The US military is spending big on critical minerals
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- Department of Defense spending on critical mineral grants reached an estimated $621 million between 2015 and 2025, with 24 agreements worth nearly $550 million concentrated in 2021–2025 — up from just $31.3 million for three contracts in the prior five-year period.
- Lithium drew the most Pentagon grant funding at $124.6 million, followed by neodymium and boron projects at $94 million, graphite at $48.8 million, and aluminum at $45.4 million — minerals essential for batteries powering weapons systems, missiles, drones, and fighter jets.
- Trump administration executive orders and the FAST-41 federal permitting program have accelerated domestic mineral project approvals, with FAST-41-designated mining projects cleared up to 18 months sooner than non-portfolio projects.
- Graphite One's Graphite Creek project in Western Alaska received a $37.3 million Pentagon investment in 2023 and Export-Import Bank letters of interest for up to $2.07 billion, but Iñupiat community member Adelaine Ahmasuk said the company built a helicopter pad directly on sacred rock mounds honoring Eagle Woman and never consulted her Siqnasuagmuit community.
- Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada received an $11.8 million Pentagon grant in 2024, with the Fort McDermitt Paiute, Shoshone, and Bannock tribes' People of Red Mountain committee warning that state-backed accelerated permitting risks turning the McDermitt Caldera into a mining district with no plan to restore the ecosystem.
- Pentagon mineral supply-chain strategies under the Trump administration include invoking the Defense Production Act, price floors for select minerals, stockpiling, and increased mineral project spending aimed at reducing reliance on foreign production.
Why it matters: The Pentagon's $621 million grant pipeline is reshaping domestic mining priorities, but at least two flagship projects — Graphite Creek ($37.3M) and Thacker Pass ($11.8M) — face accusations from Indigenous communities that accelerated FAST-41 permitting is allowing extraction on ancestral and sacred lands without consent, putting subsistence hunting grounds and culturally significant sites in direct conflict with national security supply chains.
