for [the] Western rare earth magnet supply chain’.
The MP Materials deal triggered a sharp rally in NdPr prices, from US$63 a kilogram in late June to US$89 a kilogram in August, reaching its highest level since March 2023. Prices for heavy rare earths such as terbium and dysprosium have also rallied.
Iluka Resources Chief Executive Tom O’Leary told investors that the US move ‘will have a significant and positive impact on recognised and accepted pricing required for acquiring rare earths, and delivering a sustainable rare earth industry in the West.
‘While we are yet to see how that is going to reverberate through the market downstream to customers, it is evident that we have moved to a bifurcated market.’
Lynas Rare Earths has also reported a ‘more vibrant rare earths market’ following recent Western government initiatives.
‘Lynas expects recent industry-shaping government initiatives to lead to a larger “rest of world” rare earths industry,’ it said in a 28 August investor presentation, describing the government moves as ‘the most significant government action since Japan’s investment in Lynas in 2011’.
The Australian Government has flagged plans for a critical minerals stockpile to challenge China’s industry dominance, including setting a potential floor price.
‘Mechanisms for an appropriate price floor are under active consideration, along with creating voluntary national offtake agreements,’ Australian Minister for Resources the Hon. Madeleine King was quoted saying by the Australian Financial Review.
In an 6 August report, industry analysts Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI) stated that rare earths prices were showing signs of regional bifurcation following China’s export restrictions.
Ex-China prices of heavy rare earth oxides were ‘significantly higher’ than those in the domestic Chinese market following Beijing’s tighter export controls, it said.
New projects
IonicRE has flagged plans to develop multiple magnet recycling plants across the United States, based on the rare earths separation technology developed by its Belfast-based subsidiary, Ionic Technologies.
In August 2025, the Belfast plant welcomed a visit by UK minister Sarah Jones MP, who noted the company’s progress in ‘developing a rare earths magnetic recycling process to support the United Kingdom’s electric vehicle transition’.
The Melbourne-based company is also targeting Brazil, with its Viridion joint venture, with Viridis Mining and Minerals breaking ground in September for a planned rare earths refining and recycling centre in Minas Gerais – the first of its type in South America.
‘IonicRE is building a global industrial business, focused on its rare earths permanent magnet recycling technology, which offers a low-emission, secure and sustainable pathway for ex-China rare earths supply,’ says Managing Director Tim Harrison.
Also overseas, Prospech Limited has highlighted the exploration potential of its Korsnäs rare earth elements project in western Finland, where it plans to develop a ‘technically and commercially viable processing route for rare earth element recovery from legacy stockpiles, tailings and the underlying hard rock mineralisation’.
Prospech Managing Director Jason Beckton points to Finland’s lower power costs, quality infrastructure, skilled workforce and access to European Union (EU) markets, including an established rare earth element refinery in nearby Estonia.
‘The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act aims to ensure European extraction, processing and recycling of “strategic raw materials”, including rare earth elements, to meet 10 per cent, 40 per cent and 25 per cent of EU demand respectively by 2030,’ Beckton says.
‘With this government backing and rising prices, we are excited by the outlook for our EU projects and have metallurgical test work underway, as well as plans for further drilling to expand our resource base.’
