Why the U.S. government is pouring millions into a Montana mining company

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+ Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Why the U.S. government is pouring millions into a Montana mining company President Trump's visit to China highlights the lock China has on critical and strategic minerals.

+ National Why the U.S. government is pouring millions into a Montana mining company May 11, 20267:08 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered From By Victoria Traxler MONTANA VS CHINA MINING Listen &middot; 3:57 3:57 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5789078/nx-s1-9765845" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript President Trump's visit to China highlights the lock China has on critical and strategic minerals. A big federal investment in Montana mining aims to turn that tide. Sponsor Message AILSA CHANG, HOST: President Trump's visit to China comes at a time when China holds huge economic and strategic leverage over the U.S. That's because China largely controls global access to many critical minerals - minerals that the U.S. military needs in order to function. And that is why a tiny town in Montana is now benefiting from more than $250 million in federal spending. Montana Public Radio's Victoria Traxler reports.

+ (SOUNDBITE OF MACHINERY HUMMING) VICTORIA TRAXLER, BYLINE: Tucked in the darkly forested mountains outside Thompson Falls - population 1,600 - a wide dirt road winds up to a cluster of several weathered green buildings. Inside, plant manager Rob Hill stands next to one of eight furnaces that are roaring with heat, blasting ore into molten metal. ROB HILL: This is what's called sodium antimonate. Just looks like wet sand. We run it with coal and soda ash into this furnace. It's about 60% antimony. TRAXLER: Antimony is needed by the U.S. military for everything from bullets to nuclear bombs, and this is the only place in the United States that produces it. In the next room over, wooden pallets are stacked with dozens of shiny, gray antimony ingots. HILL: There's over a hundred thousand pounds sitting here right now. TRAXLER: This company, called U.S. Antimony, has been quietly puttering along since the 1960s. Now it's in the middle of expanding its production by 500%. In September, it signed a nearly a quarter-billion-dollar contract with the Department of Defense to be its sole antimony supplier. The Defense Department is also now a part owner of U.S. Antimony, investing more than 44 million in the company since last August. GRACELIN BASKARAN: This project is really crucial to the future of America's national security. Seeing it succeed is a priority across the government. That matters. TRAXLER: Gracelin Baskaran is a minerals economist at the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies. BASKARAN: So we first had an understanding that China could weaponize minerals in 2010. China and Japan got into a dispute over a fishing trawler, and in turn, China cut Japan off of rare earth exports. TRAXLER: In 2024, China banned antimony exports to the U.S., and it also used its stockpiles of minerals to flood global markets, drive prices down and smother competition. That caused a cobalt mine in Idaho to shut down just weeks after its ribbon-cutting ceremony in 2022. Since then, the U.S. government has become a lot more directly involved in the U.S. mining industry. BASKARAN: We've used price floors. We've used public procurement. We've used concessional financing. All in an effort to help accelerate projects here at home. But what's funny is that's exactly what China did. We are taking a page out of their playbook. TRAXLER: Baskaran says America's recent efforts to source more critical minerals domestically are a rare example of bipartisan cooperation. President Biden advanced policies put in place by the first Trump administration, and President Trump has taken even more aggressive steps since returning to office. (SOUNDBITE OF MACHINERY HUMMING) TRAXLER: It's changing this part of Thompson Falls, where only about two dozen people have worked at U.S. Antimony until it won the federal support. The company says that number will more than double by the end of the year. Rob Hill has worked here for more than 30 years. HILL: This little backwoods Montana rural company is suddenly a hub of some very, very important materials. And we're a name, and we're not used to that. We really aren't. It's a unique position to be in, for sure. TRAXLER: The company's CEO says it aims to deliver $72 million worth of antimony to the Department of Defense by the end of the year. For NPR News, I'm Victoria Traxler in Thompson Falls, Montana. (SOUNDBITE OF FREDDIE GIBBS & MADLIB SONG, "GAT DAMN (INSTRUMENTAL)") Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1168:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(321)},321:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(82)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1141),c(116),c(95),c(52),c(492),c(239),c(102),c(104),c(1142),c(144),c(1143),c(238),c(48),c(1144)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1168,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();