The U.S. is launching a multibillion-dollar fund to develop critical minerals alongside two private investment firms as Washington continues to combat China’s grip on the global flow of key metals.
The U.S. International Development Finance Corp. has created a so-called Critical Mineral Consortium, or CMC, with New York-based Orion Resource Partners, a major investor in metals and materials, and Abu Dhabi’s ADQ, an investment and state-owned holding company the United Arab Emirates created in 2018.
The three partners are making an initial capital commitment of $1.8 billion and targeting an eventual pool of $5 billion.
The consortium will support the investment and development of mineral projects that the U.S. and its allies are pursuing in “emerging and other market jurisdictions,” as well as managing offtakes, developing domestic processing and scaling technology.
