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WASHINGTON (AP) — Vance says the Trump administration is starting a trading bloc for critical minerals with price floors and financing.....

President Donald Trump has kicked off $12 billion project to stockpile critical minerals used by the defense and technology sectors as a hedge against Chinese dominance of the strategically important industry in what the White House will call “Project Vault.” The public-private effort — first reported by Bloomberg — would use $1.67 billion in private seed funds and combine that cash with another $10 billion from the U.S. government’s Export-Import Bank for the purchase and storage of critical minerals and rare earths such as gallium and cobalt, a key ingredient in rechargeable batteries as well as modern jet engines used...

Japanese researchers have reportedly succeeded in mining mud thought to contain rare earth elements from a seabed some 5,700 meters underwater. The exploration vessel Chikyu, operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, or JAMSTEC, has been conducting a test excavation of the mud since January. The seabed is within Japan's exclusive economic zone in the Pacific, roughly 150 kilometers southeast of the Japanese island of Minamitorishima. The test was held under a project led by Japan's Cabinet Office. Officials say the retrieval of mud began last Friday, and work to haul it onto the vessel took place...

In 2009, Russia’s state nuclear agency, Rosatom, began acquiring a Canadian company called Uranium One. It started small—17%—then kept buying. By 2010, Rosatom wanted control. The prize wasn’t just uranium. It was access: to Kazakh deposits, American mines, and strategic reserves buried beneath a 35,000-acre ranch in Wyoming.The deal needed approval from CFIUS, a powerful U.S. committee tasked with blocking foreign threats to national security. On the panel sat the State Department, then led by Secretary Hillary Clinton.That spring, as the uranium deal quietly advanced toward Washington, Salida’s charitable arm—the Salida Capital Foundation—received $3.3 million. It was an anonymous donation.Within...

Wyoming’s first hard rock mine in a century is all but shovel ready and may be sitting on a pile of gold much larger than what’s so far been showcased for investors. The CK Gold project, 20 miles west of Cheyenne past Curt Gowdy State Park, also could be worth a lot more than previously estimated because of an explosion in the value of gold. It’s more than doubled since about a year ago. Chairman of the U.S. Gold Corp. board, Luke Norman, told investors this past week that the company now believes its project is sitting on top of...

Venturing into the icy seas around Greenland can be unforgiving and unpredictable. Steffen Andersen, a seasoned skipper preparing his six-man trawler for a fishing trip along the craggy coast, was in the mood to complain. He had recently hired a 16-year-old local to work with him, but he grumbled that the towering Danish-owned factory ships docked along the nearby quayside more often hired immigrants. “Those who use Filipinos, they are the Danes,’’ he said. Greenland is increasingly reliant on migrant labour to keep seafood factories, restaurants and its fishing fleet running — critical for an economy overwhelmingly dependent on fisheries...

SUPPORTING AMERICAN INDUSTRY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a Proclamation pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Act) ordering the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to jointly negotiate agreements with trading partners to address the threatened impairment of national security with respect to imports of processed critical minerals and their derivative products (PCMDPs) from any country.In negotiating, the Administration will, working with our allies, promote the adoption of price floors for trade in PCMDPs.The Secretary of Commerce will inform the President of any circumstances that might indicate the need for further action...

Rosales accuses "Fat Fish" of the Government Opposition candidate Manuel Rosales attributed the events which occurred in La Paragua1 to "the fat fish of the government, who have a big business in [the sale of] gasoline, contraband gold, and diamonds." In a visit to Trujillo, where he carried out a campaign visit, Rosales condemned the acts. "It is one of the most clear manifestations of how an authoritarian government stimulates criminal acts and insecurity in Venezuela. The deed in La Paragua is the action of a few spineless military men, who are not the majority, who felt themselves handsome...

Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program, according to a secret Israeli government report obtained Monday by The Associated Press. The two South American countries are known to have close ties with Iran, but this is the first allegation that they are involved in the development of Iran's nuclear program, considered a strategic threat by Israel.

At first glance, gold’s higher price per ounce makes it seem like the obvious choice for miners. However, a closer look at production costs and environmental impact reveals why silver remains such an attractive metal to extract. This graphic, sponsored by Vizsla Silver Corp., uses data from Thunder Said Energy, AG Metals, and Metals Focus Gold Mine Cost Service to compare the costs of mining silver vs. gold. Gold mining is not only significantly more energy-intensive than silver mining but also produces many more emissions because of the increased energy intensity.

In narrow, hand-dug tunnels carved into the mountainside, villagers have uncovered a natural opal wonder that's turning heads in the global gem trade. At almost 10,000 feet above sea level, villagers in northern Ethiopia have uncovered a seam of pure black opal buried within hand-dug tunnels. The site, hidden in Wollo Province’s rugged terrain, is quickly drawing attention for the exceptional quality of its stones. This unexpected find is not only rare due to the gem’s natural dark body color, but also because it comes from small-scale, artisanal efforts rather than industrial operations. As demand rises for untreated black opals,...

Multiple high-dollar donors to the Clinton Foundation are associated with the New York Times, including the Times’ top shareholder, Carlos Slim. Slim, a Mexican telecom tycoon whose net worth of nearly $80 billion makes him the second richest man in the world, became the top shareholder of the New York Times earlier this year after he doubled his shares to take control of 16.8 percent of the company. Not only has Slim contributed between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000 to the Clinton Foundation, but his company Telmex has contributed an additional grant between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000 through its foundation. Slim has also...

For those asking in the comments, Dr. James Tour's company that he references is Metallium Ltd. Ticker symbol in the US is MTMCF. (This is NOT a sponsored episode. We have no financial relationship with Dr. Tour's company. We just think his tech sounds really cool.) == In a few years, America may not need to buy critical minerals from China anymore, says synthetic chemist and nanotechnologist James Tour. Why? Because of a method called flash Joule heating that he and his team have been studying at Rice University. China currently has a near monopoly on global processing capacity of...

Korea Zinc announced on Monday a $7.4 billion smelter project in Tennessee that will be backed by the U.S. government and which will lessen our reliance on China for critical minerals used in defense systems, electronics, and so much more that powers our modern world. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick took to X to laud the news: The tweet continues: Today, we announced a major investment with Korea Zinc to build a state-of-the-art critical minerals smelter and processing facility in Tennessee that will produce 540,000 tons per year of essential materials right here in America. He continued, listing a range of...

National Resources Limited claims massive new gold and copper discovery, raising hopes for a mining bonanza and fears of local conflict At the Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum 2025, Muhammad Ali Tabba, chairman of National Resources Limited (NRL) and CEO of Lucky Cement, unveiled what he claimed are hitherto unknown substantial gold and copper reserves in Balochistan’s Chagai district. Announced in the company of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief General Muhammad Asim Munir, Tabba’s claimed discovery signals a potential turning point for Pakistan’s laggard mining industry at a time global gold prices are touching record highs of over...

A project heralded by Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy and accelerated by President Donald Trump stands to deal a huge blow to China’s dominance in the nanotechnology, energy and automotive sectors as the GraphiteOne site near Nome uncovered vast reserves — for which Beijing previously accounted for 90% of production. As of 2024, the U.S. was at least 93% import-dependent on both rare earth elements (REEs) and graphite itself, according to the International Energy Agency, and the Graphite Creek deposit has already been dubbed the largest such tranche in the U.S. But, this week’s announcement that REEs were discovered in addition...

The U.S. doesn’t produce the minerals and metals needed for renewable energy, microchips or military technology. Authorities want to change that as quickly as possible.Major oil companies are drilling in East Texas again, but not for oil. This time, they're after lithium for batteries and other rare elements.Chevron and Halliburton announced East Texas projects this summer. Exxon has acreage across the border in Arkansas. Smackover Lithium, a joint venture of a Norwegian oil giant and a Canadian miner, announced in late September the discovery of the most lithium-rich fluids ever reported in North America, measured deep beneath its Texas claims...

The Carlin-type gold deposits in Nevada, U.S., are the origin of five percent of the global production and 75 percent of the U.S. production of gold. In these deposits, gold does not occur in the form of nuggets or veins, but is hidden—together with arsenic—in pyrite, also known as "fool's gold." A team of scientists from the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam—German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ has now shown experimentally, for the first time that the concentration of gold directly depends on the content of arsenic in the pyrite. The results were published in the journal Science Advances. In the Earth's...

Lithium Americas (LAC) shares are up more than 25% on Wednesday after the U.S. government confirmed plans of taking a minority equity stake in the Vancouver-headquartered lithium miner.

The accident in the makeshift mine occurred on Friday about 3pm local time (13:00 GMT) following heavy rains in the town of Kamituga in South Kivu province. The mine was not located on the Kamituga gold concession owned by the Canadian miner Banro Corporation, the company's chief executive said. Thousands of informal miners operate in and around mines in DRC, which produces more than half of the world's cobalt, a key component in electric car batteries. Mining accidents are common, with dozens of deaths every year in mines where often ill-equipped diggers burrow deep underground in search for ore. Last...