QATAR’S sovereign wealth fund has agreed to invest $180m in TechMet, a Dublin-based mining investment company founded in 2017 by Brian Menell, a former executive director of Anglovaal Mining.
Techmet has backed Rainbow Minerals which is mining rare earths from surface gypsum tailings near Phalaborwa in South Africa’s Limpopo province as well as Trinity Metals, a tin and tungsten producer in East Africa.
Techmet has the backing of Development Finance Corporation, a US government fund aimed at furthering battery minerals in an effort to counter China’s dominance. Mercuria, a Swiss-based commodities trading house, is also a shareholder in TechMet.
The Financial Times quoted Menell as saying Qatar’s investment underlined its desire to invest in critical minerals and an acknowledgment by the US that it needs partners to challenge China.
“The recognition that this needs to be in partnership with allies and sources of funding from allies is growing and will increasingly be a key element of how US interests are progressed globally,” he said. “There’s a recognition it can’t just be domestic [mining and processing] and it can’t just be US money.”
The wealthy Gulf states are hoping to become big players in the critical minerals market, using their neutrality in the geopolitical stand-off between the US and China to their advantage, said the Financial Times.
Qatar is designated by the US as a major non-Nato ally. It also has good ties with China, which is one of the biggest buyers of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas, it said.
