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The US government under President Donald Trump has rapidly ramped up stockpiling efforts for critical minerals, and invested in a number of projects producing them, in areas where existing supply is overwhelmingly geographically concentrated.
This has signaled the return of a critical minerals policy trend last seen in earnest during the Cold War amid heightened geopolitical tensions.
Through the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the US government has announced plans to stockpile metals ranging from bismuth, which is mostly used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, pigments and low-melting-point alloys, to cobalt, which is widely used in high-temperature superalloys for engine parts.
And it has investigated the potential to stockpile other critical metals like indium, which has a host of technological uses, and rhenium, which is particularly critical owing to its use in superalloys.
In several markets where current supply appears to have been found insufficient to meet the stockpiling demand, a renewed investment drive has taken place, with US government bodies taking stakes in, or signing offtakes with, a number of new producers, announcements reviewed by Fastmarkets suggest.
These have included major investment in domestic producers, such as US rare earths miner and refiner MP Materials, and producers abroad. For example, via a framework agreement with Australia, the two governments have pledged at least $1 billion each to support projects, including one in Australia to produce gallium.
The DLA makes its intentions to stockpile materials clear by publishing Requests for Proposals (RFPs), which invite interested companies to submit proposals that meet the specified criteria outlined in the RFP.
The agency also publishes Requests for Information (RfI) to gather market insights and sourcing strategies for different materials from industry participants.
But the outcome of several of those RFPs and RFIs still remain unclear.
Efforts by the US government to stockpile critical materials are hardly new. For decades, the DLA has maintained a physical inventory of materials on government property and in government-managed warehouses, known as the National Defense Stockpile (NDS).
The NDS was first established during World War II as a safeguard to ensure the military could access materials that are essential during times of national emergency, including metals, minerals and agricultural supplies.
Following the end of the Cold War, the Department of Defense (DoD) decided that most of these materials were no longer needed, and by 1993, Congress had authorized the disposal of over 99% of them, according to the Library of Congress’s Research Service.
However, the trend of the DLA reducing the inventories of the NDS now seems to have reversed.
Previous US administrations have utilized targeted tariff measures to help promote non-Chinese supply of particular critical minor metals.
In his first term, Trump introduced Section 301 tariffs on metals including gallium. Then in 2024 President Joe Biden expanded the Section 301 measures to also cover indium among other metals. The effective rates under section 301 for both metals is 25% (before any additional tariffs).
The Trump Administration has made much greater use of these targeted measures, with stronger emphasis on stockpiling.
On January 20, Trump signed the Unleashing American Energy (EO 14154) executive order, setting a mandate to “ensure that the National Defense Stockpile will provide a robust supply of critical minerals in the event of future shortfall.”
And on April 7, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA), allocating $7.5 billion for critical minerals, of which $2 billion to expand the national stockpile by 2027.
The US Defense Logistics Agency’s (DLA) antimony request has so far proved among the most significant of its recent stockpiling initiatives.
Earlier this year, the United States Antimony Corporation (USAC) secured a sole-sourced, long-term contract worth up to $245 million to supply 6,685,871 lbs (about 3,026 tonnes) of antimony metal ingots to the NDS over five years.
The award, however, has prompted debate among market participants. Several argued that the DLA does not currently need to stockpile antimony, citing what they view as sufficient global supply, although most acknowledged that a period of tightness did emerge last year.
Participants also questioned whether USAC can deliver the contracted volumes, noting that the company is traditionally known as an antimony trioxide (ATO) producer rather than a metal smelter. Their view is that DLA funding will allow USAC to expand its capacity, but that it will take time for the company to produce large volumes of antimony metal itself. In the short term, some believe USAC may need to source from the open market.
USAC operates the only two permitted antimony smelters in North America, which market sources say have historically processed trioxide rather than metal.
Jonathan Miller, vice president of investor relations at US Antimony, told Fastmarkets that the DLA intends to stockpile antimony metal ingots only – not trioxide – consistent with the terms of the contract.
“The US is attempting to rebuild its reserves to reduce dependence on foreign sources and protect national security when supplies are cut off,” Miller said.
He added that USAC’s Thompson Falls, Montana, facility has historically produced 85-100 tonnes per month. A major expansion, under way since early 2024, is scheduled for completion by early 2026, raising total capacity to 300 tonnes per month by mid-February 2026, with potential for further increases depending on high-purity feed availability.
USAC’s refurbished Mexico facility, supported by new raw materials agreements, is ramping up to its 200-tonne-per-month nameplate capacity before year-end. Miller said capacity there could ultimately scale to 1,000 tonnes per month, enabling all contracted volumes to be supplied from within North America.
Total US antimony consumption stands at around 24,000 tonnes per year, according to US Geological Survey (USGS) estimates.
According to USGS data, global antimony mine production in 2024 totaled roughly 100,000 tonnes. China remained the dominant producer with 60,000 tonnes, accounting for about 58% of global output. Tajikistan ranked second with 17,000 tonnes, followed by Russia with 13,000 tonnes. Other notable producing countries included Myanmar, Bolivia, Australia, Turkey and Mexico.
In April, USAC announced that they had signed a definitive agreement with engineering firm WSP USA to support further upgrades to the Montana smelter.
Meanwhile, several trading houses are moving further upstream as long-term offtake agreements become more common. London-based Wogen, for example, signed a binding offtake agreement with an antimony-gold producer in Australia.
In the US, demand for antimony metal is driven mainly by alloying applications, lead-acid batteries and ammunition. Demand for ATO, meanwhile, is concentrated in the flame-retardants sector, which remains the largest downstream consumer globally.
The DLA’s request to acquire cobalt has been less successful.
On August 18, the DLA issued a request for high-purity alloy-grade cobalt, used in aerospace and defense, with a contract value of up to $500 million, with a “guaranteed” $2 million, over five years. That equaled approximately 7,500 tonnes by Fastmarkets’ calculations. The DLA sought three specific Western brands, certified for use in rotating engine parts, preferably from one supplier, according to the documentation.
After several extensions, the DLA canceled the request on October 24, citing outstanding issues with supplementing paperwork (on the scope and timeline), with a view to reissuing the request.
Cobalt prices have been on the rise in 2025, due to the supply pressure driven by the eight-month export ban from the main producer, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which accounted for 78% of globally mined cobalt in 2024.
The US has no active primary mined or refined cobalt metal production at the present time. However, EVelution Energy, a US critical minerals processor, expects to be fully operational for US domestic alloy-grade cobalt metal production by 2027.
In November, the DRC’s refining project Buenassa reported interest from yet unnamed US investors in developing cobalt metal production in the DRC.
The DLA held an estimated 302 tonnes of cobalt in its stockpile in 2022, as per the most recent numbers from the USGS. In 1990, the stockpile held more than 24,000 tonnes of cobalt, with the DLA opting to sell portions of this volume back into the market over time.
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