US government pours cold water on Critical Metals deal

[Ben Graham]

The US government has shot down reports that it is considering buying a stake in Critical Metals (NASDAQ: CRML), the company developing one of the world’s largest rare earth resources in Greenland.

The Trump administration is not currently considering a deal that would see it take a stake in Critical Metals, a White House official stated on Monday, as first reported by Bloomberg.

On Friday, Reuters reported that Washington had been in talks over an equity investment in the New York-based company while it was completing a deal to buy a 5% stake in Lithium Americas (TSX, NYSE: LAC), developer of a large lithium project in Nevada.

That report, together with Critical Metals’ announcement of a new institutional investor, sent the company’s shares flying during after-hours trading and into Monday. At one point, the stock had more than doubled from its Friday closing price of $8.14 to an all-time high $16.88 apiece.

By midday, Critical Metals traded at $11.70 for a market capitalization of $1.1 billion, as some investors had taken profits following the White House statement.

According to Reuters, the company had been one of “hundreds of companies” in the critical minerals sector that had approached the US government for investment, and a deal would have converted its $50 million federal grant into an approximate 8% equity stake for Washington.

Critical Metals’ Tanbreez project ranks amongst the largest rare earth projects on Earth, containing at least 45 million tonnes in resources, hosted within a massive kakortokite unit that has largely been underexplored to date.