Peace Garden News

Senator John Hoeven announced a new partnership between the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Logistics Agency and Talon Metals in North Dakota. The collaboration aims to enhance the recovery of nickel from domestic sources, boosting battery manufacturing capacity within the United States. This initiative follows a previous Department of Energy award that Hoeven secured for Talon Metals to build a battery materials facility in Mercer County, North Dakota.

The senator emphasized the importance of this effort in strengthening U.S. supply chains for critical industries and defense priorities, reducing reliance on adversarial nations like China and Russia for battery and mineral supplies. "Between this fiscal year and last, we are working to provide more than $6 million for this new partnership between Talon Metals and the DoD," said Hoeven. "By enhancing the productive capacity of our domestic nickel formations, we can ensure a better mineral supply for U.S. industry and a more secure battery supply for our military missions."

Hoeven has been instrumental in securing nearly $2.5 million for this initiative in Fiscal Year 2024, with an additional $4 million proposed in the Senate’s FY2025 appropriations legislation to expand the partnership further.

This announcement is part of Hoeven's broader efforts to secure supply chains crucial to unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and other military operations that have traditionally depended on batteries manufactured in China. He worked to advance a nearly $115 million DOE award for Talon Metals' project in North Dakota, which is expected to create jobs and potentially utilize coal ash from local power stations.

Additionally, Hoeven continues supporting companies like Packet Digital, which has expanded its operations due to partnerships he helped establish with branches of the U.S. military. Since FY2021, he has secured over $35 million in defense research funding for Packet Digital, aiding their development of an 80,000 square-foot battery cell production facility.