Trump announces plan to stockpile critical minerals, similar to the nation’s oil reserves

President Donald Trump Monday announced a program that will stockpile critical minerals, similar to what the Strategic Petroleum Reserve does for crude oil.  

The program, first reported by Bloomberg, is starting off with $11.67 billion in seed money. Dubbed Project Vault, $10 billion of the funding comes from a loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and $1.67 billion is from private capital. 

The stockpile is expected to include rare earth minerals, as well as other important elements that are subject to volatile prices. 

It’s not clear where the minerals are being sourced from, but with China controlling the bulk of the world’s supply, it’s likely much of the stockpile will need to be sourced from China.