The Trump administration is urgently seeking key mineral projects, aiming at the security of the defense supply chain.

The Trump administration is seeking proposals from American domestic producers for investment, focusing on metals used in manufacturing equipment such as fighter jets, night vision goggles, and tank armor. The Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC) under the U.S. Department of Defense has released a solicitation aimed at addressing the shortfall in domestic production of indium, manganese, magnesium, and titanium. The U.S. Geological Survey has classified these four metals as critical minerals, meaning they are essential for economic or national security, and their supply chains are susceptible to disruption. According to the solicitation document published last Friday, the deadline for submissions is September 17. Eligible projects can cover any segment of the entire supply chain, from mining, processing, and refining to alloy manufacturing and recycling. This is the third investment project solicitation launched by the DIBC concerning critical minerals and advanced defense technologies since mid-2025. The U.S. government requires businesses and entrepreneurs to submit a one-page PowerPoint slide that succinctly outlines their project proposal in four quadrants. Projects that pass the next stage of screening will be asked to submit more in-depth materials, such as project execution plans. The solicitation does not disclose the scale of available investment funds. Defense funding expert Tripp Hornick from Quince Street Strategy stated that more clarity regarding the scale of available funding is expected once the fiscal year 2027 defense budget is finalized. Reportedly, companies within the U.S. that possess the aforementioned four critical metal minerals include: IperionX (IPX.US) which owns the Titan critical minerals project in Tennessee (over 11,000 acres, containing titanium, rare earths, and zircon sand mines) and is building a titanium metal production line in Virginia; it is slated to complete its final feasibility study and receive Department of Defense orders by 2026. Electric Metals (USA) Ltd the only company explicitly promoting domestic manganese mining and battery-grade processing. Its Emily deposit/North Star project in Minnesota is the highest-grade manganese mine in North America, with plans to assess downstream high-purity manganese sulfate/electrolytic manganese facilities starting in 2026, aiming for an annual production of 100,000 tons of high-purity manganese sulfate (HPMSM) and 10,000 tons of electrolytic metal manganese (EMM). Arkansas Magnesium, a joint venture between Magrathea and Tetra Technologies, plans to complete the first newly built primary magnesium smelter in the U.S. in nearly 50 years by June 2026 in Lafayette County, Arkansas, using underground brine electrolysis to produce metal magnesium with 99.9% purity. As the U.S. previously had no commercial-scale primary magnesium smelting capacity, this project is a key initiative to rebuild the domestic supply chain.