During this year’s UN general assembly, the us-led“Coterie” of key minerals is competing with China in the name of financing mining projects in developing countries. According to the Financial Times, the Partnership for mining safety will announce the establishment of a new financing network in New York on the 23rd local time, it also pledged to provide financial support to the KABANGA nickel project in Tanzania.
The alliance was founded in 2022, its members include the United States, Australia, Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and 14 countries and the European Union. The report said the Alliance’s joint statement, due to be released during the General Assembly, listed 10 key minerals with the official support of the Alliance members and declared that it would“Strengthen cooperation, promote information communication and co-finance”.
It is worth noting that the meeting of the“Mineral Security Partnership” alliance, with the exception of government departments or official agencies, it also brought in top western financial and mining companies such as Belaid, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Rio Tinto and Anglo n.
Western countries are guiding their development finance institutions and export credit agencies to work with the private sector to advance key mining projects, the Financial Times said, to break China’s current monopoly in key mineral sectors. The newspaper said, china is far ahead of the West in developing international mining projects through government subsidies, easier financing conditions, strong mining and processing technology, lower costs and looser environmental standards. Abigail Hunter, an industry insider who promotes investment in mineral supply chains, said that previously only China had a mineral supply chain. “We need to change that,” he said, “So that when developing mineral resources in low-income countries, it will be easier for them to do so.”, provide alternative financing options outside of China. The paper noted that the chinese-backed Indonesian nickel mine was the counterweight to the highly publicized project in kabanga, Tanzania, supported by the Partnership for Mineral Security.
The under-secretary of State for Economic Affairs Fernández that the US recognises that it is stronger in alliance with its allies. He revealed that the alliance was reviewing whether to support 30 other key mining projects to ensure that Western governments had access to the mineral resources needed to produce electric cars, sophisticated weapons and the like.
Private investors believe the surge in demand for the raw materials driving the energy transition will create a profitable and more stable market, but will need more support and public-private partnerships to attract more capital, the report said. Rabb, a former deputy prime minister who now Heads Global Affairs at a consultancy, admits that investors will not think about investing until they see a return. The question is whether Western governments can let them see that.