{"id":5714,"date":"2026-01-13T13:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T13:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/13\/pentagon-deal-seeks-to-create-first-large-scale-us-gallium-facility\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T13:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T13:40:15","slug":"pentagon-deal-seeks-to-create-first-large-scale-us-gallium-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/13\/pentagon-deal-seeks-to-create-first-large-scale-us-gallium-facility\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon Deal Seeks to Create First Large-scale US Gallium Facility"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The Trump administration is considering a direct equity stake in a Louisiana-based refinery to establish what officials say would become the only large-scale producer of gallium in the US. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Department of Defense is set to invest US$150 million in preferred equity in Atlantic Alumina, known as ATALCO, as part of a strategic partnership with an affiliate of Pinnacle Asset Management, according to Bloomberg.<\/p>\n

The unannounced deal will fund an expansion of ATALCO\u2019s alumina output and the construction of a new circuit to recover gallium, a critical metal used in military systems and advanced semiconductors.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, ATALCO will pair the Pentagon\u2019s investment with an additional US$300 million from Pinnacle. The US government is also expected to provide additional funding within 30 days of the transaction\u2019s closing.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis strategic partnership is an essential step in reducing reliance on foreign nations for critical minerals,\u201d ATALCO said.<\/p>\n

Once fully built out, the facility is expected to produce more than 1 million metric tons of alumina annually and up to 50 metric tons of gallium per year. Gallium is typically recovered as a by-product of alumina refining, and China currently dominates both global alumina processing and gallium supply.<\/p>\n

ATALCO has operated continuously since the late 1950s at its refinery in Gramercy, Louisiana, where it processes Jamaican bauxite into alumina, a fine white powder used in aluminum production. <\/p>\n

After the closure of a neighboring refinery in 2020, the facility became the last alumina refinery of its kind in the country. The company says it currently supplies roughly 40 percent of domestic alumina demand.<\/p>\n

The investment is a continuation of the Trump administration\u2019s shift toward taking direct financial stakes in companies it views as strategically important in its effort to rebuild a domestic supply chain for rare earths and critical minerals.<\/p>\n

Last November, the government backed a US$1.4 billion public-private partnership involving Vulcan Elements and ReElement Technologies, a subsidiary of American Resources (NASDAQ:AREC), to expand domestic rare earth magnet production. <\/p>\n

In October, officials explored taking an equity stake in Critical Metals (NASDAQ:CRML), a US-listed company developing Greenland\u2019s Tanbreez rare earths deposit.<\/p>\n

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on investingnews.com<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration is considering a direct equity stake in a Louisiana-based refinery to establish what officials say would become the only large-scale producer of gallium in the US. The Department of Defense is set to invest US$150 million in preferred equity in Atlantic Alumina, known as ATALCO, as part of a strategic partnership with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}