Pentagon backs $1.2B rare-earth loans to shore up magnet supply chain
The Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital announced two conditional loans totaling $1.2 billion to Energy Fuels and Phoenix Tailings to shore up a US-based rare-earth supply chain: $725 million to Energy Fuels to build a rare-earth separation and metallization facility (using the White Mesa Mill in Utah) with a 20-year repayment window, and $500 million to Phoenix Tailings to open a 'Freedom Facility' by 2028 to process light and heavy rare earths, advancing a mine-to-magnet supply chain; the move is part of a broader effort to secure domestic materials for future weapons, though lawmakers have raised concerns about legal bases and terms of related deals with MP Materials.