ReElement Technologies Corporation, a key portfolio company of American Resources Corporation (Nasdaq: AREC), and SAGINT Inc. announced the successful creation of the world’s first utility token for critical minerals, designed to provide immutable, end-to-end traceability for refined critical mineral products — beginning with neodymium oxide produced at ReElement’s Noblesville, Indiana refining facility. The milestone is aimed at supporting compliance with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) and enhancing supply-chain transparency.
What the Utility Token Is and Why It Matters
The newly minted utility token — created on a private Sui Layer-1 blockchain environment — represents a digital record of refined neodymium oxide, a rare earth critical to electronics, electric vehicles and defense applications. It embeds cryptographically secure provenance data covering material origin, processing integrity and mass balance, effectively creating an immutable chain of custody from production through refinement.
By linking physical critical minerals to a secure digital record, the token is designed to function as:
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An internal compliance and audit instrument for ReElement and its customers;
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A tamper-resistant traceability mechanism that aligns with DFARS requirements for defense-related procurement;
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A framework for real-time verification of material provenance, potentially streamlining regulatory workflows and audit processes.
Blockchain Meets Critical Mineral Supply Chains
SAGINT’s platform provides the underlying blockchain infrastructure that enables tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) — in this case, rare earth oxides and, in the future, other critical minerals. By recording every key transition step — including raw material sourcing, refining and inventory status — on a decentralized ledger, stakeholders gain auditable, end-to-end visibility for materials that are increasingly strategic to national security and advanced manufacturing.
The system also supports Digital Warehouse Receipts — blockchain-issued certificates that represent physical inventory — enabling secure transfer, trading and financing of tokenized critical mineral materials while preserving full traceability back to the source.
Addresses DFARS and Defense Supply Chain Challenges
Meeting DFARS compliance — a set of procurement standards used by the U.S. Department of Defense that supplements federal acquisition regulations — is a significant hurdle for suppliers of defense-critical materials. These regulations often require detailed documentation and verification of origin, cybersecurity practices and supply chain integrity for defense contracts.
The utility token initiative is specifically designed to help ReElement and its partners demonstrate DFARS-readiness by embedding required traceability data and controls into a verifiable digital format, which can reduce manual compliance burden and strengthen confidence for defense customers and contractors.
Jacob Clayton, CEO of SAGINT, said that the utility token represents a step forward in securing critical mineral supply chains and using blockchain for traceability that supports U.S. manufacturers. ReElement’s CEO Mark Jensen said the token highlights the company’s commitment to supply-chain transparency and compliance with defense-relevant requirements.
Implications and Next Steps
This utility token announcement is more than a proof of concept — it sets a digital precedent in the rare earth and critical mineral sector for how provenance, compliance data and supply chain workflows can be captured on a secure distributed ledger. The project is expected to expand throughout 2026 to include additional materials such as:
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Other rare earth oxides beyond neodymium;
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Battery materials used in electrification and energy storage;
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Minerals identified as critical for defense and advanced technology manufacturing.
ReElement has stated that it plans to deploy SAGINT’s blockchain infrastructure across other refining operations — including its Marion, Indiana facility and future sites — to scale the traceability framework industry-wide.
The post ReElement Technologies and SAGINT Mint World’s First Utility Token for Critical Minerals, Enabling DFARS-Ready Supply Chain Traceability appeared first on PRISM MarketView.