Key points
- Sunrise Energy Metals (SREMF), traded in Australia as ASX: SRL, got a $400 million conditional loan commitment from the Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital on August 7, 2026, to build out its Syerston scandium project in New South Wales.
- Foreign producers handle about 80% of global scandium mining and nearly 100% of processing today, and the deal is meant to close that gap with a mine-to-metal supply chain the Department can draw from first.
- Combined with private capital, the financing is worth close to $1 billion, and it's the third major critical-minerals loan from the same office this year, after $725 million to Energy Fuels and $500 million to Phoenix Tailings, both in June.
The Department of War (the Pentagon's name since a 2025 rename) signed a $400 million conditional loan commitment with Sunrise Energy Metals (SREMF) on August 7, 2026, through its Office of Strategic Capital, to fund the buildout of the company's scandium operations in Australia.
Sunrise is an Australian company, listed on the ASX as SRL, that owns the Syerston project in New South Wales. Scandium sits throughout the Earth's crust in low concentrations, and today it only comes out of the ground as a byproduct of other mining. No primary scandium mine exists anywhere in the world, and foreign producers, mainly China, handle about 80% of global scandium mining and nearly 100% of processing.
Syerston is a high-grade scandium deposit. Sunrise plans to use the $400 million financing, alongside private capital, to build out mining there first, then add metallization and additive-layer manufacturing so the metal stays in Western hands from mine to finished part. The commitment gives the Department a right of first offer on Sunrise's output, which the company says will help supply U.S. defense contractors along with sectors like data centers, semiconductors and automotive.
David A. Lorch, Director of the Office of Strategic Capital and Senior Advisor to Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg, said the deal marks a "significant step in establishing supply chain resiliency for an increasingly critical mineral." He added that the transaction, worth nearly $1 billion once private capital is included, would "help address foreign dependencies in scandium supply and facilitate scandium's use in critical defense and commercial applications."
Asad Akram, Managing Director and Co-Head of Critical Minerals at OSC, said Sunrise's deposit "will support strategic sectors in both national and economic security, with the capability to secure and expand both compute capacity and enhanced capabilities of modern fighter aircraft."
Peter B. Zuckerman, Senior Managing Director at OSC, called it "a decisive step toward creating a U.S.-aligned scandium value chain, ensuring our warfighters and manufacturers no longer depend on adversaries." He said the office is "conducting active due diligence on additional opportunities" beyond Sunrise.
Third big critical-minerals loan this year
OSC has signed two other big critical-minerals loans this year: $725 million to Energy Fuels (UUUU) in June to scale domestic rare earth processing, and $500 million to Phoenix Tailings the same month for a new U.S. rare earth separation and metallization plant, a deal also worth close to $1 billion once private capital was added. Further back, the Department put $400 million directly into MP Materials (MP) in July 2025, taking convertible preferred equity and warrants that made it MP's largest shareholder.
OSC says it has committed more than $8.4 billion in debt financing in fiscal 2026 alone, and has helped mobilize $17.8 billion in total public and private capital for the domestic industrial base.
The wider rare-earth and critical-minerals group traded higher the same day. MP Materials closed up 7.58%, and USA Rare Earth (USAR) gained 11.03%, though USAR's move also lined up with investors positioning ahead of its second-quarter earnings report due after the close on August 10. Both are Friday's regular-session close, compared with Thursday's. Sunrise itself trades on Australian hours, so its own reaction to the OSC announcement won't show up until the ASX opens.
John Gallagher, Co-Head of Critical Minerals at OSC, said the deal is meant to keep the materials "required for the future success of commercial and defense industries" under what he called "sovereign control." The conditional commitment still has to clear standard financial, legal and technical requirements before it reaches a final close.
