US Project Vault lines up $1 billion in loans after first 12,000-tonne copper delivery

• Mercuria has delivered 12,000 metric tonnes of copper from the Democratic Republic of Congo into Project Vault this week, the trader’s global head of metals said on October 15
• the reserve also plans to lend up to US$1 billion to more than a dozen US manufacturers in its first tranche, with a second group of similar size to follow
• the shipment is tied to a Congolese state copper programme sourced from Tenke Fungurume, a mine 80% owned by China’s CMOC

Mercuria has delivered 12,000 metric tonnes of Congolese copper into America’s new “Project Vault” — the clearest evidence yet that Washington’s critical-minerals reserve is accumulating physical metal. And the delivery comes as the reserve prepares up to US$1 billion in loans to American manufacturers.

“Copper from the DRC has gone into the vault this week,” Kostas Bintas, Mercuria’s global head of metals, told the FT Metals and Mining Summit in London on October 15. He did not give the value of the shipment or say where it is being stored.

Bintas said the shipment also formed part of a broader commitment by Congo. In January, state miner Gécamines said it would ship about 100,000 tonnes of copper to the US in 2026 from its 20% share of output at the Tenke Fungurume mine, with financial and logistical support from Mercuria.

Manufacturers, not Washington, choose the minerals

Meanwhile, new loans of US$1 billion are planned, with VaultCo, the company set up to run the reserve in talks with more than 70 firms on both the supply and demand sides of the market, Executive Chairman Brett Lambert told Bloomberg.

“What’s likely to happen is we’ll announce several hundred million dollars, maybe a billion dollars, of loans to OEMs who have requested use of the Vault facility,” Lambert said. “In the first tranche, we’ll have more than a dozen firms, followed by more than a dozen shortly after.”

Even the top of that range would be less than a tenth of the US$12 billion the programme was launched with in February, with a US$10 billion direct loan from the US Export-Import Bank and US$1.67 billion of private capital.

Project Vault works, unlike the Pentagon’s National Defense Stockpile, with manufacturers paying up-front fees and committing to buy materials later at a specified inventory price, as well as a carrying cost for interest and storage. EXIM named Clarios, GE Vernova, Western Digital and Boeing among early participants; the first loan recipients will not be named.

Lambert said requests extend beyond raw minerals to specific magnets, powders and alloys, which makes the copper delivery notable as it is a widely traded base metal, not the processed material where China’s control is greatest.

Traders are buying, and the source is Chinese-controlled

The buying is being done by commodity traders. On September 23, Glencore and Mercuria each committed US$500 million, as we reported when the US critical minerals reserve added US$1 billion through the two traders.

Notably, Tenke Fungurume is 80% owned by China’s CMOC, with Gécamines holding 20%. Bintas did not name the mine behind this week’s 12,000 tonnes. But if it is Gécamines’ Tenke Fungurume copper, as the Reuters report implies, the reserve’s first disclosed metal diverts Congolese state-marketed copper from a Chinese-controlled mine to the US.

In other words, the delivery plan does not add new mine supply, or supply from US or allied producers. As we warned in 2024, US stockpiling was incoming — but it could lead to significant market distortions:

“The creation of a US national stockpile, coupled with China’s ongoing stockpiling efforts, could lead to a sustained increase in demand for critical minerals, including a floor for prices… as well as increased stockpiling efforts may compound existing pressures, heightening the risk of short-term price volatility and market destabilization” — The Oregon Group, Can the US match China’s critical mineral stockpiles?

VaultCo says it will withhold the quantities it plans to buy to avoid moving prices in small, illiquid markets. Mercuria’s disclosure is the exception, and it shows traders will buy from whatever source is available.