MINVEST Meeting Advances Collaboration of Global Public and Private Financial Institutions on Critical Mineral Supplies

• National governments participating in the Mineral Security Partnership (MSP), private investors representing over $30 trillion in assets under management, and critical mineral industry leaders gathered during the UN General Assembly in New York for the inaugural convening of the MINVEST network.
• The global MSP consists of 14 member nations and the European Union, collectively committing to build diverse, secure, sustainable critical mineral supply chains. MINVEST, a project of the U.S. State Department and energy security think tank SAFE, leads on private sector engagement and supports the investment pillar of the MSP.
• Partners announced creation of the MSP Finance Network, advancing a commitment by all MSP member nations’ development finance institutions (DFIs) and export credit agencies (ECAs) to collaborate on investments in global mineral supplies.
• Engagement of ECAs and DFIs creates a more favorable investment environment for critical minerals projects that meet the MSP objectives.

New York | Today, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, MINVEST—the Minerals Investment Network for Vital Energy Security and Transition, a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of State and SAFE Center for Critical Minerals Strategy—hosted Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) partner governments with development finance institutions (DFIs) and export credit agencies (ECAs) in the announcement of a MSP Finance Network to strengthen cooperation and promote information exchange and co-financing among participating institutions to advance diverse, secure, and sustainable supply chains for critical minerals.

United States Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell stated:

“The announcement of the Minerals Security Partnership Finance Network is the latest of several critical steps MSP partners have taken to address the urgent, global need for critical minerals. The demands of the global energy transition are well documented. The collaboration of countries in the MSP and MSP Forum is how we meet them.”

The announcement opened the full-day MSP Finance Meeting with MINVEST members, hosted at DLA Piper’s offices in Manhattan. In addition to representatives from all MSP member governments, and many DFIs and ECAs, the meeting included senior leaders and executives from financial institutions including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, the Bank of Montreal, Appian Capital Advisory, Orion Resource Partners, government funds, Africa Finance Corporation and the African Export-Import Bank, and industrial players including Rio Tinto, General Motors, and Anglo American. A full list of participating organizations is provided in the addendum below.

Abigail Hunter, Executive Director of SAFE’s Center for Critical Minerals Strategy and the architect of MINVEST stated,

“Today we come together with our international partners and allies, industry stakeholders, and financial titans to crystallize efforts to meet future mineral demand with transparency, integrity, and higher labor and environmental standards. MSP partner governments have already committed billions to this effort, but we need trillions to achieve these goals. MINVEST was created to activate the private sector’s resources and expertise, driving a collaborative path forward to secure the minerals that will define our future.”

The announcement is the culmination of two years of work since U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, with the EXIM Bank Chair Reta Jo Lewis and DFC CEO Scott Nathan, committed to work through the MSP to support the significant investments and undertake the risks required to diversify critical mineral supply chains.

SAFE’s Minerals Center, founded in 2020, began engaging the private sector on policy efforts to drive higher standard global mineral supplies, and liaised with American and international government agencies, resulting in the creation of MINVEST with the U.S. Department of State in November 2023. Through this work and based on learnings from the private sector, SAFE invited the 41 funding agencies across the MSP partner countries—EXIM and DFC’s international counterparts—to identify opportunities for tangible steps to derisk strategic minerals projects in July 2024.

“Engaging ECAs and DFIs is essential to address risks and create a more favorable investment environment for critical minerals projects that meet the MSP objectives,” continued Abigail Hunter. “Together we can do much more to enable private sector investment without compromising on standards. Announcing the MSP Finance Network to the first cohort of investors that has gathered for MINVEST coveys tangible progress that this group is serious about changing the investment landscape to truly ensure a race to the top.”

The MSP announcement also included an updated project list, and a newly announced letter of interest between the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and Kabanga Nickel Limited, a subsidiary of Lifezone Metals, that expressed DFC’s interest in considering the project for loans as part of the project’s financing package.

Critical minerals are the backbone of the global economy—necessary for all modern manufacturing, energy systems, advanced electronics and semiconductors, medical equipment, and defense needs—as well as the sector’s need for investment at this crucial juncture. The International Energy Agency projects demand for minerals including lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements to increase six-fold by 2040. The World Bank estimates that $1.7 trillion in mining and production investments are needed by 2050 to support the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Addressing the multifaceted investment challenges requires collaborative efforts among governments, industry, and the financial sector, to foster transparent, sustainable, and diversified supply chains. The MSP, representing 14 countries and the European Union, and accounting for over half the world’s GDP, is committed to catalyzing public and private investment in sustainable critical minerals supply chains globally. It aims to support strategically vital critical minerals projects by working with host governments and industry to facilitate targeted financial and diplomatic support for projects across the supply chain.

Augmenting the investment gap and unifying public and private sector partners is the high concentration of current global critical minerals extraction, refining, and processing in China or through Chinese-owned entities. This market dominance has been characterized by opacity and market failures that MSP objectives aim to counter.

SAFE has been a leader in critical minerals policy research, publishing A Global Race to the Top for Critical Minerals in 2023, and The Commanding Heights of Global Transportation in 2020.