News: The United States announced Project Vault to build a critical minerals stockpile to reduce dependence on China and manage supply disruptions.
About Project Vault
- Project Vault is a public-private partnership created to buy and store critical minerals and rare earth elements.
- Announced by: The initiative was announced by the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
- Objectives: To establish a Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve, to ensure that American businesses and workers are not harmed by shortages of critical minerals.
- Funding: Project Vault will combine $1.67 billion in private seed funding with $10 billion from the US Export-Import Bank.
- Target Minerals: Focuses on essential materials for defense, tech, and green energy sectors, including gallium, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth elements.
- Key features
- Stockpiling mechanism: Companies commit to future purchases at fixed prices and pay upfront fees, after which Project Vault buys and stores required minerals.
- Access and replacement rule: Companies can use stored minerals if they replace them, and can fully access stockpiles during major supply disruptions.
- Price stability measure: Firms must repurchase the same quantity later at the same price to help reduce market price volatility.
- Strategic Significance: Part of the “America First” strategy to reduce heavy dependence on China, which currently dominates 80–90% of global mineral refining.
