Highlights

• Washington is directing EXIM and DFC financing toward African rare earth projects.
• Harena's Madagascar mine is receiving $143M.
• Pensana's Angola refinery is supported by a $160M EXIM loan.
• Both Harena and Pensana are pursuing U.S. listings to access American capital markets.
• Pensana's Longonjo project targets production of 20,000 tonnes annually by 2027.
• Harena's Ampasindava aims for 5,000 tonnes by 2028.
• This positions Africa as a strategic counterweight to China's refining and magnet supply dominance.
• U.S. state-backed financial support is turning African rare earth diversification from policy ideal to operational reality.
• Africa has the potential to become America's most important non-Chinese rare earth partner by decade's end.

The United States is accelerating its diversification strategy with fresh capital flowing into African rare earth ventures, signaling that Washington sees the continent as an essential counterweight to China’s entrenched dominance. Harena Rare Earths (opens in a new tab) and Pensana Rare Earths (opens in a new tab), both London-listed, are now pursuing U.S. listings—Harena on the OTCQB and Pensana targeting Nasdaq in 2026—aiming to tap deep American demand for strategic mineral exposure. The timing is no accident: the U.S. government is actively directing financing tools such as EXIM and DFC toward African supply chains to secure magnet-grade feedstock beyond China’s orbit.

Harena’s Ampasindava project in Madagascar (opens in a new tab), requiring $143 million to develop a 5,000-tonne-per-year TREO mine by 2028, has already drawn strong U.S. investor attention. In Angola, Pensana’s Longonjo development (opens in a new tab) is further along, with construction underway and ambitions to deliver 20,000 tonnes of mixed rare earth carbonate annually starting in 2027. Pensana’s request for a $160 million EXIM loan, combined with its partnership with magnet producer VAC, positions Longonjo as a potential anchor in a future U.S.-Africa NdPr supply corridor as covered by Rare Earth Exchanges. For both companies, suggests Ecofin Agency, (opens in a new tab) access to American capital markets offers a broader investor base and the possibility of financing terms difficult to secure in Europe alone.

Behind these individual moves lies a bigger trend: Washington is increasingly leveraging federal finance to cultivate African rare earth capacity, from Madagascar to South Africa’s Phalaborwa project, backed by DFC. The U.S. is no longer treating diversification as a policy ideal—it is mobilizing state-backed financial firepower to challenge Beijing’s dominance in refining and magnet supply.

If projects like Ampasindava and Longonjo reach steady production, could Africa emerge as the United States’ most important non-Chinese rare earth partner by the end of the decade?  The unfolding dynamic, assuming execution and frankly consistent policy out of Washington, D.C., will ultimately reshape global supply chains that have long run through China.

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