Hambrox Ltd
6 Feb 2026
USA's Project Vault aims to shield American manufacturers from critical mineral supply disruptions and price volatility by setting up a stockpile of the most strategic minerals critical for national and domestic security.
Critical minerals have gained popularity in recent years because of China’s control over the entire supply chain of those resouces. Critical minerals are crucial components of all new technologies driving the global twin transitions of green energy and digitalisation. Hence, securing reliable access to those minerals are of vital importance to all major economies.
China has spent decades in careful planning and investment to build a tightly integrated supply chain ecosystem. This has resulted in its dominance of the global market and the US and its allies find themselves overly exposed to China’s control. The US is not comfortable with this situation whereby China can use its strong position as leverage in geopolitical conflits.
In an effort to diversify its supply chains for critical minerals and address its vulnerable position towards China in this sector, the US has initiated several initiatives over the past year. The latest plan involves the launch of Project Vault which sets out to build a stockpile of the most important strategic minerals.
There has been mixed reactions to this ambitious program and its long-term success will depend on the finer details of its execution.