Credit: Philip Gostelow via Getty Images.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has offered $786m (A$1.14bn) in debt funding to support two Australian companies to develop critical minerals supply chains.  

Australian mineral resources company American Rare Earths announced on Tuesday (24 September) that it received a letter of interest from EXIM for a $456m debt funding package to support the construction and operation of the Cowboy State Mine (CSM) area at Halleck Creek in Wyoming.  

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Melissa Sanderson, one of American Rare Earths’ board of directors, explained that the company is hopeful the debt funding package will help attract additional private funding for the CSM project.  

The funding package was offered under EXIM’s Make More In America Initiative and has a proposed repayment tenor of 15 years. 

On the same day, Australian critical minerals company Anson announced that EXIM offered $330m to the company to finance the construction of a lithium production plant in the Paradox Basin in Utah.  

Bruce Richardson, Anson Rescources’ executive chairman and CEO, said: “We are delighted to receive this letter of interest from US EXIM following extensive collaboration with multiple government and industry stakeholders in the United States. 

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“The United States seeks to develop a domestic and reliable source of critical minerals and the Paradox Basin, which we believe is the largest source of lithium in the United States, has a significant role to play.” 

In August, EXIM offered a similar debt funding package of $600m to Australian Strategic Materials to support the Dubbo rare earths project in New South Wales.  

Last year, the US and Australia established a critical minerals task force designed to attract investment in minerals processing and reduce China’s dominance in the market. The US is also trying to limit China’s semiconductor sector with export bans and by persuading allies to impose similar restrictions.

China currently controls more than 80% of global supply.