U.S. agencies managing hundreds of billions of dollars to bolster domestic mineral production while competing with China are angling for more staff and help from Capitol Hill.
Within the Pentagon, the Office of Strategic Capital is working to bring more staffers on board as it manages $200 billion and hammers out deals focused on national security — mostly in helping source minerals needed for military equipment. That includes a series of agreements with rare earth producers like MP Materials, Phoenix Tailings and Energy Fuels.
“Up until a few weeks ago, we were … 50 people with over $200 billion of lending authority from a credit perspective,” said Asad Akram, the office’s managing director and global co-head of critical minerals, materials and metals, during a webinar hosted by the nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank SAFE on Tuesday.
“Keeping this pace up requires a significant headcount investment,” Akram added. “Many of our initial transactions were sort of all hands on deck. We didn’t have any other distractions … as we grow, that’s going to get harder, but we’re trying to staff up.”
