Jim Rickards Uncovers a Legally Protected Resource He Believes Was Set Aside for a Crisis—And the Moment to Activate It May Have Finally Arrived

/EIN News/ -- WASHINGTON, April 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For generations, the United States held back a powerful domestic advantage—not because it didn’t know it was there, but because it wasn’t ready to use it.

That’s the position of former CIA advisor and financial strategist Jim Rickards, who says a massive natural resource reserve—preserved under federal law since the 19th century—has been deliberately kept off the table for over 160 years.

“It wasn’t forgotten. It wasn’t mismanaged,” Rickards says. “It was held in reserve—for a time when the country had no other choice.” (p. 8)

In a newly released report, Rickards describes the asset as a nation-scale stockpile of critical materials—copper, lithium, silver, and rare earths—buried beneath government-controlled land and shielded from exploitation by decades of regulatory barriers.

Now, after a 2024 Supreme Court ruling dismantled those barriers, Rickards says the era of restraint may be over.

“The legal structure that kept it off-limits has been dismantled,” Rickards explains. “And for the first time in modern history, this asset can move from dormant to active.” (p. 22)

Long Held in Reserve, This Federal Asset May Finally Be Unleashed

Unlike gold reserves, oil leases, or sovereign wealth funds, this resource doesn’t show up in government spreadsheets. Rickards says it remained hidden not because of secrecy — but because of structure.

“This wasn’t buried in vaults. It was buried in bureaucracy,” he says.

“They didn’t hide it. They just never activated it.”

The Court Decision That Changes Everything

Rickards believes the game changed when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron Doctrine, which had given federal agencies broad discretion to restrict access to these materials for decades.

“The court pulled the brakes off,” Rickards says. “The era of agencies acting unchecked is over.”

Now, the legal environment could open the door to what Rickards calls “a complete recalibration of American value.”

A Nation Richer Than It Realizes

Rickards argues that every economic narrative — from federal insolvency to infrastructure scarcity — must now be reconsidered in light of this asset.

“America is anything but broke,” he says.
“We’ve had the value. We just didn’t factor it in.”

“This could change how we think about debt. How we think about dependency. How we think about our future.”

About Jim Rickards

Jim Rickards is a lawyer, economist, and national security advisor who has consulted for the CIA, Pentagon, and U.S. Treasury. A bestselling author of Currency Wars and The Death of Money, Rickards has spent decades identifying hidden risks and overlooked assets buried inside global finance and federal policy. He is one of the foremost authorities on systemic shifts in the U.S. economy.

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Derek Warren
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