Opinion: Rare Earths: Critical Minerals Should Not Be Stockpiled for Military Purposes

November 2025

The United States is directing materials such as cobalt and graphite towards national defence rather than new climate technologies.

The author is responsible for global systems and policies at the Climate and Community Institute and research lead at the Transition Security Project. This summer, the Pentagon announced its intention to acquire nearly 7,500 tonnes of cobalt, thus relaunching stockpiling on a scale unprecedented since the Cold War.

Benefiting from a new influx of financing authorised by the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, this cobalt tender is part of a broader strategy by the military to increase its reserves of critical minerals.

Since July, the US Department of Defense has multiplied contracts to build stockpiles of a growing list of critical minerals, which it claims are essential to the manufacture of almost all deployed weapon systems, from drones and fighter jets to an emerging arsenal of military technologies such as AI-driven autonomous warfare platforms.

Alongside this increase in its stockpiles, it is deploying a broader set of strategies to strengthen its control over critical minerals supply chains: from the extension of the use of the Defense Production Act, established under the Biden administration, to the financing of mining projects, to direct stakes in mining companies. In July, for example, the Pentagon agreed to invest 400 million dollars in MP Materials, a company specialising in natural resources.

Earlier this month, a White House official stated that the US government planned to increase its stakes in critical minerals companies. The objective is to reshore supply and reduce dependence on foreign sources, notably Chinese ones.

By the Editorial Team with Lorah Steichen