Donald Trump has announced the United States will invest $560 million to fast‑track developing a rare earth mineral in a small NSW town. The $560 million loan will see Melbourne-based Sunrise Energy Metals’ begin the scandium project at Syerston, a few kilometres south of Fifield. “Scandium, like a lot of these critical minerals, is used in modern technology — whether that be in your laptops and so forth. “If you add scandium and other critical minerals to other minerals, you get a stronger piece of metal,” he said. The US interest escalated after President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a critical minerals pact in Washington last year.