US government backs $5B investment in Brazilian rare earths to break China’s grip

China controls roughly 60% of the world’s rare earth mining and an even larger share of processing. For years, that dominance has been a quiet anxiety in Washington. Now, with nearly $5 billion flowing toward a single mine in Brazil’s Goiás state, the anxiety has become a strategy. The project at the center of this is the Pela Ema mine, operated by Serra Verde, which sits on one of the few significant rare earth deposits outside Chinese jurisdiction. The scale of US backing being assembled around it is unlike anything seen before in critical minerals finance. How $5 billion gets built The money is coming from several directions at once. The US International Development Finance Corporation, the DFC, approved financing for Serra Verde that started at $465 million and was later raised to $565 million, covering expansions and ongoing operations. In August 2026, the US Department of War pledged $750 million as the first tranche of a larger $1.55 billion financing package for the project. The Defense Logistics Agency is separately receiving $300 million of that commitment to facilitate access to mixed rare-earth carbonates, the raw material form of these elements before they are separate...