Strategic Projects and Permitting

Securing reliable access to strategic minerals requires more than policy declarations. It demands actual mines, processing plants, and refining capacity, all of which face significant permitting, financing, and construction challenges. This page examines the major projects advancing strategic mineral supply, the regulatory hurdles they face, and the government programs designed to accelerate their development.

Major Strategic Mineral Projects

United States

The United States has seen a surge of strategic mineral project development driven by federal policy incentives and rising demand from both defense and energy transition applications. Among the most significant:

MP Materials Mountain Pass (California): The only operating rare earth mine in the United States, Mountain Pass produces approximately 15% of global rare earth concentrate. MP Materials has invested over $700 million to build out separation and refining capacity on-site, with the goal of producing separated rare earth oxides and neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) alloy domestically by the mid-2020s. The Fort Worth, Texas magnetics facility represents the next step in the value chain, producing finished rare earth permanent magnets for defense and EV motor applications.

Perpetua Resources Stibnite Gold Project (Idaho): This project holds the largest known antimony deposit in the United States and one of the largest in the Western world. Antimony is essential for ammunition hardening and flame retardant applications and is almost entirely sourced from China and Tajikistan. The Stibnite project received a $59.2 million Defense Production Act (DPA) technology investment agreement in 2023, along with its Final Environmental Impact Statement from the U.S. Forest Service. The project would also produce gold and restore a legacy mining site, including fish passage for endangered salmon species.

Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron (Nevada): Ioneer's Rhyolite Ridge project is one of the few lithium projects in the United States that has received a conditional commitment for a Department of Energy Loan Programs Office loan of up to $700 million. The project would produce both lithium carbonate and boric acid, the latter of which is used in advanced ceramics and nuclear shielding applications. The project's permitting involved extensive environmental review related to a rare wildflower species, Tiehm's buckwheat, resulting in a modified mine plan that avoids the plant's habitat.

Graphite One (Alaska): This project aims to develop the Graphite Creek deposit, one of the largest known graphite resources in the United States, along with an integrated processing and recycling facility. Graphite is essential for lithium-ion battery anodes, nuclear reactor moderators, and specialty lubricants. Graphite One received a $37.5 million DPA award to support project development. The permitting process involves coordination with the Bureau of Land Management and the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

Australia

Australia has positioned itself as the preeminent allied supplier of critical and strategic minerals, leveraging its geological endowment and stable regulatory environment. Key projects include:

Lynas Rare Earths (Mount Weld, Western Australia): Lynas operates the largest rare earth mine and processing operation outside of China. Its Mt Weld mine feeds a concentration plant in Western Australia and a separation facility in Kuantan, Malaysia. Lynas is constructing a new processing facility at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, to reduce its dependence on Malaysian operations and has been awarded a U.S. Department of Defense contract to build a heavy rare earth separation facility in Texas, a critical step toward a non-Chinese heavy rare earth supply chain.

BHP Olympic Dam and Oak Dam (South Australia): BHP's Olympic Dam is one of the world's largest deposits of copper, uranium, gold, and silver, with significant cobalt and rare earth byproducts. The adjacent Oak Dam discovery has the potential to become a major standalone copper mine. These projects are strategically significant because copper is essential for electrification across both military and civilian applications, and uranium is required for naval nuclear propulsion in the AUKUS submarine program.

Canada

Canada's vast geological potential and its close security relationship with the United States make it a priority source for strategic mineral supply diversification. The Ring of Fire in northern Ontario contains world-class deposits of chromite, nickel, copper, and platinum group metals, though its development has been delayed for over a decade by First Nations consultation requirements and the lack of transportation infrastructure in the remote James Bay Lowlands region. The Canadian federal government and Ontario provincial government have committed funding for road access, which is the critical enabling infrastructure for mining development.

Vital Metals' Nechalacho mine in the Northwest Territories represents Canada's first rare earth producing operation, while the Saskatchewan Research Council's rare earth processing facility in Saskatoon is developing capacity to separate and refine rare earth elements using non-Chinese technology. Teck Resources and Glencore operate some of the world's largest zinc and nickel operations in Canada, providing germanium and cobalt as byproducts.

Permitting Challenges and Timelines

The permitting process for mining projects in democratic nations represents one of the most significant barriers to expanding strategic mineral supply. In the United States, the average time from initial permit application to the commencement of mining operations ranges from seven to ten years, and some projects have taken considerably longer. This timeline reflects the layered requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, state environmental regulations, and, in many cases, consultation with tribal nations and local communities.

The challenge is not that environmental review is unnecessary. Mining can have significant environmental impacts, and regulatory review serves the essential function of identifying and mitigating these impacts. Rather, the challenge lies in the cumulative effect of sequential rather than concurrent review processes, litigation risk that can add years to project timelines, and a permitting workforce that has been underfunded relative to the growing volume and complexity of applications.

In the European Union, permitting timelines for mining projects average eight to twelve years, though some Scandinavian countries process permits more efficiently. The CRMA established a maximum permitting timeline of 27 months for strategic raw material projects and 15 months for processing and recycling projects, though it remains to be seen whether member states can meet these targets given existing regulatory capacity and public opposition to mining in many European jurisdictions.

Australia has achieved somewhat faster permitting timelines, typically four to seven years for major mining projects, aided by its established regulatory framework and strong state-level institutions. However, even in Australia, projects in ecologically sensitive areas or those requiring Indigenous land use agreements can face significant delays. The Jabiluka uranium deposit in the Northern Territory has been effectively blocked from development for decades despite its strategic value, illustrating that social and political constraints can be as significant as regulatory ones.

Government Support Programs

United States: Defense Production Act (DPA)

The Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, provides the President with broad authority to direct private industry to prioritize government contracts, allocate materials, and provide financial incentives for the production of materials essential to national defense. Title III of the DPA authorizes loans, loan guarantees, purchases, and purchase commitments to develop and maintain domestic production capacity for strategic materials.

Since 2022, the Biden and subsequent administrations have invoked DPA Title III authority to fund dozens of critical mineral and processing projects. Notable investments include:

$35 million to Albemarle for domestic lithium production expansion
$59.2 million to Perpetua Resources for antimony production at the Stibnite project
$37.5 million to Graphite One for graphite mining and processing
$15 million to TDA Magnetics and Urban Mining Company for rare earth magnet recycling
Multiple awards for battery material processing to Ascend Elements, Cirba Solutions, and others

The DPA complements broader DOE Loan Programs Office funding and the tax incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act (Section 45X advanced manufacturing production credit and Section 30D clean vehicle credit), which together provide a layered system of financial support for domestic strategic mineral supply chains.

European Union: Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA)

The EU CRMA, adopted in 2024, establishes the most comprehensive legislative framework for critical mineral security in Europe's history. Its key provisions include binding benchmarks requiring that by 2030, the EU domestically extracts at least 10% of its annual consumption of strategic raw materials, processes at least 40% domestically, and recycles at least 25% from waste. The act also caps import dependence at 65% from any single third country.

To achieve these targets, the CRMA designates eligible projects as "Strategic Projects" entitled to streamlined permitting, priority access to EU funding mechanisms including the European Investment Bank, and regulatory support from a new European Critical Raw Materials Board. The act also mandates large companies to audit their supply chains for critical raw materials and report on supply risk, creating transparency and accountability throughout the value chain.

Australia: Critical Minerals Strategy

Australia's Critical Minerals Strategy, updated in 2023, positions the country as a reliable, rules-based supplier of critical minerals to allied nations. Key policy instruments include the Critical Minerals Facility managed by Export Finance Australia, which provides up to AUD $4 billion in loans and guarantees for critical mineral projects. The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) provides concessional financing for enabling infrastructure in the resource-rich but underdeveloped northern regions.

Australia has signed bilateral critical minerals agreements with the United States, Japan, South Korea, India, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. The AUKUS partnership includes provisions for critical mineral supply chain cooperation, recognizing that the submarine program's demand for specialized steel, titanium, and rare earth permanent magnets requires guaranteed access to these materials. Australia's strategy explicitly links mineral development to its foreign policy and alliance architecture, creating a model for other resource-rich democracies.

Other National Programs

Canada's Critical Minerals Strategy allocates CAD $3.8 billion for exploration, development, processing, and recycling of critical minerals, with a focus on Indigenous economic participation and northern infrastructure development. Japan's JOGMEC provides equity investment, exploration financing, and stockpiling services, maintaining one of the most active government-backed mineral investment programs among developed economies. South Korea's plan for critical mineral security includes expanded stockpiling, overseas resource development, and recycling technology investment.

The Path Forward: Balancing Speed and Standards

The central tension in strategic mineral project development is between the urgency of supply chain diversification and the legitimate need for environmental protection, community consent, and regulatory rigor. Governments are experimenting with various approaches to reconcile these demands: dedicated permitting coordinators, concurrent rather than sequential review processes, categorical exclusions for projects of strategic significance, and binding timelines with penalties for regulatory delay.

The projects and programs described on this page represent the leading edge of a global effort to build mineral supply chains that are secure, sustainable, and aligned with democratic values. Success will require sustained political commitment, significant public and private investment, and a willingness to accept that strategic mineral security is not a problem that can be solved in a single budget cycle but rather a generational challenge that demands consistent, long-term action.