Senate Intelligence Committee discusses financing of critical minerals for U.S. technology

The roundtable included committee members, as well as domestic industry, finance and U.S. government officials.

According to Chair Mark R. Warner of Virginia and Vice Chair Marco Rubio of Florida, the United States must secure reliable sources of components key to critical national security technologies, including military equipment and defense systems, vehicles and the energy grid.

“Currently, China dominates the mining, refining and processing for a vast number of these minerals — in many cases controlling nearly 100 percent of the end-to-end supply chain — and is actively seeking to control additional resources. To ensure the U.S. has a resilient supply chain for these critical minerals, the U.S. must, alongside allies, proactively secure investments in and operations of critical minerals projects in the U.S. and abroad,” Warner and Rubio said in a statement after the roundtable.

The roundtable’s focus was “how the U.S. can unlock investment in and operations of critical minerals projects in the U.S. and abroad to meet exponential demand increases for these minerals and reduce our dependence on China. We look forward to continuing this work with responsible stakeholders.”