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ABOUT RILEY LEWIS
Riley Lewis is the host of The Real Story with Riley Lewis on One America News Network (OAN), a weekday news and commentary program dedicated to covering national issues with a focus on censorship, media bias, and political developments. Lewis joined OAN in December 2022, initially serving as a writer, booker, and guest host before taking on the role of host for The Real Story.
INTERVIEW TOPICS
Why securing domestic critical mineral supply chains has become a national security priority
How technological independence is reshaping U.S. critical minerals strategy
The risks of continued reliance on China for critical minerals and what’s changing now
What this new phase in critical minerals policy means for U.S. industry and defense
How geopolitics and supply chain vulnerabilities are accelerating domestic mineral development
Critical minerals as the foundation of America’s technological and economic future
Transcript below
Riley Lews:
For decades, the US has been asleep at the wheel while our greatest adversaries core the market on the future. And no, I’m not talking about oil. I’m talking about critical minerals. Lithium, cobalt, rare earths. These aren’t just rocks. They are the DNA of Modern Warfare and technology, the backbone of our power grid and the key to every piece of technology that you own. And right now, Communist China has a stranglehold on the supply chains. They, along with Russia, are actively engaging in a race to the bottom, using dirty tactics, state subsidies, and 0 environmental standards to flood the market and kill American competition before it even starts. And why?
Because they want power. Because they want us to be weak. They want us to be dependent and vulnerable. And for too long, Washington has let it happen. But folks, we’ve entered a brand new phase under this administration. This is no longer just about economics. It’s about national security and dominance.
After all, if we can’t build our own missiles, our own computer chips, and our own batteries without asking Beijing for permission, we aren’t truly free. So the take away is it’s time to dig, it’s time to start processing, and it’s time to unleash American producers to secure our nation’s independence once and for all. Now here to talk about this brand new story and this investment into critical rare earth production is Harvey Kay, Executive Chairman of US Critical Minerals. Harvey, thank you for joining me.
Harvey Kaye
Thank you, Redley. And you’ve just about set up the discussion in exactly the correct way. So by the way, US critical materials, sorry to correct.
Riley Lewis
And the Trump administration is fully on this train now, investing tons of taxpayer dollars into bolstering America’s production of rare earths. Could you just tell us how important is this move?
Harvey Kaye
This is the key to the future. And the reason is the key to the future is because, just as you said in your opening, everything depends on the ability to have independence and what we call critical mineral sovereignty for the United States. It is the foundation of artificial intelligence, the new generation of chips.
It is the foundation of the geopolitical situation in terms of tariffs and negotiation. And the Chinese right now have a trump card. But we can change that because President Trump has levelled the playing field. And here’s how.he created an opportunity with executive orders and other governmental moves to make companies such as ourselves viable and to bring this expertise and this talent back to the United States of America.
US Critical Materials has 336 claims covering 11 square miles in a place called Sheep Creek, Montana. What is unique about this deposit is that we are rich in the heavy rare earths which are required for magnets, for chips and for all the defense material requirements as well. And we are very heavy in what is called gallium.
Gallium is a critical mineral. There is none produced in the United States. China has embargoed it a year ago and we are drawing down our stocks. But what is unique and good is that we have the ability to start doing bulk extraction from Sheep Creek in the year 2026 because the administration has made it viable for us to permit to use environmentally friendly methodologies of processing. And by the way, and then I’ll stop, we have developed a relationship with Idaho National Labs, one of our 17 great national labs to utilize our ore to develop for the United States and environmentally benign technology to process rare earths, which is a Chinese advantage. And as you said, they don’t care much about the environment, but we do.
Riley Lewis
Yes, well, the only thing they care about is power. But fire question into your point, how quickly can we bolster production and make sure that we do in fact take care of our security and our future?
Harvey Kaye
which is very interesting question because a while ago I did an interview that was covered in Shanghai and Singapore and they sort of mockingly said, well, Mr. K, isn’t it going to take 15 years to bring your facility online? And I said, and I will repeat, do not bet against America. And I said, and I will repeat, do not bet against America. Do not bet against the fact that with government support, with technological expertise and with the will to become independent again, we will bring this online. We expect to start extraction in 2026. We have the ability to refine, we have the ability to bring gallium to the government and to other users in the latter part of 2026. And to me, that’s of only about 9 months to a year away. So stand by.
When we spoke in front of Congress about three months ago, they said what can we do to help you? And we said help us to move permitting. And the last thing I would say was even though we are all competitors in the field, OK, we are at the end all Americans and to our end, OK, whatever we can do, even if it’s processing other companies or, or them processing our or, we stand united and we know what we need to do. And that’s what we are going to do as a country.
Riley Lewis:
Very well said. And Harvey, what a great point to end on. We’re all in the same boat here. And China doesn’t care which which team or company we’re fighting with. They just care that we’re Americans.
