The U.S. Government Just Took a 10% Stake in a Mining Company. Why and Who's Next?
Washington is now buying pieces of American miners. A former Pentagon advisor explains what it could mean and his latest prediction.
Washington, D.C., June 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- While Wall Street watches earnings and interest rates, veteran financial expert Jim Rickards says a quieter shift deserves attention: the federal government has started taking direct ownership stakes in American mining companies. In a new free presentation, Rickards walks through the deals and what they may signal.
A Deal Most People Missed
In January 2026, USA Rare Earth announced a non-binding letter of intent for a $1.6 billion debt and equity package with the Department of Commerce, under which the U.S. government would take a 10% stake to support a domestic mine and magnet facility.
Federal money for critical minerals has flowed through at least five agency channels: Energy, Defense, Commerce, USDA, and the DFC alongside the Export-Import Bank, now a major financing engine for mine to manufacturing projects. Rickards reads the breadth of those channels as durable intent, not a one-off.
The market reaction to earlier deals helps explain the attention. When Washington restructured a $2.26 billion loan with Lithium Americas and took a 5% equity stake in September 2025, shares skyrocketed 227% in three weeks. A week later, a $35.6 million investment for a 10% stake in Trilogy Metals sent shares up 407% in one week. Those moves are part of why Rickards argues the pattern is worth understanding before it repeats, not after.
What Could Be Next
Rickards points to one U.S. deposit he believes dwarfs everything Washington has moved on so far. He describes it as the largest mineral reserve of its kind — a single site holding an estimated $2.7 trillion in in-ground value across gold, silver, copper, rhenium, and molybdenum. The project has been blocked by environmental restrictions for years, but Rickards argues the same executive and legislative machinery now clearing the way for other mines is pointing directly at this one. A small company currently trades for under $2 per share and holds the full rights to it.
He draws a direct parallel to how the pattern has played out with Lithium Americas, Trilogy Metals, and USA Rare Earth — each time the government signaled intent, shares moved sharply before broader attention arrived. His position is that the next move in this sequence is the one with the most at stake.
Why It Matters to You
When the federal government puts public capital directly into a company, it is making a visible bet about the future and historically, that kind of signal moves markets. The reason this reaches beyond the mining sector is simple: the materials these companies dig up end up in cars, electronics, defense systems, and the power grid, which means the government's choices about which projects to back ripple outward into the broader economy that ordinary portfolios are tied to.
The question Rickards raises is what an ordinary person should make of it: whether these stakes mark the start of a broader pattern, and which U.S. deposits could be next rather than the ones already announced.
About the Presentation
Jim Rickards lays out how he reads these federal moves and the one American resource he believes sits at the center of the story in a free presentation now available online. Click here to view.
About Jim Rickards and Paradigm Press
Jim Rickards has advised the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the White House, and the Pentagon across five decades in finance and national security. He helped craft the Petrodollar Accord under the Nixon administration, assisted in negotiations during the Iran hostage crisis under Reagan, and worked with Federal Reserve officials to manage the Long-Term Capital Management crisis. He later developed financial warfare analytics for the CIA and hosted the Pentagon's first financial war games. In 2007, he testified before the U.S. Treasury with a formal warning about the vulnerabilities that preceded the 2008 financial crisis.
Paradigm Press is one of the most widely read independent financial research publishers in the United States, rated 4.8 stars on Google across more than 1,900 reviews. Free from advertiser influence, Paradigm Press is committed to helping everyday Americans understand the forces shaping their wealth.
Derek Warren Public Relations Manager Paradigm Press Group Email: dwarren@paradigmpressgroup.com
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