AUGUST 10, 2026 – The Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) announced Friday a $400 million conditional loan commitment to Sunrise Energy Metals Limited (Sunrise) to build out the company’s scandium operations.
Sunrise is an Australian publicly listed company (ASX: SRL) that owns the Syerston Scandium Project in New South Wales, Australia. Scandium is a metal that is found throughout the Earth’s crust in low concentrations. Currently, it is harvested through byproducts of other industrial or resource extraction processes. No primary mine-source scandium supply exists globally, and foreign competitors dominate the supply side, accounting for approximately 80% of global mining production and nearly 100% of scandium processing.
With these funds, alongside private capital, Sunrise will develop a full scandium value chain, beginning with its primary mining operations at its Syerston project, which boasts a high-grade scandium deposit. Additionally, Sunrise will build metallization and additive layer manufacturing capabilities to ensure Western alignment from mine to finished product. This financing will provide the Department with a right of first offer on Sunrise’s output, and the scandium produced by Sunrise would support the demand of U.S. companies, including defense industrial base companies.
“Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, securing our critical minerals supply chain is a top national security priority. The contemplated Sunrise transaction marks a significant step in establishing supply chain resiliency for an increasingly critical mineral. This nearly $1 billion deal, bringing together public and private capital, would help address foreign dependencies in scandium supply and facilitate scandium’s use in critical defense and commercial applications,” said David A. Lorch, Director of the Office of Strategic Capital and Senior Advisor to Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg.
With this conditional loan commitment to Sunrise, OSC directly advances President Trump’s mandate to secure a resilient, domestic supply chain for rare earths. The company’s production will directly support warfighting capabilities in aerospace and defense as well as strategically important economic sectors such as data centers, semiconductors, and the automotive sector.
“This commitment is an example of the strategic financing OSC can provide,” said Asad Akram, Managing Director and Co-Head of Critical Minerals at OSC. “Sunrise’s scandium deposit will support strategic sectors in both national and economic security, with the capability to secure and expand both compute capacity and enhanced capabilities of modern fighter aircraft.”
“This conditional loan commitment is a decisive step toward creating a U.S.-aligned scandium value chain, ensuring our warfighters and manufacturers no longer depend on adversaries. We are attracting meaningful private capital investment into the front lines of our industrial base,” said Peter B. Zuckerman, Senior Managing Director at OSC. “The Sunrise commitment is just the first step in our effort to strengthen the scandium supply chain as OSC is conducting active due diligence on additional opportunities.”
“By backing Sunrise, we would be engineering a complete, allied mine-to-metal supply chain,” said John Gallagher, Co-Head of Critical Minerals at OSC. “Providing the capital to extract scandium from a primary mine and connecting it directly to onshore U.S. metallization ensures that the materials required for the future success of commercial and defense industries remain under our sovereign control.”
“Secretary Hegseth and Deputy Secretary Feinberg are mobilizing the Department of War’s resources to secure our critical mineral supply chain,” said Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering. “Congress provided the necessary resources, and OSC is aggressively executing that mandate to deliver for the American warfighter.”
The conditional loan commitment between OSC and Sunrise specifies customary additional steps the company must take to proceed toward financial close, including satisfying financial, legal, technical, and other requirements.
In FY 2026, OSC has committed over $8.4 billion in debt financing and has successfully mobilized over $17.8 billion in total capital from the public and private sectors to support the American industrial base.
The DoW and the Trump administration announced eight direct company investments totaling roughly $2.1 billion:
- Standard Bauxite – DoW is investing over $85 million to secure refractory-grade bauxite supply, supporting manufacturing of high-temperature-resistant materials for critical warfighter components and the broader industrial economy.
- Niron Magnetics (Minnesota) – DoW is investing $150 million in this developer of 100% domestic, rare earth-free permanent magnets, aimed at cutting the defense industrial base’s dependency on foreign rare earth magnets.
- Sila Nanotechnologies (California) – DoW is investing $1.4 billion to expand silicon-carbon battery anode production and build out a lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility, strengthening supply chains for satellites, unmanned aerial systems, and munitions.
- Sunrise Energy Metals – DoW is investing $400 million to develop a full scandium value chain, including the world’s first primary scandium mine, securing supply for high-heat aluminum alloys used in fighter jets and spacecraft.
- 5E Advanced Materials (California) – The Export-Import Bank is investing $8 million to develop a boron deposit, a key input for permanent magnets, semiconductors, and glass.
- Westwater Resources (Alabama) – The Export-Import Bank is investing $25 million to develop the Coosa Graphite Deposit, supporting domestic battery manufacturing.
- Global Advanced Materials (Pennsylvania) – The Export-Import Bank is investing $25 million in tantalum and niobium production, supporting electronics, magnets, and steel manufacturing.
- Harena Rare Earths (Madagascar) – The Development Finance Corporation is matching a $4.8 million investment to develop a rare earth mine, securing vital inputs like magnet metal and rare earths for American manufacturing.