David Fraser felt like he was well ahead of the curve. RZ Resources, the Brisbane-based rare earths play where he is executive chairman, was already in line for some serious largesse from the Export-Import Bank of the United States: $660 million in financing for its mineral sands project.
The Export-Import Bank is the agency that the Trump administration this week tasked with overseeing Project Vault, a $US12 billion ($17.3 billion) critical minerals stockpile that it hopes will break a reliance on Chinese production and processing of commodities that are key to the manufacturing of everything from smartphones to weapons.