VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Equity-Insider.com News Commentary — The Department of Energy just launched a pivotal $500 million initiative to fund domestic mineral processing. It is a massive structural shift showing that America is finally moving to fix the midstream bottlenecks that leave US manufacturers exposed to foreign supply shocks^[1]. Concurrently, the 2026 Critical Minerals Ministerial mobilized more than $30 billion in government-backed capital to accelerate local project development and streamline regulatory hurdles^[2]. This wave of scalable investment is rapidly repricing undervalued onshore assets. Positioned directly in the path of this domestic localization thesis are Americore Resources (TSXV: AMCO) (OTCQB: AMCOF), Westwater Resources (NYSE-A: WWR), NioCorp Developments (NASDAQ: NB), Ryerson (NYSE: RYZ), and American Resources Corporation (NASDAQ: AREC) each represent a distinct node in the domestic localization thesis, advancing permitted or near-permitted assets as capital reprices toward onshore supply.

The macro setup here is incredibly strong. S&P Global's February 2026 consensus analysis confirms that industrial metals prices are expected to stay firm, driven by draining supplies in copper, silver, and aluminum just as AI infrastructure demand rapidly accelerates^[3]. Furthermore, new federal funding pathways from the Defense Industrial Base Consortium are actively targeting localized supply chains, confirming that onshore minerals processing is the primary value driver of this cycle^[4]. Smart institutional money is quietly positioning for this domestic buildout, seeking undervalued projects with strategic growth potential.

Americore Resources (TSXV: AMCO) (OTCQB: AMCOF) is moving its wholly owned Trinity Silver Project through a methodical pre-drill checklist in Pershing County, Nevada, and the latest item has been ticked off.

Pioneer Exploration Consultants of Ottawa just wrapped a drone-magnetometer survey spanning roughly 350 line-km across the property, targeting subsurface structures along a six-kilometre southwest-to-northeast corridor centred on the Trinity open pit. All data is now in hand, and Campbell and Walker Geophysics has been brought in to interpret the results alongside every piece of historic geophysical data the company holds. The goal is a unified structural model of everything sitting below the surface across the full project footprint.

That ground is worth paying attention to. Trinity sits inside a 22,700-acre consolidated land package built around a former US Borax open pit, with optioned ground from Primus Resources rounding out the footprint. The property carries a historic resource of 36 million silver-equivalent ounces, and an extensive historic drill database is already in place to anchor the upcoming campaign.

Permitting for that campaign is now underway, targeting a Q2 2026 start. The program spans both BLM land and fee land regulated by the Bureau of Mining Regulation and Reclamation within the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. The BLM portion requires only a Notice of Disturbance for under five acres, a streamlined pathway that keeps field mobilization on schedule and avoids the longer timelines that come with more complex regulatory tracks.

"The exploration plan, which includes both confirmation and expansion drilling, is to move the resource from Inferred to Indicated," said Jeff Poloni, CEO of Americore Resources Corp., "which will then become the foundation for a new mineral resource estimate."

While the drill program takes shape, Americore is also exploring monetization options for an existing above-ground stockpile at Trinity, a potential near-term revenue stream running parallel to the longer-term resource delineation work.

CONTINUED… Read this and more on Americore at: https://equity-insider.com/2026/01/12/the-only-silver-that-matters-now-is-silver-you-can-touch/

In other industry developments and happenings in the market include:

Westwater Resources (NYSE-A: WWR) advanced its domestic graphite strategy by filing an application for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for its Coosa Graphite Project in Coosa County, a critical step in the environmental permitting process under the U.S. Clean Water Act. The application includes site-specific engineering, hydrologic, and environmental analyses supporting compliance with applicable federal and state water quality standards, with the permit required ahead of mining operations at the deposit, which represents the largest and most advanced natural flake graphite deposit in the contiguous United States.

"Filing the NPDES permit application reflects the progress of our engineering and environmental work and supports our long-term plan to integrate Coosa as the primary source of natural graphite feedstock for our Kellyton Graphite Plant," said Frank Bakker, CEO of Westwater Resources. "Vertical integration remains central to our strategy as we build a domestic supply chain for battery-grade graphite."

Westwater Resources will continue coordinating with ADEM and other regulatory authorities as the permitting process advances through technical evaluation and a public notice and comment period. The Kellyton Graphite Processing Plant remains under construction in east-central Alabama, and the successful permitting of Coosa would position Westwater Resources as a fully integrated domestic producer of battery-grade natural graphite.

NioCorp Developments (NASDAQ: NB) marked a key construction milestone at its Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project in southeast Nebraska after Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) officially launched excavation of the underground mine portal, a primary access point for the planned mine. The Elk Creek Project is one of the few advanced U.S.-based projects capable of producing multiple critical minerals from a single orebody, including niobium, scandium, titanium, and magnetic rare earths.

"We are extremely grateful to Congressman Smith for taking the time out of his busy schedule to visit the Elk Creek Project and see the important pre-construction activities currently underway," said Executive Chairman and CEO Mark A. Smith of NioCorp Developments. "He has been a consistent supporter of the Elk Creek Project and of the country's ongoing efforts to strengthen domestic critical mineral production. Support from federal leaders such as Congressman Smith reinforces the growing alignment between national policy objectives and the advancement of domestic critical mineral projects like ours."

The project is projected to create over 400 jobs and generate more than $600 million in state and local tax revenue over its life. NioCorp Developments is advancing the portal construction as a key pre-construction phase ahead of a formal mine development launch, with Nebraska-based Gana Trucking and Excavating performing the work.

Ryerson (NYSE: RYZ) delivered fourth quarter revenue of $1.10 billion in line with guidance, while exceeding net leverage and cash flow targets, and closed its transformative merger with Olympic Steel on February 13, 2026, cementing its position as North America's second-largest metals service center with approximately 160 facilities. The combined company is targeting $120 million in annual run-rate synergies to be realized by early 2028 through procurement scale, efficiency gains, and network optimization.

"I would first like to thank my Ryerson colleagues for vigilantly navigating a difficult year in the industrial metals and manufacturing space," said CEO Eddie Lehner of Ryerson. "On the brighter side, in the first quarter of 2026, we are seeing price increases filter into a more favorable demand environment as quote and order activity are currently tracking well ahead of year-over-year and sequential levels."

"The successful amendment and extension our revolving credit facility provides us with continued financial stability as we perform our normal business operations while also providing us with the flexibility to pursue growth opportunities such as those enabled by the recent Olympic Steel merger," said CFO Jim Claussen of Ryerson.

Full-year 2025 Adjusted EBITDA excluding LIFO reached $138.5 million, up from $114.1 million in 2024, and Ryerson has expanded its revolving credit facility from $1.3 billion to $1.8 billion following the merger close. The company guided first-quarter 2026 combined revenue of $1.52 to $1.58 billion and expects gross margin recovery as commodity price increases work their way into downstream selling prices.

American Resources Corporation (NASDAQ: AREC) announced that its subsidiary Electrified Materials Corporation has expanded its preprocessing capabilities at its Indiana facility, adding new equipment to aggregate and condition magnet materials, copper, aluminum, and ferrous metals from end-of-life products and manufacturing scrap. Conditioned rare earth and critical mineral feedstocks will flow directly to sister company ReElement Technologies for advanced separation and ultra-high-purity refining, completing a fully domestic circular supply chain.

"This expansion represents another important step toward establishing the first fully domestic circular supply chain for rare earth elements," said Mark Jensen, Chairman and CEO of American Resources Corporation. "Electrified Materials focuses on the aggregation and preprocessing of critical mineral and rare earth feedstocks, while ReElement provides advanced separation and refining capabilities to produce ultra-high-purity materials."

The expansion is expected to be supported by a Regulation D private capital raise at the subsidiary level as well as a previously announced State of Indiana recycling grant. American Resources Corporation is advancing plans to spin off Electrified Materials as an independent publicly listed company, a move management believes will unlock greater strategic flexibility and accelerate scaling of the domestic rare earth recycling platform.

SOURCE: https://equity-insider.com/2026/01/12/the-only-silver-that-matters-now-is-silver-you-can-touch/

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SOURCES:

1. https://www.mining.com/us-launches-500m-funding-initiative-to-bolster-critical-minerals-supply-chain/
2. https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/02/2026-critical-minerals-ministerial/
3. https://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/news-insights/research/2026/02/consensus-price-forecasts-gold-silver-prices-surge-to-new-highs
4. https://www.mintz.com/insights-center/viewpoints/2151/2026-03-16-new-federal-funding-opens-key-opportunities-critical