Pentagon Credit Office Launches Fund-Level Loan Program for Critical Minerals

Overview

• The Office of Strategic Capital announced the National Security Fund Finance program to provide fund-level loans to investment managers that will combine those loans with private funds to finance companies working on critical minerals supply-chain gaps.
• OSC said it will publish a formal Notice of Funding Opportunity imminently and that applications will open once the NOFO is posted on its website.
• The program is designed to ‘crowd in’ private capital to rebuild domestic processing and mining capacity that officials say are vital inputs for defense systems and the industrial base.
• OSC will use existing credit authorities and a partner arrangement with the Small Business Administration to structure federally backed loans alongside private investments.
• Congress provided funding for OSC’s critical-minerals work through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Donald J. Trump, and NSFF joins OSC’s other financing tools aimed at shipbuilding, microelectronics, and energy infrastructure.