Top 10 Critical Mineral Projects Outside China: Rio Tinto’s $11.6 B & $2.3 B in DOE Loans (2024-2026)

A massive, government-led strategic realignment is underway to build a critical minerals supply chain independent of China. Analysis of major projects from 2024 to 2026 reveals a decisive shift from commercial speculation to state-backed execution, driven by national security imperatives. This is evidenced by billions in public funding, such as the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) $2.3 billion conditional loan for Lithium Americas’ Thacker Pass project and the Department of Defense’s (Do D) direct partnership with MP Materials. The dominant theme for 2025-2026 is the urgent build-out of domestic and allied processing and refining capacity, moving capital away from early-stage exploration and into tangible, mid-stream infrastructure to close a well-identified strategic vulnerability.

1. Simandou Iron Ore Project

Company/Operator: Rio Tinto, Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS), and the Republic of Guinea
Key Development/Investment: Rio Tinto’s funding requirement for its share is approximately $11.6 billion. The project involves constructing a 670-kilometer railway and a deep-water port.
Mineral(s): Iron Ore
Source: Top 10 most capital intensive bulk mining projects

China Dominates Global Critical Mineral Production

This chart showing China’s dominance in mineral production highlights the global strategic importance of developing large-scale, non-Chinese sources of critical minerals, such as the Simandou iron ore project.

(Source: Elements by Visual Capitalist)

2. Thacker Pass Lithium Project

Company/Operator: Lithium Americas
Key Development/Investment: A conditional loan of $2.3 billion from the U.S. DOE in February 2026 to construct a lithium carbonate processing plant.
Mineral(s): Lithium
Source: 2026 Critical Minerals Ministerial – U.S. Mission to The African …

Lithium Battery Chemistries Compared by Performance

The chart comparing lithium battery chemistries provides essential context on the end-use and technological importance of lithium, the material sourced from the Thacker Pass Project.

(Source: CEPAL)

3. Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project

Company/Operator: Ioneer Ltd.
Key Development/Investment: Received a conditional loan commitment of $996 million from the U.S. DOE in February 2026 for a domestic lithium carbonate processing facility.
Mineral(s): Lithium, Boron
Source: 2026 Critical Minerals Ministerial – U.S. Mission to The African …

Global Critical Mineral Reserves Shift Between 2013-2022

This chart, showing a global shift in mineral reserves over a decade, provides broad context for the exploration and development of new resources like the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project.

(Source: Goldman Sachs)

4. MP Materials Mountain Pass Expansion

Company/Operator: MP Materials Corp.
Key Development/Investment: Secured a major deal with the U.S. Do D in July 2025 to scale U.S. rare earth magnet manufacturing, targeting 1, 000 metric tons of capacity.
Mineral(s): Rare Earth Elements (REEs)
Source: MP Materials seals mega rare-earths deal with US to break …

China Dominates Global Rare Earths Production

This chart on China’s dominance in rare earths production provides the strategic backdrop for the expansion of a key US-based producer, MP Materials, at its Mountain Pass facility.

(Source: Our World in Data)

5. Tanbreez Rare Earth Project

Company/Operator: Critical Metals Corp.
Key Development/Investment: The U.S. Export-Import Bank issued a letter of interest for a $120 million loan in June 2025 to develop the project.
Mineral(s): Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs)
Source: Greenland, Rare Earths, and Arctic Security

Chart Ranks Top Rare Earth Mines by Ore Grade

The chart, which ranks rare earth mines by ore grade, provides a direct point of comparison and context for the quality and potential of the Tanbreez Rare Earth Project.

(Source: CSIS)

6. American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) Lithium Refinery

Company/Operator: American Battery Technology Company
Key Development/Investment: A U.S. DOE grant for a $115 million commercial-scale refinery was reinstated in June 2026 after a successful appeal.
Mineral(s): Lithium
Source: American Battery Technology Company

7. Titan Mining U.S. Army Partnership

Company/Operator: Titan Mining Corporation
Key Development/Investment: Received conditional lease awards in June 2026 to establish processing facilities on U.S. Army installations in Alabama and Arkansas.
Mineral(s): Zinc
Source: Army announces conditional lease awards for domestic …

Chart Shows China’s Dominance in Critical Minerals

The general chart illustrating China’s dominance in critical minerals explains the strategic motivation behind a partnership between a US mining company and the U.S. Army to secure domestic supply.

(Source: Council on Foreign Relations)

8. Longonjo Rare Earth Project

Company/Operator: Pensana Plc
Key Development/Investment: Described as one of the most strategically significant non-Chinese REE developments, key to diversifying the global supply chain.
Mineral(s): Rare Earth Elements (Neodymium, Praseodymium)
Source: Critical Minerals List 2025 – Lobito Corridor

China Dominates Global Rare Earth Reserves

The chart on China’s dominance in rare earth reserves underscores the importance of developing and securing new REE reserves elsewhere, which is the goal of the Longonjo project.

(Source: Investing News Network)

9. Aclara Resources REE Separation Pilot Plant

Company/Operator: Aclara Resources
Key Development/Investment: Announced an approximate $10 million investment in August 2025 for a pilot separation plant at Virginia Tech.
Mineral(s): Rare Earth Elements
Source: Mining company partners with Virginia Tech on rare earths …

10. Re Element Technologies Refinery Expansion

Company/Operator: Re Element Technologies
Key Development/Investment: Expanded its Indiana facility in September 2025, increasing its REE refining capacity to over 200 tonnes per year.
Mineral(s): Rare Earth Elements
Source: Re Element announces Noblesville refinery expansion for …

China Projected to Dominate Critical Mineral Refining by 2030

The chart’s focus on projected Chinese dominance in refining provides the strategic context for the necessity of projects like the Re Element Technologies refinery expansion.

(Source: Elements by Visual Capitalist)

Table: Top 10 Critical Mineral Projects Outside China (2024-2026 Developments)

Infographic Displays List of Critical Minerals

This infographic, which lists critical minerals, serves as a foundational visual definition and introduction for the section’s table of top critical mineral projects.

(Source: ScienceDirect.com)

Critical Mineral Processing, US Government Backs $2.3 B Thacker Pass Project

The strategic focus has clearly pivoted from upstream extraction to midstream processing. The bottleneck in Western supply chains is not a lack of mineral resources in the ground, but a severe deficit in the refining and processing facilities needed to convert those raw materials into usable forms for batteries and magnets. This list is dominated by projects aimed at closing this gap. The massive DOE loans for Thacker Pass (lithium) and Rhyolite Ridge (lithium) are explicitly for constructing processing plants. Similarly, MP Materials’ Do D partnership is focused on magnet manufacturing, a downstream product. Even smaller-scale projects like Re Element Technologies’ expansion and Aclara Resources’ pilot plant are entirely dedicated to refining, signaling that the market is prioritizing value-added production over simple resource extraction.

Chart Shows China’s Dominance in Mineral Processing

The chart’s specific focus on China’s dominance in mineral processing directly corresponds to the section’s topic of the US government backing a domestic processing project to counter this dominance.

(Source: CSIS)

US Dominance, 7 of 10 Top Projects Sited in America

The geographic concentration of these projects is undeniable, with seven of the top ten located in the United States. This is a direct result of a concerted industrial policy by the U.S. government to onshore or “friend-shore” critical supply chains. States like Nevada are emerging as lithium hubs, backed by billions in federal loans. The novel partnership between Titan Mining Corp. and the U.S. Army to establish processing on military land in Alabama and Arkansas underscores the fusion of industrial and defense strategy. The remaining projects are in geopolitically strategic locations—Guinea (Simandou), Greenland (Tanbreez), and Angola (Longonjo)—and are supported by Western financing as part of a broader allied effort to create a diversified, resilient network of suppliers outside of China’s sphere of influence.

US Critical Minerals Ranked by Supply Disruption Risk

The chart ranks US mineral supply risks, perfectly illustrating the problem that the ‘7 of 10’ top US-sited projects mentioned in the section heading are intended to solve.

(Source: Elements by Visual Capitalist)

$11.6 Billion, Rio Tinto’s Simandou Project Highlights Capital Intensity

These projects reveal a market operating at multiple levels of maturity and scale, all at once. At the top end, the $11.6 billion investment by Rio Tinto into its portion of the Simandou project demonstrates the immense capital required to unlock world-class, tier-one assets. In the middle, established operators like MP Materials and near-production developers like Lithium Americas are leveraging government support to scale proven technologies and transition from mining to integrated production. At the same time, earlier-stage efforts like Aclara Resources’ $10 million pilot plant at Virginia Tech are crucial for de-risking and commercializing the next generation of separation and refining technologies that will be needed to compete on efficiency and environmental performance in the long term.

Chart Details National Dominance in Strategic Mineral Supply Chains

This high-level chart on national dominance in strategic supply chains justifies the massive capital investment mentioned in the section, framing the Simandou project as a strategic geopolitical move.

(Source: Visual Capitalist)

MP Materials and Do D Target 1, 000 Tonnes of Magnets (2025-2026)

The most critical action to watch in the coming year is the physical execution of these large-scale, government-backed processing projects. If projects like Thacker Pass, Rhyolite Ridge, and the MP Materials expansion hit their construction and commissioning milestones on schedule, it will send a powerful signal that the Western supply chain strategy is translating from policy into tangible industrial capacity. Progress will be measured not just in tons of earth moved, but in the signing of offtake agreements with Western automakers, battery manufacturers, and defense contractors.

• Gaining Traction: Government funding as a primary de-risking tool. The successful reinstatement of the $115 million DOE grant for American Battery Technology Company in June 2026, along with the multi-billion-dollar loans for lithium projects, confirms that public capital is now the essential catalyst for projects of this scale and strategic importance.
• Gaining Traction: The fusion of industrial and defense policy. The June 2026 announcement of conditional lease awards for Titan Mining to establish processing facilities on U.S. Army bases is a novel model gaining momentum. It directly links mineral security to national security, creating secure, resilient nodes in the defense industrial base.
• Persistent Challenge: Execution risk and long lead times remain significant hurdles. Despite the influx of capital, building and scaling complex refining facilities takes years. The projected supply gap for critical materials like magnet rare earths will likely persist through the end of the decade, underscoring that while the strategic direction is set, achieving self-sufficiency is a long-term endeavor.

China’s Rare Earth Magnet Exports Rebound

This chart on rare earth magnet exports provides direct market context for the section detailing MP Materials’ and the DoD’s goal of establishing domestic magnet production.

(Source: Council on Foreign Relations)

The questions your competitors are already asking

This report covers one angle of the strategic realignment of critical mineral supply chains. The questions that matter most depend on your work.

• Emerging critical mineral projects in North America
• New rare earth and lithium processing technologies
• Impact of China export controls on minerals
• Who is signing offtake agreements for US critical minerals

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