US policy
Washington Put Seven Billion Behind an Argentine Minerals Corridor. Six of It Points at Gas.
The Andes-Atlantic Corridor launched Wednesday as a critical minerals play. The State Department fact sheet books a non-binding EXIM term sheet of up to $6 billion for a Vaca Muerta LNG project. AI datacenters appear once, in the unfunded list.
DOE listed twelve metals at five nuclear cleanup sites. Three are already leased to AI.
Washington wants private industry to haul copper, tungsten, platinum and vanadium off Cold War ground. It published no tonnages, and the smelters that would process the material are running under 70 percent outside China.
Washington's Biggest Minerals Cheque Went Toward Not Needing the Minerals
The largest commitment on August 7 funded a silicon anode plant. The smallest of the Pentagon's three loans funded magnets with no rare earths. Substitution is a demand-side risk few Global South suppliers are pricing.