Meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 26, the recently formed Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) came together for a project-focused MSP Partners Meeting and later the same day held a Minerals Security Partnership Forum meeting to induct 7 new Forum members.
The MSP is an action-oriented consultative body seeking the diversification of responsible critical minerals supply chains, beyond a multilateral dialogue. MSP partners promote policy engagement to elevate ESG and labor standards and expand investment opportunities in their mining industries.
MSP partners will continue to work with MSP Forum members (see below) to maximize the opportunities for synergies and to facilitate early achievements from MSP projects.
During the MSP Partners meeting, the partners identified 7 projects as having reached key milestones, emphasizing that accelerating MSP projects is crucial for ensuring a stable global supply chain of critical minerals, which is essential for the development of advanced industries and the clean energy transition.
Across the 32 ongoing MSP projects:
19 projects focus on upstream mining and mineral extraction, 15 on midstream processing, and 3 on recycling and recovery.
10 projects include rare earth elements, 6 graphite, 6 cobalt, 3 nickel, 2 copper, 2 lithium, 1 high-purity aluminum, 2 gallium, 2 germanium, and 1 manganese. The Partners note that some projects produce more than one mineral type.
13 project sites are located in Africa, 8 project sites in the Americas, 6 project sites in the Asia-Pacific region, and 5 project sites in Europe.
MSP Finance Network established
The MSP Partners announced on September 23 the creation of the MSP Finance Network, during a meeting of MSP Partners and their respective development finance institutions (DFIs) and export credit agencies (ECAs). This new network will further strengthen cooperation and promote information exchange and co-financing among participating institutions to advance diverse, secure, and sustainable supply chains for critical minerals.
The private sector entities who also attended the MSP Finance meeting on September 23 collectively represent over USD 171 billion in funds raised, USD 34 trillion in assets under management, and USD 26 trillion in market capitalization. This impressive financial backing along with the billions of dollars available from the MSP public finance agencies underscore the immense potential for impact and collaboration.
Minerals Security Partnership Forum expands
The following statement was released by the Government of the United States of America and the European Commission:
“The United States and the European Commission hosted Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) Forum members September 26 in New York City on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week and Climate Week NYC to discuss opportunities, priorities, and challenges in responsible mining, processing, and recycling of critical minerals needed for the energy transition.
The meeting was Co-Chaired by Jose W. Fernandez, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, and Maive Rute, European Commission Deputy Director General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship, and SMEs, with participation from ministers and high-level officials from MSP Forum members. The MSP Forum followed a meeting of the MSP Partners, chaired by the Republic of Korea’s 2nd Vice Foreign Minister Kang Insun.
During today’s event in New York City, the MSP Forum welcomed seven new members – the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, the Philippines, Serbia, Turkey, and Zambia – and discussed a number of relevant policy issues and specific critical minerals projects and how MSP Partners can assist in advancing them to production. These seven additional MSP Forum members join Argentina, Greenland, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Namibia, Peru, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, who were announced as Forum members at the inaugural high-level MSP Forum event held virtually in July 2024.
The new MSP Forum members shared their priorities on the development of their critical mineral sectors, including on project development, environmental, labor, social, and governance aspects of mining, and policies related to supporting investments contributing to local value addition. Participants also discussed a roadmap for the MSP Forum’s two workstreams on project development and policy dialogue. MSP Forum members will continue to work together to develop individual projects and promote a dialogue on policies that contribute to diversification and resilience of critical minerals supply chains.
The United States and the European Union look forward to hosting MSP Forum members for the next MSP Forum event on the margins of Raw Materials Week in Brussels in December 2024.”
