The Trump administration is ramping up efforts to secure U.S. supply chains for critical minerals and semiconductors by converting federal grants for companies into equity stakes, aimed at reducing reliance on China…The U.S. Department of Commerce said on Thursday it would take $2 billion in equity stakes across nine quantum-computing companies…Following are the companies linked ‌to the strategic investment push:…USA RARE EARTH…Project: Rare earth mine-to-magnet ​supply chain…Stake: The Trump administration was taking a 10% stake in the miner as part of the debt-and-equity investment package, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters…KOREA ZINC… Stake acquired: Around 10%...Project: $7.4 billion smelter in Tennessee..Details: Korea Zinc will build a $7.4  billion smelter in Tennessee through a joint venture with U.S. partners…TRILOGY METALS… Stake acquired: 10%, investment includes warrants to purchase an additional 7.5%...Project: Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) in Alaska, a JV owned by Trilogy Metals and Australian miner South32… CRITICAL METALS  ..Stake under discussion: About 8%...Project: Tanbreez rare earths deposit, Greenland…LITHIUM AMERICAS…Stake acquired: 5% in parent company and 5% in ​Thacker Pass JV with ⁠General Motors…Project: Thacker Pass lithium mine, Nevada…MP MATERIALS…Stake acquired: About 15%...Project: Mountain Pass rare earth mine, California…Strategic value: MP operates the only U.S. rare earths mine ⁠and is ​working to boost domestic processing and magnet production.

Europe must build its own pricing system for specialty metals and rare earths to ​reduce reliance on China and unlock investment in mining and processing, Bernd Schaefer, ‌CEO and managing director of EIT RawMaterials, told Reuters on Wednesday…China dominates critical mineral supply chains and sets prices through opaque domestic markets, leaving Western developers without clear benchmarks, complicating investment decisions and delaying already higher-cost projects ​in Europe…Schaefer said it would, however, take time to create an index with representative prices. The index would aim to provide transparent, market-based ​price benchmarks for critical minerals traded outside China, giving investors clearer signals on profitability and ​helping underpin financing for new projects…Schaefer said an index could be broader than just Europe, with collaboration from other traders, such as in the United States, Australia, ​Canada or Britain.

China will work with the U.S. on "reasonable" concerns regarding its rare earth export controls, the Ministry of Commerce ​said on Wednesday, in a statement that defended its restrictions ‌as legitimate and lawful…Introduced in April 2025 in retaliation for U.S. President Donald Trump's so-called Liberation Day tariffs, Beijing's controls continue to restrict exports of certain rare earths ​and other minerals, an issue U.S. officials have repeatedly acknowledged…China agreed ​to address concerns around shortages of rare earths such as ⁠yttrium and scandium as well as other critical minerals during the leaders' summit ​in Beijing last week, the White House said on Sunday…In response to ​questions about that statement, China's Ministry of Commerce said both sides had discussed the issue and would study and resolve "each other's reasonable and lawful concerns."…"The Chinese government ​imposes export controls on rare earths and other critical minerals in ​accordance with laws and regulations, and reviews applications for compliant, civilian licenses," the statement ‌added…Issued ⁠days apart, the two statements reflect a new status quo where Washington appears to tacitly accept the export restrictions. In contrast, six months ago after the leaders' summit in Busan, the White House said they would ​be dismantled.

In the heartland of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mining industry, one of the world’s top cobalt producers says intruders have taken over a large part of its deposit and are exploiting the site on a near-industrial scale…Around the city of Kolwezi, the earth holds seams of ore so rich in cobalt and copper that even the waste that’s contaminated the region over a century of mining contains billions of dollars of the metals. A single company holds the lucrative rights to reprocess more than 100 million tons of that waste, known in the industry as tailings…But recently, with prices for copper and cobalt soaring, staff at a Eurasian Resources Group subsidiary have watched as scores of laborers – protected by Congolese soldiers – have begun hauling the waste away by the truckload. It’s an incursion that ERG says is threatening the commercial viability of one of the world’s largest cobalt operations…At the heart of the takeover is Fatou Ntete Etumba, a Congolese businessman who says the government has authorized his company to clean up a riverbed on ERG’s land, with the apparent backing of influential officials including an army general who’s under US sanctions. ERG says Etumba’s actions are illegal, and the nation’s mining ministry has stepped in to mediate…But the events at Metalkol are of such a magnitude that ERG says its flagship asset in Congo could lose years of revenue if they continue unchecked, with its operating life potentially being cut by two-thirds. It says the tailings are being delivered to three Chinese-owned refineries nearby…Today, ERG models Metalkol as a commercially driven environmental rehabilitation initiative. Commissioned in 2018, the operation has become the world’s fourth-largest producer of cobalt, which is used in the car-making, electronics, aerospace and defense sectors…But in February, the ERG subsidiary received a letter from Etumba stating that his company, Societe Cooperative Miniere Hosanna, was about to start its own remediation project inside Metalkol’s license…The section of the river basin being “targeted” by Hosanna holds around 45 million tons of tailings, according to ERG. If those volumes are removed, Metalkol’s lifespan as a major cobalt and copper supplier would be cut to three years, from about nine years, it said. ERG’s own production hasn’t been impacted yet, but those potentially lost years could ultimately see Metalkol miss out on sales in excess of $10 billion at current copper and cobalt prices.