Trump Touts Investments in Private Mining Companies

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Written by John Egan for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Last Friday, the Trump administration convened a "mining summit" at the White House, where the president touted billions of dollars of government investments in Metals & Minerals companies as part of an effort to increase production and processing of critical and strategic minerals. He also announced the government was investing $180 million in domestic mining colleges to strengthen and rebuild domestic higher education in mining and supply chain management.

Trump Confronts the Declining Domestic Mining Industry

Viewed as an ecosystem over the last 25 years, a variety of factors have pushed the U.S. Metals & Minerals industry into a long-term decline. Extraction of coal has fallen about 60% during the 21st century. Mining employment for all commodities has been steadily declining, partly driven by automation. Enrollments at collegiate schools of mining continue to decline. Aging mining professionals took retirement, and many have not been replaced. The time it takes to permit a new mine in the U.S. ballooned as environmental regulations increased. As a result, mining projects and jobs moved overseas.

Industrial Info Resources data show approximately 2,113 proposed capital and maintenance projects in the U.S. Metals & Minerals industry, collectively valued at about US$284.3 billion. Capital projects account for about two-thirds of the number of these planned projects. The projects cover proposed activities in minerals mining, smelting and processing. Readers can access those project reports, including construction timelines, key contact details, and equipment and service needs, by clicking here.

The St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank has documented the long-term decline in the number of U.S. workers in mining (all commodities), quarrying and oil and gas extraction.

The Society of Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, the global mining industry's leading trade group, has for years warned about the shortage of skilled mining professionals in the U.S. It has worked to bolster college mining programs and student enrollments.

A leader in rare earth production until the 1980s, the U.S. has outsourced most of critical mineral mining and processing to China and other countries.

Copper still is extracted and refined in the U.S., but the quality of the resource has been declining. Copper is a critical ingredient in electric power, data centers and semiconductor manufacturing.

Relying on adversaries, or at best overseas nations that may be indifferent to the U.S., for the important minerals that power military and civilian applications is never a good thing. For more on that, see July 22, 2026, article - IEA: Global Critical Minerals Risks Became Realities in 2025.

When running for president in 2016, Donald Trump vowed to reverse the declining fortunes of coal. That did not happen during his first administration, as coal production slid by one-third and employment continued declining. Most of these declines in productions stemmed from the Obama administration's effort to increase the use of renewable energy and kneecap coal through tougher environmental regulation.

In his second administration, Trump has renewed calls to boost coal and coal production while also broadening his scope to include critical minerals and rare earth elements. He also slapped a variety of tariffs on imports, though there were numerous carve-outs. The courts have tended to rule against the president's ability to unilaterally impose tariffs. For more on that, see June 30, 2025, article - U.S. Seeks New Section 301 Tariffs in Forced Labor Flap.

By the Numbers

• $2 billion: The value of direct investments in Metals & Minerals companies that the Trump administration announced last Friday to strengthen mining, processing and supply chains for critical minerals and rare earth elements used in military and civilian applications.
• Thousands: Number of new jobs created by the administration's $2 billion investment.
• $40 billion: The value of deals the Trump said it has made with Metals & Minerals companies since January 2025.

President Touts Government Direct Investments in Mining

The declining fortunes of the U.S. Metals & Minerals industry could hamper the military as well as undercut the president's commitment to winning the artificial intelligence (AI) race with China in two ways. Servers require critical minerals, and electric lines need copper. Both increasingly come from outside the U.S.

It would take a long time to reverse an industry that has been declining for many years. To achieve that goal quicker, the Trump administration decided to sharply increase direct investments in companies seeking to extract and process mined materials that are critical to the military and civilian economies.

Last Friday, President Trump held a "mining summit " at the White House where he announced his administration is making direct investments totaling slightly more than $2 billion in private companies engaged in the extraction or processing of critical minerals and rare earth elements. Most, but not all, of these investments will go to domestic projects.

According to a White House fact sheet, the Department of Defense is making these investments:

• $1.4 billion is being invested in Sila Nanotechnologies, a California-based manufacturer, to expand production of silicon-carbon battery anodes and buildout a lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing facility to strengthen the supply chains of satellite operations, unmanned aerial systems, and munitions.
• $400 million will go to Sunrise Energy Metals to develop a full scandium value chain, including the world's first primary scandium mine, to help secure the supply chain of high-heat aluminum alloys which are used in fighter jets and spacecraft.
• $150 million is being invested in Niron Magnetics, a Minnesota company developing and producing 100% domestic, rare earth-free permanent magnets to support the defense industrial base and help eliminate dependency on foreign-produced rare earth magnets.
• $85 million into Standard Bauxite to secure the supply chain of refractory-grade bauxite to support manufacturing of high-temperature-resistant materials used to make critical components for our warfighters and essential to the modern industrial economy.

The president also announced investments totaling US$58 million by the Export-Import Bank to develop deposits of tantalum, niobium, graphite and boron.

All told, the investments announced last Friday were expected to create thousands of jobs, the president said, without offering specifics.

At the mining event, Trump said his second administration has inked 160 minerals deals totaling almost $40 billion since January 2025.

He also announced that the Department of Energy will make up to $180 million of funding available to strengthen higher education in mining and supply chain management. For more on that, see August 11, 2026, article - DOE Funding Critical Mineral Workforce.

"I noted that in the president's remarks last Friday, he said he wanted to Make Mining Great Again, which is very on-brand for this president," said Joe Govreau, Industrial Info's vice president of research for the Metals & Minerals Industry.

"Importantly, this administration is doing a 180-degree shift on mining and minerals processing," he continued. "Previously, it was content to outsource extraction and processing of minerals. But you can't do that when it comes to national security. So Friday's announcement looks to be a continuation of efforts by the second Trump administration to reshore extraction and processing of minerals that are vital for the military as well as the civilian economy."

Key Takeaways

• President Trump last Friday announced about $2 billion of direct investments by the government in Metals & Minerals businesses.
• Friday's announcement brings to nearly $40 billion that the second Trump administration has invested in that sector, according to Trump.
• The purposes of the investments are to reshore and rebuild the industry that extracts and processes critical minerals and rare earth elements, which are critical for military and civilian applications.
• The U.S. has been outsourcing mineral extraction and processing for decades.
• The president last Friday also announced the government was making a $180 million investment to strengthen domestic mining colleges.

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About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 trillion (USD).