{"id":848467,"date":"2026-08-08T22:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T22:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848467\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T22:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T22:54:15","slug":"trump-announces-560-million-loan-for-project-in-tiny-nsw-country-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848467\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump announces $560 million loan for project in tiny NSW country town"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump<\/a> has announced the Pentagon<\/a> will invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a rare earths mine in Australia.<\/p>\n

The mine in Fifield, NSW, west of Dubbo, will be the first mine primarily focused on scandium, an element used in spacecraft and fighter jets.<\/p>\n

\"Sunrise<\/p>\n

Sunrise Energy Metals is planning a scandium mine in Fifield, NSW.\u00a0Sunrise Energy Metals<\/p>\n

The US President announced the $560 million loan to Sunrise Energy Metals, the Melbourne-based company building the mine.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon\u2019s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) said the project would \u201censure Western alignment from mine to finished product\u201d.<\/p>\n

Currently, most of the world\u2019s scandium is sourced from China<\/a>, Russia <\/a>and Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, securing our critical minerals supply chain is a top national security priority,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contemplated Sunrise transaction marks a significant step in establishing supply chain resiliency for an increasingly critical mineral.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US buys nearly all the world\u2019s scandium.<\/p>\n

\u201cScandium has long been one of the world\u2019s most overlooked minerals, but that is rapidly changing,\u201d a statement from Sunrise Energy Metals read.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernments and manufacturers around the world are working to reduce reliance on geopolitically volatile supply chains for rare earths and critical minerals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

Donald Trump looks up at the chandeliers as he speaks at a roundtable on the American mining industry.\u00a0AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are increasingly focusing on securing reliable sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project is set to more than triple current Western scandium supply.<\/p>\n

The investment would make for a colossal change in the town of Fifield, a former gold rush town<\/a> with a population of 128.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s announcement was made as part of a suite of investments in the mining industry from the US government.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump holds a solid gold replica of a deep sea nodule he was gifted during a roundtable on American mining on Friday.\u00a0AP Photo\/Allison Robbert<\/p>\n

\u201cHillary Clinton<\/a> wanted the miners to learn how to make chips\u2014little tiny chips with their big strong hands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted to be in the mines. That\u2019s what they want to do. They don\u2019t want to do anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Sunrise Energy Metals mine will largely benefit Australian workers, most of the other projects were based in America.<\/p>\n

At the event, Trump was gifted a piece of gold by one of the guests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is so valuable. People have no idea how valuable,\u201d he said of the gold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump has announced the Pentagon will invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a rare earths mine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-848467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}