Congress and federal watchdogs are raising questions and concerns about the emerging structure and transparency of President Donald Trump’s recently unveiled critical minerals stockpile, which is led by industry and backed by the Export-Import Bank’s largest-ever $10 billion loan.
Lawmakers briefed on “Project Vault” are still waiting to learn who’s leading the stockpile, and how it will be managed and structured, said one senior House aide familiar with the situation on Capitol Hill.
They also want to make sure the Ex-Im will get paid back and are waiting to see if more companies will line up to use the stockpile, said the aide, who, along with others, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations.
Trump unveiled Project Vault earlier this month in the Oval Office alongside General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Ivanhoe Mines CEO Robert Friedland. The goal, the president said at the time, is to buffer automakers, tech companies and other manufacturers from shortages and shocks as the U.S. reduces its reliance on Beijing. The first-of-its kind public-private partnership will use the federal loan and $2 billion of private capital.
“For years, American businesses have risked running out of critical minerals during market disruptions,” Trump said. “Today, we’re launching what will be known as Project Vault to ensure that American businesses and workers are never harmed by any shortage.”
But, unlike other stockpiling efforts the government has launched, Project Vault will be shaped and operated by private companies, a move that public consumer advocates say raises big questions about transparency and the need for oversight.
“What I see are big pathways for profit, trading firms do all the work, but who is looking over their shoulder to make sure that everything is legit?” asked Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s energy program.
A board to lead Project Vault has not yet been assembled, according to an industry source advising the administration.
Unlike other stockpiling efforts the government has launched — the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which the Energy Department manages, and the Pentagon-managed National Defense Stockpile — the new minerals reserve will be managed and overseen by an independent, nongovernmental private entity known as “VaultCo,” said Brian Benko, a spokesperson for Ex-Im.
“While EXIM retains a non‑voting board observer role, VaultCo is not government‑run,” said Benko.
Ex-Im, said Benko, has been actively engaged with Congress on the stockpile from the outset and has provided bipartisan briefings to lawmakers who ask, as well as staff on all committees of jurisdiction, including the House Financial Services Committee, Senate Banking Committee, and the House and Senate Appropriations committees.
Ex-Im notified those committees before approving the loan for VaultCo, he said, and Ex-Im going forward will oversee how the loan is spent, but the stockpile won’t be subject to direct congressional oversight.
Benko also emphasized that Ex-Im has a “strong, proven track record of protecting American taxpayers,” and Project Vault is no exception.
“The bank conducts rigorous due diligence on every transaction we undertake, and multiple structural protections are built into this deal to ensure repayment,” he said. “We take our role as stewards of taxpayer dollars seriously, and that standard applies here as it does to every project we finance.”
Industry in the driver’s seat
Unlike other government-directed stockpiles, VaultCo is focused on helping buffer the commercial, civilian and industrial sectors from price shocks tied to disruptions, conflict or Beijing cutting off supplies of minerals and materials.
That’s unlike the DOE-managed Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which was established following the 1973 oil embargo. Former President Gerald Ford that year signed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to create the emergency, underground oil stockpile to protect against future supply disruptions.
Prior to that, the government in the 1930s established the National Defense Stockpile to ensure the military had the raw materials it needed in times of crisis and to prevent supply disruptions from World War II.
But Project Vault puts industry in charge.
Already, companies like Boeing; Clarios, a Wisconsin-based battery maker; GE Vernova, a Massachusetts-based spinoff of General Electric that focuses on energy equipment like wind turbines; and Western Digital, a tech company, have expressed interest in participating.
Three commodities firms — Hartree Partners LP, Traxys North America LLC and Mercuria Americas — are being tasked with buying the raw minerals that will be stored across the U.S. Notably, John Jovanovic, who chairs Ex-Im, previously served as a director at Mercuria Energy Group.
Jovanovic said during an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday that the creation of a creditworthy repository was necessary because manufacturers aren’t holding inventory on-hand to absorb supply shocks because their stakeholders aren’t rewarding such behavior. The vault, he said, will be demand-driven and procure and hold critical minerals for companies at the level and grade they request.
Abigail Hunter, executive director of SAFE’s Center for Critical Minerals Strategy, said it’s an approach that addresses looming commercial vulnerabilities. Ford’s production line shut down last year after China cut off supplies of rare earths amid an escalating trade spat.
An industry-led approach could also help address the “lack of commercial stockpiles, the lack of readiness of major manufacturers who are leveraging just-in-time manufacturing in the worst case scenario,” said Hunter. And incentivizing private companies with the backing of an independent entity like Ex-Im that can help store raw minerals across the U.S. is “savvy,” she added.
Tim Johnston, a strategic advisor for REalloys, an Ohio-based company with operations in the U.S. and Saskatchewan, Canada, said he understands major consumers of minerals in North America like General Motors and Boeing will participate and lead the stockpile, noting that those companies use minerals in their tools, data, sensors and technical applications.
Involving traders like Traxys and Mercuria, which have a big presence in energy metals, makes sense, he said, as does putting industry in the driver’s seat given the commercial aspects of the mineral markets.
“There is a for-profit component associated with this partnership and that may be a benefit for running it as a private organization rather than a government organization, in the sense that they can then take on certain risks associated with being a for-profit business rather than being a government entity,” he added.
‘Big pathways for profit’
But public interest watchdogs blasted the vault’s setup and said the government should have more direct say given the size of the loan and the potential for misuse of taxpayer money.
Slocum with Public Citizen said Ex-Im should have a voting role and there should be more disclosure and transparency around VaultCo’s operations and reporting activities. “It’s not a critical mineral supply to be controlled by the United States,” Slocum said. “It’s just a government-backed loan to allow for a consortium of traders to openly collude in the buying, selling and stockpiling of minerals.”
He pointed to an investigation last year from the nonprofit Global Witness that found Traxys, a parent company of one of the trading firms involved, bought conflict coltan smuggled from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Rwanda. Traxys, which did not immediately respond when asked about the investigation, issued a statement last year denying the allegations and said the company had proof of due diligence.
“We categorically deny all such allegations which are without any merit and are not substantiated with any credible evidence,” the company stated. “Conversely, Traxys does, in fact, have credible evidence of our due diligence and high standards of compliance with respect to our trading activities in this region.”
Congress and the public could learn more about Project Vault and its structure later this year when lawmakers gather to renew Ex-Im’s charter, which expires on Dec. 31, 2026.
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia and Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota floated a bill earlier this year that would renew the charter for an additional decade.
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, which oversees the agency and will consider the legislation, can conduct oversight of the loan as funds are drawn down and obtain significant information about how taxpayer dollars are being deployed, said a committee aide.
Jovanovic on Wednesday applauded the bipartisan bill and said the agency has $71 billion worth of transactions in the pipeline. He also acknowledged the agency, once scorned by conservatives, is now seeing more support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle eager to modernize the agency.
Senators are actively gathering information and expect full transparency from the new entity receiving Ex-Im funding and can expand requirements for transparency and oversight if necessary, the aide said.
Heidi Crebo-Rediker, a senior fellow for geoeconomics at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Ex-Im through its standard contractual arrangements will also have visibility into the operations of the mineral stockpile and agreed that lawmakers can exercise oversight through the agency. Companies investing in the stockpile will also be incentivized to ensure the trading companies aren’t taking undue profits, she added.
“I think that is probably as much oversight as you would have in this type of a structure,” said Crebo-Rediker. “There are so many details that have not been disclosed about this, and part of that is because this is a private-led enterprise.”
