Pentagon to invest $511 million in Australian rare earth mine

SYDNEY – A remote Australian town will become a “cornerstone” of the Western supply of scandium, a rare earth needed for defence, planes and data centres, miner Sunrise Energy Metals said on Aug 8, after a US$400 million (S$511 million) US pledge.

The Pentagon announced a US$400 million conditional loan commitment to Sunrise to build the world’s first primary mine for scandium, of which China dominates supply and processing, at a meeting between US President Donald Trump and mining executives in Washington.

Scandium is usually sourced as a byproduct of other mining.

“We aim to establish Syerston as a cornerstone of Western scandium supply,” Sunrise chairman Robert Friedland said in a statement, referring to the proposed mine in Fifield, New South Wales state.

Fifield is around 450km west of Sydney.

New South Wales has some of the highest concentrations of scandium globally, the state government said.

China restricted exports of scandium for defence products in 2025, triggering the US search for new suppliers.

The Pentagon statement said the scandium project will “ensure Western alignment from mine to finished product”.

Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a critical minerals agreement aimed at countering China in October 2025, pledging that each would invest US$1 billion in projects.

Sunrise struck a deal with Lockheed Martin in 2025 to sell the defence and aerospace manufacturer 25 per cent of its scandium output for the first five years of the mine.

The company will make an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange on Aug 10, Friedland said. AFP