Qatar joins US in backing privately held critical minerals play TechMet

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has agreed to invest US$180 million in TechMet, a Dublin-based mining investment vehicle backed by the U.S. International Development Finance Corp., the country’s development bank.

TechMet invests across the critical minerals supply chain, from mining to processing and recycling.

In a press release, TechMet said funds will be used to develop both its existing assets and to continue to build its portfolio with strategic projects that scale production and refining of its target critical minerals, which include lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earths.

“QIA’s investment further highlights TechMet’s position as a leading global critical minerals investment company,” TechMet chairman and CEO, Brian Menell, said. “A major sovereign investor coming in alongside the U.S. government accelerates our ability to scale and expand the portfolio and build significant value across critical minerals supply chains.”

The International Development Fund has invested a total of US$105 million into TechMet, adding US$50 million in the latest fundraising. It initially invested in 2020. 

Qatar’s US$180-million investment is part of a US$300-million sixth funding round, advised by Rothschild, which has boosted TechMet’s valuation to over $1 billion.

The Biden administration has intensified efforts to diminish China’s dominance in the critical minerals market.

As part of this initiative, the administration has sought to persuade Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates to invest in U.S.-led projects aimed at extracting and processing minerals for industrial use.

Qatar is a key U.S. ally in the Gulf and also a significant LNG supplier to China.

Since inception, TechMet has invested more than US$450 million into projects across North and South America, Europe and Africa, including: privately held U.K.-based companies Brazilian Nickel and Cornish Lithium; U.S.-based EnergySource Minerals and U.S. Vanadium, Africa-focused miner Trinity Metals; Xerion Advanced Battery Corp.; Rainbow Rare Earths (LSE: RBW); and Norway-based REEtec.