Washington, D.C., June 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Deep in a stretch of diplomatic activity most Americans never saw, more than fifty nations met in Washington with one goal: to rebuild the global market for critical minerals without relying on China. Former government advisor Jim Rickards released a new free presentation that says the effort points straight back home to one overlooked American deposit.
The Gathering
At the February 2026 Critical Minerals Ministerial, the United States and partner nations signed new bilateral frameworks and memorandums of understanding, announced federal financing for strategic minerals projects, and launched a Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement (FORGE). Rickards frames it as the international counterpart to domestic policy.
The U.S. strategy has leaned increasingly on sovereign wealth and government backed capital, including the Orion Critical Minerals Consortium formed with Abu Dhabi's sovereign fund in October 2025. He reads the mix of diplomacy and finance as a coordinated push to bypass a single dominant supplier.
The urgency behind that coordination shows up in the underlying numbers. China accounts for roughly 91% of global rare-earth separation and refining, and was the leading refiner for 19 of 20 strategic minerals in a 2025 IEA assessment. A market that concentrated is precisely what fifty-plus nations were gathering to change.
What It Could Mean Domestically
The summit did not happen in isolation. Running alongside the international push is a domestic one. Executive orders are directing federal agencies to speed up permitting for critical mineral projects. Bipartisan legislation is moving through Congress to simplify the environmental review process. And the federal government has begun taking direct equity stakes in American mining companies. Rickards sees these as connected moves, not separate ones.
His read is that the minerals fifty plus nations are racing to secure abroad are, in many cases, already sitting inside U.S. borders. They have been held back by decades of regulation that is now being steadily rolled back. Rickards points to one American deposit he believes is the largest of its kind anywhere in the world. It holds an estimated $2.7 trillion in gold, silver, copper, and other metals critical to defense and technology. A small company with full rights to the site currently trades for under $2 per share. Rickards believes it is next in line for the kind of government attention that has already moved other mining stocks sharply higher.
Why It Matters to You
When dozens of governments coordinate to rebuild an entire market, the effort rarely stops at signed agreements, it moves capital, and capital at that scale reshapes which assets are valuable. The reason it reaches ordinary investors is that the supply chains being rerouted run through the everyday economy: the same minerals sit inside the technology, defense, and energy companies that make up a large share of broad-market funds.
For an ordinary investor, then, the question is the downstream one: as this realignment funds new supply outside China, which U.S. resources stand to gain, and how would someone recognize them before they become obvious?
About the Presentation
Rickards lays out the full picture in a free presentation now available online. Click here to watch.
About Jim Rickards and Paradigm Press
Jim Rickards has advised the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the White House, and the Department of Defense across five decades in government and finance. He played a direct role in shaping the Petrodollar Accord under Nixon, worked inside Reagan-era hostage negotiations with Iran, and consulted with Federal Reserve officials during the Long-Term Capital Management crisis. He later built financial threat-detection systems for the CIA and designed the Pentagon's first financial war games. In 2007, he delivered formal testimony to the U.S. Treasury warning of the structural vulnerabilities that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
Paradigm Press is one of the most widely read independent financial research publishers in the United States, rated 4.8 stars on Google across more than 1,900 reviews. Free from advertiser influence, Paradigm Press is committed to helping everyday Americans understand the forces shaping their wealth.
Derek Warren Public Relations Manager Paradigm Press Group Email: dwarren@paradigmpressgroup.com
