Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Tuesday, August 12th.

Today on Forbes, Trump's trade war means an unlikely new American mining billionaire.

In July, the Defense Department made an unusual move for a federal U.S. agency when it purchased $400 million of newly created shares, plus warrants to buy additional

stock in the rare earth's minor MP Materials. As part of the deal, the DOD also signed

a 10-year agreement to buy rare earth magnets from MP Materials to power its future instruments

of warfare. The federal government came calling because MP Materials

owns the only rare earth mine in the U.S.

at its mountain pass site in California's Mojave Desert,

where it extracts, refines, and separates rare earth materials

like neodymium and praesiodimium.

Those elements are essential ingredients in the magnets used by electric vehicles, drones,

defense systems, robotics, wind turbines, and other advanced technologies.

Shares in MP materials have risen 150% since the DoD announcement,

pushing James Latinsky, founder and CEO, into the

three-coma club. The 47-year-old Las Vegas resident is worth an estimated $1.2 billion, between his

8% stake in MP materials, worth about $1 billion as of last week's market close, and over $200 million in cash and

outside investments, per Forbes's estimates.

Lutinsky, who did not respond to Forbes's request for comment on his wealth, is not your

typical mining magnate.

He studied economics at Yale and received his JD and MBA from Northwestern University, before working

an investment giant Fortress Group and then founding his own hedge fund, J.H.L. Capital in 2006.

His firm acquired $20.5 million worth of distressed bonds issued by Mollicorp Minerals,

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