The US government’s role in critical minerals has shifted materially. Executive actions, agency designations, and sustained public emphasis have framed critical minerals as essential to national security, defense readiness, grid resilience, job creation and advanced manufacturing. That policy posture is now reflected not only in regulation and procurement—but in capital formation. Federal capital deployment forms a significant component of a broader policy framework that also includes procurement authorities, strategic stockpiling, and regulatory initiatives aimed at strengthening critical-mineral supply chains…Federal agencies are investing in the sector through an equity and equity-linked capital toolkit, which includes minority equity investments and other instruments that are convertible into or exchangeable for equity, commodity price support mechanisms, long-term offtake commitments, and strategic reserve initiatives. Public transactions such as the US Department of Defense’s partnership with MP Materials Corp. (“MP Materials”), together with other equity investments by the US International Development Finance Corporation (“DFC”) and the US Department of Commerce confirm that this is no longer theoretical. In particular, the reauthorization of DFC in the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act established a $5 billion equity revolving fund, and increased DFC’s minority equity investment authority up to 40% ownership. At a Milken Institute panel in March 2026, DFC CEO Ben Black explained that these developments allow DFC “to play across the capital structure and be in risk positions [and] further incentivize private capital” and highlighted critical minerals and rare earths as priority sectors. The federal government’s equity and equity-linked capital toolkit is now integrated into the capital structure of the sector…This is not an episodic intervention. It instead reflects a structural shift in how the federal government is managing supply-chain risk—and it has direct consequences for how mining and energy transactions are structured, financed and exited…Equity enables the government to share in upside where federal capital is deployed to de-risk strategically important assets. In development-stage mining and processing projects—where cash flows are uncertain and price volatility is inherent—convertible notes, preferred equity or warrants are often better aligned with risk profiles than non-convertible fixed-rate debt…Equity also aligns incentives. Minority participation signals that federal capital is tied to long-term project success rather than credit recovery alone. There is a further practical dimension: federal participation through equity can function as a signaling mechanism, reducing perceived policy risk and attracting additional private capital—including from lenders sensitive to geopolitical exposure…Minerals regularly referenced in policy include rare earth elements (notably neodymium and praseodymium), lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite…The policy objective extends beyond domestic extraction to reinforcing supply chains, diversifying processing capacity and mitigating concentration risk across allied countries as well…Federal capital is not confined to US issuers. Public reporting reflects support for projects in Australia, Canada and Africa. For non-US companies, federal participation may expand funding options and enhance credibility with global lenders—while also introducing US-style documentation rigor…The US government is now deploying equity and equity-linked investments on a recurring basis in the critical minerals landscape. It affects capitalization, governance, valuation and exit planning—it signals strategic alignment in sectors considered essential to national resilience.

The Trump administration is working on language for a deal with a “select group” of trading partners to form a market for trading in critical minerals that would include a price floor to prevent dumping by China, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Thursday…“We are right now preparing text … for a pluri-lateral agreement on trade in critical minerals,” Greer said at a congressional budget hearing. “We want to create an agreement where among the parties to the agreement we have a market in critical minerals among us, and we would trade at market-based prices…“But if you’re not in the agreement and you want to trade with one of these parties, you have to do it at a certain level. You have to have a price floor because in the past the Chinese have just dumped into our market.”

Spurred by rising precious metal prices, a world hunger for critical metals, uranium and steel-making coal, new mine development and expansion is occurring in Western Canada creating thousands of new construction jobs…Alberta, known for its metallurgical coal mines with several proposed, is awakening to the world’s critical mineral needs and attempting to woo in new investment with an incentive program slated to launch in 2027…Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean made the announcement in March in a bid to strengthen the province’s mineral production and processing sector…Jean said Alberta is looking at different options. These include non-refundable mineral processing tax credit opportunities, increased access to appropriate Crown land and a flow-through share tax credit to allow critical mineral exploration and allow corporations to claim a portion of their expenses and development resources. The incentive program builds on regulatory changes already in place under the Mineral Resource Development Act…Fortune Minerals Limited is already out of the gate. In December, it purchased a 30-hectare site in Alberta’s northeastern Heartland industrial area to create a refinery site adjacent to the Canadian National Railway. The site has 42,000 square feet of serviced shops and facilities that will be expanded and retrofitted…The new facility will process critical mineral concentrates (cobalt, gold, bismuth and copper) from their proposed NICO project in the Northwest Territories.