Project Vault takes first copper and readies up to $1B in loans
Eight months after launch, Washington's stockpile is now holding physical metal and lending against it. US manufacturers get a new way to secure supply.
What happened
Project Vault is preparing to issue up to $1 billion in loans to American manufacturers that need critical minerals, MINING.COM reported, citing Bloomberg. VaultCo, the company that runs the reserve, is in talks with more than 70 companies across the supply chain. The first tranche is expected to cover more than a dozen original equipment manufacturers, with a second group of similar size to follow.
Under the model, manufacturers name the materials they need and commit to buy them at agreed prices. The Vault uses government-backed financing to buy and store the material until the companies draw it down.
The reserve also holds its first physical metal: trader Mercuria has delivered 12,000 tonnes of copper from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Our take
When Project Vault launched in February with a $10 billion EXIM loan and about $2 billion of private capital, it was a financing structure on paper. A physical copper delivery and a named loan pipeline make it an operating buyer. That matters more than the headline size.
Twelve thousand tonnes is a small starting position. The bigger effect is likely to come from the loan book. If OEMs can lock in prices and storage through the Vault, more of their supply could move out of spot markets and into strategic inventory.
Why it matters for AI infrastructure
Data-centre builders, transformer makers and grid suppliers all compete for the same copper, magnets and specialty metals. A reserve that pre-buys for US manufacturers gives them priority access in a disruption, which helps keep domestic power and cooling equipment lines running.
It also creates a new, price-insensitive buyer in already tight markets. Expect that to support prices for copper and minor metals that the Vault chooses to hold.
What we're watching
- Which manufacturers are named in the first loan tranche, and which minerals they ask the Vault to hold
- Further deliveries from Congo's Gécamines, which planned about 100,000 t of copper shipments to the US in 2026
- Whether Vault buying adds to price pressure, a concern defence groups raised in the Financial Times
- Timing and size of the second loan tranche
Get takes like this every Sunday.
One free email with the week's export controls, list changes and price moves, and what they mean for AI infrastructure.
See a sample issue