Export Finance Australia (EFA) and the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) issued letters of support/interest of up to $500 million each for Ardea Resources' (ASX:ARL) Kalgoorlie nickel project in Western Australia after Australia's Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Madeleine King and the US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum agreed on priority critical minerals and rare earths projects under the two countries' bilateral Critical Minerals Framework, according to a Monday statement.

The critical minerals include nickel, cobalt, gallium, magnesium, vanadium, and graphite.

Other projects supported under the framework include Alcoa (ASX:AAI) Gallium recovery project in Western Australia, Arafura Rare Earths's (ASX:ARU) Nolans rare earths project in the Northern Territory, Astron's (ASX:ATR) Donald rare earths project in Victoria, Northern Minerals' (ASX:NTU) heavy rare earths project in Western Australia, VHM's (ASX:VHM) Goshen rare earths project in Victoria, and EQ Resources' (ASX:EQR) Mt Carbine tungsten project in Queensland.

Ardea's shares were up over 2% in recent trading on Monday, while those of Astron rose nearly 1%. Shares of Alcoa fell 1%, Arafura fell 1%, VHM declined 5%, and those of EQ Resources decreased 9%.