The Department of War's Economic Defense Unit (EDU) in partnership with the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment (OUSW(A&S)) today announced a $25 million investment with ReElement Technologies Corp. to expand domestic refining capacity for rare earth elements and other defense-critical minerals at the company's Marion, Indiana facility. This investment will strengthen the U.S. industrial base by securing domestic access to materials essential for advanced defense systems, aerospace components, and secure communications.
"Strengthening our domestic refining capacity for rare earth elements and other critical minerals is a national security imperative," said HON Michael Cadenazzi, Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy. "Executed by the Economic Defense Unit (EDU) and financed by the OASW(IBP) Industrial Base Fund, this investment actively rebuilds a domestic, mine-to-magnet supply chain. This effort guarantees the joint force has reliable access to the critical materials required for advanced defense systems."
The Department of War is funding equipment, installation, and working capital to help ReElement expand its production lines. The effort will focus on processing end-of-life magnets and other recycled materials to produce high-purity rare earth oxides, yttrium, gadolinium, germanium, and gallium.
The effort reflects the successful partnership between OUSW(A&S) and EDU. The ability to identify industrial bottlenecks, combined with commercial-sector best practices, enables the rapid execution of agreements that continue to enhance national security and military might.
"Critical minerals are fundamental to sustaining our warfighting capacity," said George K. Kollitides II, Director of the Economic Defense Unit. "The Economic Defense Unit was created to act quickly and decisively to address economic vulnerabilities and strengthen our military advantage. This agreement helps secure domestic capacity, protect the industrial base behind the warfighter, and ensure the United States has reliable access to the materials that make deterrence credible and military advantage possible."
The agreement includes robust safeguards to protect U.S. interests, including restrictions on transactions with foreign entities of concern. This $25 million investment reflects the Department's performance-driven approach: pairing targeted government support with private-sector execution to move critical industrial capabilities from concept to production at the speed of relevance.