US invests $2 billion in critical mineral and material supply chains

Article | Aug 13, 2026 | 4 min read

US invests $2 billion in critical mineral and material supply chains

The US government has signed nearly $2 billion in deals looking to strengthen the US’s supply chain security for critical minerals and technologies. The capital takes multiple forms from equity loans to direct investments. The largest is a $1.4 billion conditional loan to Sila Nanotechnologies, a US-based silicon anode company. The company currently operates a facility in Moses Lake, Washington with plans for a second phase of production towards the end of the decade. This latest round of funding builds on the plethora of investments the US has made in the battery and critical mineral space over the course of Donald Trump’s second presidency such as investing in MP Materials’ rare earths project and Ivanhoe Electric’s Santa Cruz copper project. “While the Trump Administration continues to invest in critical minerals, know-how, and strategic technologies to build a mine-to-magnet supply chain, these recent investment announcements also reflect the US ambition to build a next-generation mine-to-battery supply chain to reduce its dependence on China,” said Bryan Bille, Benchmark’s policy and geopolitics principal.

Benchmark opens annual public consultation for comment on its market-leading price assessment methodologies

Article | Aug 05, 2026 | 1 min read

Benchmark opens annual public consultation for comment on its market-leading price assessment methodologies

Following the continued evolution of the lithium ion battery supply chain, and as part of its rolling methodology review process, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence announces the opening of the 2026 annual public consultation period, for comment on Benchmark's market-leading price assessment methodologies for lithium, nickel, cobalt, natural graphite, synthetic graphite, anode, cathode, black mass and rare earths.

Is the US clawing back its EV sales share?

Article | Aug 05, 2026 | 3 min read

Is the US clawing back its EV sales share?

Since the final draft of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, now more than a year ago in July 2025, the outlook for EV Sales in the US had been condemned for 2026. , previous tax credits fading into consumers memories and some new models inbound, is the US EV market starting to show green shoots among the rubble?  The removal of the $7,500 federal tax credit for new EV sales came at the end of September 2025. With public knowledge of the cliff edge in the three months prior, a large ramp up and consequent drop in EV sales was witnessed.   In 2026, the effective price rise across the most popular EV models created an expectation of a near 30% drop in EV sales in our forecast. In the early months of 2026, that trend was very much followed. January sales saw downward movement of 31%, followed by the same again in February. Q1 was rounded out by the comparison deteriorating further, to a low of -35% compared with March 2025. Overall, for the quarter, EV sales were down 32.4%. 

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