Ivanhoe Mines Founder and Executive Co-Chairman Robert Friedland meets with U.S. President Donald J. Trump at the White House for the launch of Project Vault, a $12 billion strategic critical minerals stockpile
February 3, 2026
Ivanhoe Mines Founder and Executive Co-Chairman Robert
Friedland meets with U.S. President Donald J. Trump at the
White House for the launch of Project Vault, a $12 billion
strategic critical minerals stockpile
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Ivanhoe Mines, Gécamines and Mercuria in advanced
discussions to supply the United States with critical minerals
produced by Kipushi Mine
WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN)
(OTCQX: IVPAF) Executive Co-Chairman Robert Friedland joined the President of
the United States of America Donald J. Trump for the launch of Project Vault, a
$12 billion domestic critical minerals stockpile. Ivanhoe Mines is in advanced
discussions with Gécamines, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) state-
owned mining company, as well as metals and energy trading firm, Mercuria, to
supply to the United States with critical minerals contained within the concentrate
produced by the ultra-high-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-lead-germanium-gallium
mine located in the DRC.
Project Vault is a United States supply chain security initiative set up to build a
reserve of strategic critical minerals. The initiative is set to combine $1.67 billion
in private capital with a $10 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United
States that will procure and store critical minerals in the United States for civilian
use.
Project Vault was officially launched on February 2, 2026 in the Oval Office at the
White House, in Washington DC, during a press conference hosted by President
Trump. In attendance from the mining and manufacturing industries were Ivanhoe
Mines’ Founder and Executive Co-Chairman Robert Friedland and General
Motors’ Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra.
The presidential delegation in attendance included Secretary of Commerce
Howard Lutnick, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Treasury
Scott Bessent, and other senior members of the House and Senate. In addition,
Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, John
Jovanovic, and David J. Copley, Special Assistant to the President and Senior
Director at the National Security Council, were also in attendance.
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Watch the video of Ivanhoe Mines Founder and Executive Co-
Chairman during the Project Vault press conference inside the
Oval Office at the White House:
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1161347538
Link to the full press conference:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/videos/president-trump-participates-
in-signing-time-feb-2-2026/
Ivanhoe Mines, Gécamines and Mercuria in advanced discussions for
the offtake of Kipushi zinc concentrate, which includes critical
minerals including germanium and gallium, to U.S. markets
Advanced discussions are underway between Ivanhoe Mines and its partner in
the Kipushi Mine, Gécamines, together with existing offtaker Mercuria Energy
Trading SA (Mercuria) of Geneva, Switzerland. Under the proposed agreement,
Mercuria’s current offtake of Kipushi’s zinc concentrate will be assigned to the
trading division of Gécamines, in addition to excess volumes generated following
the successful debottlenecking and ramp-up of Kipushi’s concentrator in Q4
2025.
The 2026 production guidance for the Kipushi Mine is set at 240,000 to 290,000
tonnes of zinc concentrate. Concentrate produced by the Kipushi Mine also
includes significant quantities of germanium and gallium, two highly strategic
critical minerals. Gécamines has the potential to be responsible for the sale of up
to 50% of the Kipushi Mine’s concentrate production, including to the U.S., where
plans to build a new major base metals and critical minerals smelter is underway.
As announced on December 15, 2025, Korea Zinc and the U.S. Government
announced a $7.4 billion investment for a new state-of-the-art integrated smelter
complex to be built as a public-private partnership in Clarksville, Tennessee.
The Kipushi Mine’s 2018 Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources estimated
11.78 million tonnes, grading 35.34% zinc, 0.80% copper, 23 grams per tonne (g/t)
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silver and 64 g/t germanium, at a 7% zinc cut-off. Kipushi’s Mineral Resources
contain an estimated 9.2 billion pounds of zinc, 8.7 million ounces of silver and
24.4 million ounces of germanium. When Kipushi’s Mineral Resource was
estimated in 2018, gallium was assayed but not included in the resource. As
recently as 8 years ago, financial market interest and the prices for critical raw
materials were much lower. That has since changed following the advancement
of AI and big data centers. For example, today’s high-tech semi-conductors
require gallium. Kipushi’s 2025 concentrate assays contain up to 90 g/t of
germanium and up to 70 g/t of gallium.
Germanium is a strategic metal used today in electronic devices, flat-panel
display screens, light-emitting diodes, night-vision devices, optical fibres, optical
lens systems, and solar power arrays.
Gallium is a strategic metal used to manufacture compound semiconductor
wafers for integrated circuits and optoelectronic devices such as laser diodes,
light-emitting diodes, photodetectors, and solar cells.
About Ivanhoe Mines
Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three
principal operations in Southern Africa; the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex in
the DRC, the ultra-high-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine, also in
the DRC; and the tier-one Platreef platinum-palladium-nickel-rhodium-gold-
copper mine in South Africa.
Ivanhoe Mines is exploring for copper in its highly prospective, 54-100% owned
exploration licences in the Western Forelands, covering an area over six times
larger than the adjacent Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex, including the high-
grade discoveries in the Makoko District. Ivanhoe is also exploring for new
sedimentary copper discoveries in new horizons including Angola, Kazakhstan,
and Zambia.
Information contact
Follow Robert Friedland (@robert_ivanhoe) and Ivanhoe Mines (@IvanhoeMines_)
on X.
Investors
Tommy Horton: +44 7866 913 207 (London)
Media
Tanya Todd: +1 604 331 9834 (Vancouver)
Website: www.ivanhoemines.com
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