Project Vault 'Puts America's Best Foot Forward'—Rare Earth Stocks Dig It

Rare earth and critical mineral stocks rallied as the Trump administration continued to promote its most aggressive step yet to decouple American industry from Chinese mineral supply chains. 

The sector reacted on Tuesday to the formal launch of Project Vault, a massive $12 billion public-private partnership aimed at insulating the U.S. economy from global resource volatility.

• CRML stock is climbing. See the chart and price action here. 

Rare Earth Funding Approved

On Monday, the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) announced the funding of a direct loan of up to $10 billion to Project Vault to provide long term financing of the critical minerals and rare earths reserve. 

🔒PROJECT VAULT: America's economy depends on critical minerals—the building blocks revitalizing American industry and strengthening our supply chains.

That's why EXIM has launched Project Vault: the U.S. Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve. 🇺🇸

— U.S. Export-Import Bank (@EximBankUS) February 3, 2026

More than a dozen major companies, including General Motors, Stellantis, Boeing, Corning, GE Vernova and Google, will provide an additional nearly $2 billion to fund Project Vault. 

EXIM Chairman John Jovanovic joined CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday and underscored the reserve's significance. 

“It creates a public-private partnership formula we think is uniquely suited and puts America's best foot forward," Jovanovic said. 

"It brings together our robust capital markets, which are the deepest and the best in the world. But it also brings in the original equipment manufacturers… they're the ones making the long-term financial commitment to it,” he added. 

Export-Import Bank President @JJovanovicUSA on Project Vault — the first ever strategic critical minerals reserve in U.S. history: "It creates a public-private partnership formula we think is uniquely suited and puts America's best foot forward. It brings together our robust… pic.twitter.com/PMya9kUyxn

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 3, 2026

Rare Earth Stock Movers

Investors piled into domestic miners and processors, viewing the government’s multi-billion dollar commitment as a “White House put” for the sector.

Here are Tuesday's biggest rare earth and critical minerals stock movers: 

• MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)
• Energy Fuels Inc. (AMEX:UUUU)
• USA Rare Earth, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR)
• Idaho Strategic Resources, Inc. (AMEX:IDR)
• Critical Metals Corp. (NASDAQ:CRML)
• American Resources Corp. (NASDAQ:AREC)
• United States Antimony Corp. (AMEX:UAMY)
• Trilogy Metals Inc. (AMEX:TMQ)
• Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE:LAC)

Ending China's Mineral Chokehold

By providing long-term financing, the government is effectively de-risking the volatile rare earth market for the private sector, ensuring American manufacturers will have an on-shore vault of materials even if China restricts exports. 

For investors, this creates a floor for domestic rare earth demand, signaling that the U.S. is now financing supply chain security at a sovereign scale.

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