usa rare earths CEO Barbara Hampton met with Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick a month after taking the helm of a major minerals startup and pitching its assets to the federal government.
Hampton and Lutnick’s November 2025 conversation would ultimately lead to a proposed deal that would provide USA Rare Earths with approximately $1.6 billion in funding and a U.S. government stake in the company, subject to certain conditions.
In an exclusive interview with CNBC’s Brian Sullivan on Monday, the CEO offered rare insight into how the federal government plans to invest in mining companies and aims to reduce America’s dependence on China.
“One of my first objectives was to help the U.S. government understand the assets that we manage and how it fits into the various problems that the government is urgently addressing,” Hampton said in an interview with CNBC.
experienced executive
Hampton, who took over the reins of USA Rare Earths in October, is an experienced executive who has led the company. siemens usa 7 years. She was also an executive at a defense contractor. booze allen hamilton and lockheed martin Early in her career.
The deal disclosed Monday sent USA Rare Earths’ stock price soaring 29%, before returning to an increase of about 7%. The agreement could make U.S. rare earths the second leg of the rare earth supply chain that the Trump administration is building. The Department of Defense has signed a landmark agreement with MP material Last summer’s deal included an equity stake, a price floor and a long-term contract to buy certain amounts of rare earth minerals and magnets.
The proposed agreement with U.S. Rare Earths does not include price floors or offtake agreements.
USA Rare Earths plans to bring online a magnet manufacturing facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in the first quarter of 2026 and begin commercial mining at a rare earth deposit called Round Top in Sierra Blanca, Texas, in late 2028.
Hampton said Lutnick asked during the November meeting what it would take for U.S. Rare Earths to scale up its program faster. An interministerial meeting with the company was subsequently held, she said.
“We got to work right away,” the CEO said. “In fact, the Department of Commerce led the whole-of-government effort. We had a really first meeting at the Pentagon with the Department of the Army, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Commerce itself.”
The Commerce Department’s chips and science law team then “kicked into high gear to figure out how to scale this business and move at breakneck speed to identify the transformational opportunities before us,” Hampton said.
Hampton, a math major at Wake Forest, said the United States is “looking for economic interests in business, not governance interests.” The Department of Commerce tied the deal to a significant milestone for U.S. rare earths.
USA Rare Earths first needed to secure at least $500 million in funding from private sources. Hampton said the company ultimately raised $1.5 billion in private equity investment (PIPE) funding and met its goal. He said the federal government will closely track the progress of USA Rare Earth’s business plan as it disburses funds in phases.
“If we don’t progress, we won’t get the funding, but as we progress, we’ll have the support of the American people to quickly build the assets we need for economic security,” Hampton told CNBC.
Manufacturing challenges
However, USA Rare Earths will face challenges in ramping up manufacturing facilities and building mines. Round Top has been the subject of investor speculation for decades, but was never developed into a commercial property.
USA Rare Earths warned investors on Monday that it risks not being able to turn Round Top into a “producing mine.” The project “may be delayed or may not result in commercial mineral extraction,” the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
But Hampton was confident during the interview that Round Top would eventually develop. Mineral extraction methods are advancing, and the USA Rare Earths team is progressing from simulation to bench testing to pilot operations, she said.
“We know the chemical reaction works and we are currently building a demonstration facility,” the CEO said. “So towards the beginning of this year, we’ll be able to see the results as we bring the samples off the mountain and actually process them,” she said.
