Shares of Australia’s Sunrise Energy Metals surged as much as 29% on Monday after the rare earths developer landed a conditional $400 million long-term debt financing commitment from the United States to help advance what is expected to become the world’s first primary scandium mine.
The U.S. support for Sunrise Energy Metals comes at a pivotal moment, as Washington and other major economies accelerate efforts to secure critical minerals supply chains and reduce reliance on China’s dominant position in rare earth production and processing.
In a statement issued Friday, the U.S. Department of Defense said its Office of Strategic Capital, known as OSC, had made a conditional loan commitment to Sunrise. The funding is intended to back the company’s plan to build an integrated scandium value chain, starting with primary mining at the Syerston Project in New South Wales.
The initial rally cooled later in the session, though Sunrise shares still finished strongly, closing more than 16% higher.
Scandium is regarded as a highly strategic rare earth element thanks to its unusual performance characteristics. The silvery-white metal is especially prized for its ability to strengthen aluminum while preserving flexibility and improving resistance to heat and corrosion.
Those properties make scandium valuable across a range of high-tech and security-sensitive industries, including defense, aerospace and advanced energy systems. It is also seen as increasingly relevant for reliable power solutions tied to artificial intelligence data centers and other infrastructure facing heavy electricity demand.
Sunrise Chairman Robert Friedland, the billionaire mining entrepreneur, called the financing commitment “a landmark moment” for both the company and Australia’s broader mining sector.
“The world has entered an era in which access to critical minerals will shape industrial strength, technology leadership and national security,” Friedland said Monday in a statement lodged with the Australian Securities Exchange.
“Scandium is one of the clearest examples, supporting the technologies, industries and defence capabilities that will shape the coming decades,” he added.
China is the undisputed leader of the critical minerals supply chain. The country produces nearly 70% of the world’s supply of rare earths from domestic mines and processes almost 90% of the global supply as it refines imports from overseas sources.
Western officials have repeatedly flagged Beijing’s supply chain dominance as a strategic challenge, with critical minerals demand expected to grow exponentially, particularly as the clean energy transition picks up pace.
“Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, securing our critical minerals supply chain is a top national security priority,” said David A. Lorch, director of the OSC and senior advisor to deputy secretary of Defense, Steve Feinberg.
“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,” he added.
The statement came shortly after a meeting between Trump and mining executives last week.
Supply risk
Speaking to CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” in late June, Sunrise CEO Sam Riggall described the scandium market as one of the smallest in the world but extremely strategic.
“What we are building in Australia, very close to Sydney, will be the world’s single largest source of scandium supply and it will have the capacity to replace everything that China supplies today from this one mining operation,” Riggall said on June 23.
“So, with this particular metal, it is possible to find ready solutions that can address this supply risk very quickly,” he added.
