Pentagon debates scrapping $80M loan offer to ReElement, Bloomberg says

The Pentagon is debating on scrapping an $80M conditional loan offer to ReElement Technologies, Joe Deaux and Kate O’Keeffe of Bloomberg reports. The Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital announced the agreement with ReElement in November, but officials have since raised doubts about the company’s ability to scale its technology, people familiar with the process told Bloomberg. The deal, which is meant to break China’s chokehold on critical minerals, has not been canceled and may still go ahead, the sources added. Additionally, the deal is part of a bigger $1.4B critical-minerals agreement that includes Vulcan Elements and is part of the Trump admin’s drive to develop domestic production of rare earth elements. Companies involved in the development and mining of rare earth minerals include Nova Minerals (NVA), Ioneer (IONR), Lynas Rare Earths (LYSCF), MP Materials (MP), Energy Fuels (UUUU), NioCorp (NB) and VanEck Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (REMX).