Know which mineral projects just got funded, before your competitors do.
The US is rebuilding its rare-earth and critical-minerals supply chain, and federal money is moving fast. We track the companies that just won funding, a federal award, an offtake or magnet deal, or a permit. Each week we hand the firms who staff and supply them a clean, verified list.
Built for mining and rare-earth recruiters, services and equipment vendors, EPCM firms, and processors.
Issue 021 · Oct 26
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Federal figures from DOE, NETL, and EXIM announcements.
The build-out we track, live
A map of the real rare-earth, lithium, and critical-minerals projects we monitor. Filter by commodity, and click any project for its scale, funding, and status.
Curated, verified sample; figures from company filings, DOE, NETL, EXIM, and trade press. Circle size indicates relative scale, not exact output.
Know the elements behind it
What each rare earth and critical mineral is used for, how dependent the US is on imports, and which projects we track are bringing it onshore. Click any element.
Uses are established industry facts; import reliance from USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026. USGS reports the heavy rare earths at 100% in 2025, and scandium and yttrium at 100% in chapters of their own. Its rare-earths group figure, 67% for compounds and metals, covers the lanthanides as a whole, so we show it on the elements with no separate chapter.
From mine to magnet, and where the gap is
A rare earth is useless until it becomes a magnet. This is the path from rock to motor, and where the US is strong, building, or still short. Click any stage.
China-share figures from Mining Technology; US production and project facts from USGS and company filings.
What we track
The public sources that precede a hire or a purchase in this sector, including the long-tail government data most lists ignore.
- Funding. DOE and NETL awards, EXIM letters of interest, Commerce CHIPS support, private financings.
- Filings. EDGAR and SEDAR+ filings, and NI 43-101 technical reports from juniors and mid-caps.
- Projects. State mining and reclamation permits, MSHA new mine IDs, USGS resource data.
- Deals. Offtake agreements, magnet and separation MOUs, and joint ventures.
- Hiring. Job postings and hiring spikes at operators, separation plants, and magnet makers.
- Coverage. Rare earths, lithium, copper, nickel, cobalt, gallium, scandium, germanium, and coal-derived critical minerals.
Who it's for
We serve the firms selling into the domestic build-out. Today that is projects across states, every one of them on the map above with its operator, funding and status.
Mining & metallurgical recruiters
A funded or permitting operator is about to hire mining, metallurgical, separation, geological, and processing engineers. That is a client you can pitch today.
Services & drilling firms
of the projects we track involve a mine. They need drilling, assay, and field services while the work is being scoped, not after it is awarded.
Equipment & processing vendors
involve a plant or refinery, buying crushing, separation, hydrometallurgy, magnet, and handling equipment.
EPCM & permitting consultants
Engineering, procurement, and environmental and permitting firms looking for projects entering the design and approval phase.
The weekly brief
Upstream Signals Weekly is our free, sourced read on the U.S. critical-minerals, rare-earth, and coal build-out. Read the latest issue, then get it in your inbox.
This week: Copper World is sanctioned, and the first money moves now
Plus the first U.S. seabed-minerals auction getting a November 19 date and a local-content stipulation; a rare-earth separation plant picking Rochester, New York; helium designated a critical material; and three job boards read the same evening, carrying 162 postings between them.
Free, weekly, and sourced. The downloadable PDF links every claim to its primary source.
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Read it free, pay for the registry
The weekly brief is free and always will be. Behind it sits the registry: every signal we log in a week, one row each, sourced and linked to the document it came from. In the sample week that ran to thirty-four signals, and eleven of them reached the brief. Signals Desk adds the engineers' analysis of what a filing actually commits a project to.
- The weekly narrative brief, the week's signals that make a story
- Every item sourced and linked to a public primary
- Published here to read, and emailed if you want it
- The full back archive, free, no paywall
- The complete weekly ledger. Every signal we find, not the handful the brief prints.
- All commodities, sortable by state, stage and signal type, every row linked to its public source
- The searchable archive since Issue 001, plus the forward deadline calendar of what closes and when
- A spreadsheet in your inbox, every week
- Everything in Signals Ledger
- The signed-off brief. Our engineers read the filings and write what each one actually commits a project to. Written and reviewed by two licensed engineers.
- Alerts between issues on a watchlist you choose
- Delivered as a spreadsheet and a written brief
- One-off targeted lists built to your spec
- Weekly monitoring retainers
- A read on a specific project or document, on request
- Done for you
Who reads the filings?
Mining engineers do. The signals come from the public record: federal dockets, securities filings, agency notices, company releases. Every Desk brief is written by one licensed professional engineer and reviewed by another before it goes out, judging which commitments are real, which have slipped, and what that means for hiring and orders.
No contact data, at any tier, by design. We publish signals from public business records. We do not collect or sell personal contact details, so nothing here puts you on the wrong side of privacy or anti-spam rules.
Cancel anytime. Monthly plans end at the close of the billing month, no contract. We email a reminder before any annual renewal.
Try it first. Ask for a free sample and we will send you the most recent completed week's ledger, one per person.
Coal is becoming a rare-earth feedstock, and almost no one is tracking it for you.
The US imported about 67% of its refined rare earths in 2025, while domestic coal, coal waste, and coal ash are being reconsidered as a strategic source. DOE and NETL are funding the build-out, and operators are moving. Ramaco Resources, for example, has targeted roughly tripling planned rare-earth and critical-mineral oxide output at its Brook Mine in Wyoming. It has also signed offtake MOUs with magnet makers. Coal sits between mining and power, and we cover that seam directly.
Questions
Do you cover rare earth elements specifically?
Yes. Rare earths are our marquee category, light and heavy, including neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium, across mining, separation, and the magnet supply chain, alongside the broader critical minerals and coal-derived rare earths.
Where does the data come from?
Every signal we publish is traced to and cited from a public source: SEC and SEDAR+ filings, DOE, NETL, and EXIM funding announcements, state mining and reclamation permits, MSHA and USGS data, company newsrooms, and trade press. We may use paid industry tools to find and cross-check leads, but we do not republish subscriber-only content, and we never use confidential or non-public information.
How is this different from the big intelligence platforms?
Platforms like the large mining-data providers are built for investors and major operators at enterprise prices. We are built for the recruiters and vendors who staff and supply the sector, every signal sourced to a public document, and priced for a small team.
Do you cover coal?
Yes. Coal sits between mining and power and is increasingly a rare-earth feedstock, so it is a core part of our coverage, including the coal-to-rare-earth projects DOE is funding.
Do you provide people’s personal contact details?
No, at any tier. Our lists cover companies, projects and public filings, and every row links to the public document it came from. We do not compile, sell, or deliver the personal contact details of named individuals.
Get a free sample list
Tell us your commodity, rare earths, a specific critical mineral, or coal, and who you sell to or recruit for. We will send a short, real sample so you can judge the quality before paying anything.
Email us your targetOr book a 15-minute call to scope it together.