US to inject $1.6B into rare earths miner

The ‍United States is planning ​to inject $1.6 billion into Oklahoma-based miner USA Rare Earth and will ⁠receive a 10% stake in the company, the Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.The government investment and a separate $1 billion private financing deal are ‌slated to ‌be announced on Monday, the report said.The White House and USA Rare Earth did not immediately respond ‌to Reuters' request for comment.The government would receive 16.1 million shares in the rare earths company, along with warrants for a further 17.6 million, both priced at $17.17, the report said.Washington said in December last year it was planning more "historic ​deals" with the U.S. mining sector to increase ​domestic production of lithium, rare earths and other minerals used for ‌national defense and ‍rely less on China, which has used its minerals prowess ‍as leverage in trade negotiations.Last year, the administration ‌took equity stakes in MP Materials, Lithium Americas and Trilogy Metals .The deal with USA Rare Earth was "focused on onshoring critical and strategic minerals essential to the semiconductor supply chain and US national security," the FT quoted an official in the U.S. Commerce Department's CHIPS office, which provides incentives for investment and equipment in the U.S., as saying.The company ‍has also brought in Cantor Fitzgerald, an investment banking and brokerage firm chaired by Brandon Lutnick, the son of U.S. ‍Secretary of ⁠Commerce Howard Lutnick, to ⁠lead efforts to raise more than $1 billion in fresh equity, the FT said.USA Rare Earth has been developing a mine in Sierra Blanca, Texas and a neo magnet manufacturing facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma, which is expected to go commercial in the first half of 2026.The company, which has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, has emerged as one of the more large-scale U.S. neo magnet manufacturers.Reuters could not immediately verify the report.