President Trump’s intense interest in Ukraine’s minerals seemed to come from out of the blue…But critical minerals have been on Mr. Trump’s mind since at least 2017, when he signed an executive order on them during his first term. They also caught the attention of President Joseph R. Biden …The president has talked about acquiring minerals in Greenland and Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada told a group of business leaders that Mr. Trump’s focus on Canada’s minerals meant his threats to annex the country were “a real thing.”…Seizing mineral wealth overseas has become a core foreign policy goal of Mr. Trump’s and an impetus for his most imperialistic remarks since taking office…Because of competition with China, the search for critical minerals has been important to the United States for nearly a decade…China has been on a yearslong push to develop global dominance in extracting and processing critical minerals. At the same time, the United States has had to import substantial amounts of critical minerals for commercial and military use…And “China has repeatedly shown its willingness to weaponize these minerals,” the report said — including imposing export controls and bans in the last two years on a range of raw minerals. Furthermore, it said, China now refines between 40 to 90 percent of the globe’s supply of rare earth elements, graphite, lithium, cobalt and copper…The executive order Mr. Trump signed in 2017 was intended to “ensure secure and reliable” supplies of critical minerals…In September 2020, he signed an executive order pushing agencies to address the country’s “undue reliance” on “foreign adversaries” for critical minerals, namely China…Mr. Biden issued an executive order in early 2021 that, among other things, told the defense secretary to identify risks to the flow of critical minerals from abroad.

France is also seeking access to Ukraine ‘s deposits of critical minerals, with negotiations already underway for months, the French defense minister said Thursday, indicating that the United States isn’t the only player...Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected Friday at the White House to sign a minerals deal with the United States. President Donald Trump made the announcement Wednesday…But France, too, is in discussions with Ukraine — aiming, like the United States, to diversify its supplies of vital minerals, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu told broadcaster France Info…He said France could possibly purchase minerals from Ukraine and isn’t seeking access to them as a way to recoup the billions of euros (dollars) worth of military and other aid that Paris has supplied to strengthen Ukrainian defenses against Russia’s invasion…“We are not looking for payback,” Lecornu said. “But our defense sector will need a certain number of raw materials that are absolutely crucial in our own weapons systems ... for the next 30 or 40 years.”

The NICO Project is a development stage asset comprised of a planned open pit and underground mine and concentrator in the Northwest Territories and a dedicated hydrometallurgical recovery plant in Lamont County, Alberta. The Hydrometallurgical Facility will process concentrates from the mine, and other feed sources, to produce value-added metals and chemicals for the energy transition, new technologies and defense. Development of the NICO Project would provide a reliable North American supply of cobalt sulphate, gold doré, bismuth ingots, and copper cement enhancing domestic supply chains for three critical minerals and a highly liquid and countercyclical gold co-product to mitigate metal price volatility…Gold has been trading at historic all-time high prices of more than US$2,900 per ounce…Bismuth price up more than 300% to a 17-year high…The projected revenues from the NICO Project have historically been primarily from cobalt and gold but NICO is also the largest deposit of bismuth in the world with 12% of global reserves. The bismuth price has more than tripled over the past few weeks and is currently trading at prices of more than US$20 per pound…Notably, Bismuth is one of five critical minerals that China recently imposed export restrictions on due to ongoing trade disputes with the U.S…On February 22, 2025, the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”) announced that it is suspending cobalt exports for four months to rein in oversupply on the international market. The government is also preparing other measures to help balance the market and encourage domestic processing.