By Melanie Burton MELBOURNE, Feb 4 (Reuters) – An Australian scandium project backed by mining billionaire Robert Friedland expects to contribute to a planned $12 billion U.S. critical minerals stockpile, the company's CEO said in Washington ahead of a global meeting on the sector. U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans on Monday to launch the strategic stockpile of critical minerals backed by $10 billion in seed funding from the U.S. Export-Import Bank. An additional $2 billion will be funded by private capital. Sam Riggall, the CEO of Sunrise Energy Metals, which is developing the Syerston scandium mine in Australia's New South Wales, said the company will likely contribute to the U.S. strategic inventory, underlining how the U.S. is expected to meet some of its strategic needs from overseas. "We would expect to be part of that stockpile," Riggall told Reuters. Sunrise has in the past six months secured sufficient funding to begin early works for construction, he said. In September, the company secured a letter of interest from the U.S. EXIM bank for $67 million, which has given equity market investors confidence in the project, he said. Scandium as an alloy hardens metals like aluminium for use in the aerospace, defence and automotive sectors. Friedland, the billionaire founder of Ivanhoe Mines, is the co-chair of Sunrise and attended the Oval Office announcement on Monday. Trump's announcement foreshadowed a meeting on critical minerals planned on Wednesday that will gather ministers from 50 countries in Washington to discuss how to strengthen global supply chains for the metals. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host the meeting as the U.S. looks to progress critical minerals agreements with a raft of nations beyond those existing with countries including Australia and Japan. The meeting and the planned U.S. stockpile are part of measures to secure a Western supply chain of the minerals that are critical to industries including high-tech materials, aerospace and defence, but are vulnerable to disruptions as production is dominated by China. Australia's Resources Minister Madeleine King, who is in Washington for the roundtable, told media on Tuesday that she expects the country to take a leading role in supplying the resources, for which she was seeking international funding for nearly 80 projects. "The Australian Government stands here ready to work with the U.S. and our other partners to develop this industry in our national interest, but also in the interests of partners around the world," she said. SYERSTON MINE Sunrise's Syerston mine is positioned to contribute to Australian and U.S. plans to increase their mineral stockpiles. The mine will have initial capacity of 60 metric tons a year of scandium oxide and is set to start production in the first half of 2028 with expansion studies underway, Riggall said. Australia has already said that it will build a critical minerals reserve and Riggall said he expected more jurisdictions to do the same. "Absolutely, there are going to be multiple stockpiles globally," he added. China, Japan and Korea already hold such reserves, with some intended expansions, while the EU has said it would launch a stockpiling plan this year. (Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Stephen Coates and Christian Schmollinger)
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