“The U.S. Government Is About to Launch a 100-Day Buying Spree in THESE Stocks” is the headline for Project Vault, a Digest Publishing promotion featuring resource investors Rick Rule and Nick Hodge. The report on offer is called Underground Alpha.
The pitch says Washington is assembling a $12 billion strategic critical-minerals reserve, that government money is already flowing into resource companies, and that a U.S.-China trade truce creates a November 10, 2026 deadline. The page is dated August 2026.
We identify the headline stock below. Our confidence is 99/100.
What the promotion gave away
The promotion gives away an unusual set of fingerprints: a government-backed minerals reserve, heavy Chinese control of rare-earth processing, Pentagon investments in miners, and a headline pick described as a royalty-and-streaming company rather than a conventional mine operator. It also points to named government support involving MP Materials, Trilogy Metals, USA Rare Earth, American Battery Technology, Perpetua Resources, United States Antimony, Critical Metals and Lithium Americas.
The same pitch is also branded as “Underground Alpha Charter,” “Underground Alpha Charter Membership,” “Underground Alpha,” “The Chosen Ones,” “The White House's Buy List,” “Inside the Vault,” “The Stocks Set to Join the White House's Buy List” and “White House's Buy List.” Those names refer to the same promotion, not a collection of unrelated discoveries.
The stocks behind Project Vault
The headline pick is Royal Gold, Inc. (RGLD). The Underground Alpha transcript says it plainly: “Our free stock pick is Royal Gold (RGLD).” That is about as strong a clue as these promotions ever leave on the table.
Royal Gold's own company description supplies the second match. It acquires and manages precious-metal streams, royalties and related interests rather than operating conventional mines, exactly matching the description in the pitch. The government-policy backdrop helps explain the theme, but the transcript is what nails the identification.
We identified nine principal basket names: Royal Gold, USA Rare Earth, MP Materials, Trilogy Metals, American Battery Technology, Perpetua Resources, United States Antimony, Critical Metals and Lithium Americas. The other eight are directly named or tied to the government-support examples cited in the promotion, so none has an identification mismatch. The five bonus reports remain guesses because their public promotions don't reveal the proposed tickers.
| # | Ticker | Company | Our confidence |
|---|
| Main pick | RGLD | Royal Gold, Inc. | 99/100 — high |
| 2 | USAR |
Also in this offer
The offer bundles 5 bonus reports that tease their own stocks. These get a sentence or two of copy each, so the evidence is much thinner than for the main pick and what follows is our best reading rather than a confident answer.
| Bonus report | Our best guess | Confidence |
|---|
| The No. 1 Commodity Supercycle Stock to Buy Today | FCX — Freeport-McMoRan Inc. | 18/100 — best guess |
| Ride the Metal of the Century to 1,000% Gains | ERO — Ero Copper Corp. | 18/100 — best guess |
| The Next Paladin | |
Every claim, checked
The claim-by-claim table separates the pieces that survive from the pieces that need asterisks. The underlying record includes government announcements, Treasury and Export-Import Bank materials, USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Army releases, SEC filings, company disclosures and market data.
That mix matters. Several government transactions and supply-chain statistics check out, while some of the promotion's labels, dollar amounts and performance figures stretch beyond what the documents actually say.
RGLD — Royal Gold, Inc.
| The promotion claims | Verdict | What we found |
|---|
| Royal Gold is the free stock pick | Checks out | Digest Publishing's Underground Alpha transcript states, “Our free stock pick is Royal Gold (RGLD).” |
| Royal Gold is a royalty and streaming company | Checks out | Royal Gold's company description says it acquires and manages precious-metal streams, royalties and related interests rather than operating conventional mines. |
USAR — USA Rare Earth, Inc.
| The promotion claims | Verdict | What we found |
|---|
| USA Rare Earth received a $1.6 billion government investment | Overstated | USA Rare Earth's January 2026 filing described a proposed package of up to $277 million in federal funding and up to $1.3 billion in senior secured debt, initially through a non-binding letter of intent, rather than a simple $1.6 billion investment. |
| USA Rare Earth rose 173% in the 26 days before the announcement | Can't verify | Reuters and other market reports documented a January surge and a more-than-30% move around the funding announcement, but the exact 173% 26-day calculation could not be established from the available dated market record. |
MP — MP Materials Corp.
| The promotion claims | Verdict | What we found |
|---|
| The Pentagon took a $400 million stake in MP Materials | Checks out | MP Materials' July 2025 announcement and its SEC filing document a $400 million Department of Defense purchase of Series A preferred stock. |
| MP Materials jumped 50% in one day |
TMQ — Trilogy Metals Inc.
| The promotion claims | Verdict | What we found |
|---|
| Trilogy Metals received a government stake | Checks out | Trilogy Metals' October 2025 SEC filing documents a $35.6 million Department of War transaction representing approximately 10% of the company's outstanding shares. |
| Trilogy Metals rose more than 200% overnight | Checks out | Contemporary market reporting recorded TMQ gaining more than 200% after the government investment announcement. |
ABAT — American Battery Technology Company
| The promotion claims | Verdict | What we found |
|---|
| American Battery Technology received special government treatment | Checks out | ABTC filings and releases document DOE grant support, reinstatement of a lithium-refinery award after appeal, a $144 million recycling award and FAST-41-related federal treatment. |
| American Battery Technology tripled in one month | Overstated | Forbes reported ABAT rising from roughly $1.35 to above $3 in a month, a little more than a doubling; that is a sharp move but not a clean threefold increase. |
PPTA — Perpetua Resources Corp.
| The promotion claims | Verdict | What we found |
|---|
| Perpetua Resources owns gold and antimony deposits | Checks out | Perpetua's company description identifies its Idaho Stibnite Gold project and says the company explores gold, silver and antimony deposits. |
| Perpetua Resources rose more than 500% since last year | Can't verify | Perpetua's market history shows large multi-year moves, including a 1,258% trough-to-peak rise from August 2023 to March 2026, but the promotion does not define the comparison date needed to verify “since last year.” |
UAMY — United States Antimony Corporation
| The promotion claims | Verdict | What we found |
|---|
| United States Antimony rose 959% since 2023 | Checks out | UAMY's closing-price history rose 1,637% from $0.3575 on April 24, 2023, to $6.21 on August 6, 2026, exceeding the promotion's 959% figure. |
CRML — Critical Metals Corp.
| The promotion claims | Verdict | What we found |
|---|
| Critical Metals was chosen to supply a government-funded facility | Checks out | Critical Metals' August 2025 release documents a 10-year offtake agreement sending Tanbreez concentrate to Ucore's Louisiana facility, which Critical Metals described as supported by state and Department of Defense funding. |
| Critical Metals rose 382% in six months | Checks out | The Underground Alpha transcript states that CRML was up 382% in six months, and its market history records a much larger 2,087.6% closing-price rise from April 28 to October 14, 2025. |
LAC — Lithium Americas Corp.
| The promotion claims | Verdict | What we found |
|---|
| The government announced it wanted to take a stake in Lithium Americas | Checks out | Lithium Americas' September 2025 SEC filing describes proposed DOE warrants representing a 5% equity stake in the company and a 5% economic stake in Thacker Pass. |
Claims about the pitch itself
| The promotion claims | Verdict | What we found |
|---|
| Project Vault is a $12 billion U.S. strategic critical-minerals reserve | Checks out | The Export-Import Bank and Treasury describe Project Vault as a U.S. Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve backed by up to $10 billion of EXIM financing and roughly $2 billion of private capital. |
| Project Vault will be run by the Federal Reserve | Contradicted | EXIM and Treasury identify EXIM, Treasury and an independently governed public-private partnership as the institutions behind Project Vault; Federal Reserve materials do not identify the Fed as its operator. |
|
Claims the record contradicts
Where the pitch outran the record
“The Army leased bases in Utah, Arkansas, Alabama and Texas for mineral processing” — The Army announced conditional Enhanced Use Lease awards at sites in those four states; the awards were lease opportunities and conditional agreements rather than four completed leases as the promotion implies.
“The U.S. gets 70% of its yttrium from China” — USGS reports that China supplied roughly 93% to 94% of U.S. yttrium compounds in the cited periods, so Chinese dependence is real but the promotion's 70% figure is not the authoritative figure.
“The White House is preparing a $5 billion mining fund” — The White House announced a dedicated critical-minerals fund through DFC and the Department of Defense but did not assign it a $5 billion size; the separate $5 billion figure referred to investment unlocked by EXIM financing for Australian projects.
“Jamie Dimon announced a $1.5 trillion resources fund” — JPMorgan announced a $1.5 trillion, 10-year Security and Resiliency Initiative combining financing and facilitation, with direct equity investments of up to $10 billion, not a standalone $1.5 trillion cash fund.
“USA Rare Earth received a $1.6 billion government investment” — USA Rare Earth's January 2026 filing described a proposed package of up to $277 million in federal funding and up to $1.3 billion in senior secured debt, initially through a non-binding letter of intent, rather than a simple $1.6 billion investment.
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The deadline, examined
The deadline is attached to the end of the U.S.-China trade truce, not to an earnings release, FDA decision or other company event. The White House said the relevant one-year suspension began on November 10, 2025, giving November 10 a real policy date behind it.
We received this promotion on one day, August 4, 2026. That record is too thin to tell whether the deadline rolls, so there isn't a week-long countdown to expose here. For now, the useful question is simply what the date belongs to: a trade-pause framework, not a confirmed government buying appointment.
Worth owning, or just worth pitching?
The argument is simple: China dominates critical-mineral supply chains, Washington needs domestic alternatives, and the companies tied to government support are next in line for a buying spree. The first two links hold up better than the last one.
There is real evidence behind the policy shift. China supplied 71% of U.S. rare-earth compounds and metals imports in the cited period, and CSIS says China processes nearly 90% of global rare earths. The Pentagon bought $400 million of preferred stock in MP Materials, the Department of War invested $35.6 million for roughly 10% of Trilogy Metals, and proposed DOE warrants would represent a 5% stake in Lithium Americas. Those are concrete transactions, not vapor.
The weakest link is the leap from targeted support to a broad “White House buy list” and a 100-day buying spree. Project Vault is described by EXIM and Treasury as a reserve backed by up to $10 billion of EXIM financing and roughly $2 billion of private capital, not a Federal Reserve-run operation. The Army's actions were conditional lease awards, not four completed leases, and the claimed $5 billion mining fund and $1.5 trillion resources fund don't mean what the sales copy suggests. That is not what the filings say.
As an investment basket, these companies share exposure to critical minerals and government policy, but they aren't interchangeable. MP Materials and Trilogy Metals carry the clearest evidence of direct government equity support. Royal Gold is a different animal: its royalty-and-streaming model matches the clue, but that fit alone doesn't prove an imminent government purchase. The basket has a real theme and several real policy links; it doesn't have one uniform risk profile, and government attention won't remove permitting, financing, construction or commodity-price risk.
How confident are we? RGLD 99, USAR 94, MP 98, TMQ 97, ABAT 92, PPTA 94, UAMY 96, CRML 95, LAC 95 out of 100. We identified 9 stocks from the promotion's own clues and checked 33 claims across them against filings, earnings calls, ownership records, market data and public reporting. Confidence is scored per stock, so a weaker one does not borrow credit from a stronger one. This is our analysis, not the publisher's disclosure — we have no relationship with them.
