Pentagon backs Australian scandium mine with $511 million loan

The U.S. defense department pledged a conditional loan of $400 million (S$511 million) to Sunrise Energy Metals to develop a scandium mine in Fifield, New South Wales.

Sunrise Energy Metals said the Pentagon has committed a conditional loan of $400 million (S$511 million) to build a primary scandium mine in Fifield, New South Wales, a region noted for high scandium concentrations. The funding aims to create a reliable Western source of the rare earth metal, which is essential for defence systems, aircraft and data-centre components and is currently dominated by Chinese supply chains.

The loan was announced during a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and mining executives in Washington. The United States and Australia previously signed a critical-minerals pact that pledged $1 billion each for related projects. Sunrise also entered a 2025 agreement with Lockheed Martin, granting the aerospace firm a 25 percent share of scandium production for the mine’s first five years. The company plans to file a formal announcement with the Australian Securities Exchange on August 10.