The American military has a new pot of money at its disposal to help private companies inaugurate new mining projects; it's for funding feasibility studies, plant renovations, battery-recycling and worker training.An official from the U.S. Department of Defence this week provided a briefing on the program at a cross-border conference, and he made one thing clear about the funding: Canadians qualify.It's a matter of law," said Matthew Zolnowski, a portfolio manager for the Defense Production Act program, speaking to a gathering of the Canada-United States Law Institute in Washington, D.C. "So an investment in Alberta or Quebec or Nova Scotia would be no different than if it was in Nebraska or anywhere else in the United States.Zolnowski noted that back in 1984, Robert Gates, at the time a U.S. intelligence official who went on to become secretary of defence to two presidents, articulated his fear in a speech that foreign government-funded companies would come to dominate the industry.And in times of war, he said, industrialized nations that lack secure and reliable access to these materials have suffered mightily: "[They] have suffered significant performance tradeoffs, which contributed to their defeat.""