Brian Menell

BRIAN Menell sees the current price weakness in certain critical minerals as short term and “a fabulously enhanced opportunity” to invest. TechMet’s business case is enhanced by the sheer heft of investors willing to back him: namely, the governments of the US and Qatar. By way of example, TechMet reopened a recent successful $300m fundraising effort as the investment appetite hadn’t been tapped out.

The overriding interest behind this investment demand is essentially political in nature: to build secure supply chains for the US and its allies. That includes Europe, which has a stated intention to diversify away from dependence on China for critical minerals and Russia for energy. However, Menell thinks the EU has been a touch too slow to make decisions. “They’re quite good at talking, but it’s really frustrating,” he said last year, referring to EU bureaucracy. Unsurprisingly, the majority of TechMet’s investments are in North America as well as Europe.

But the group is willing to bet on emerging markets including South Africa, Brazil and Rwanda. And he’ll plough more into Africa, he says – especially in nickel; in fact, wherever government policy encourages investment. He was cautiously welcoming of South Africa’s critical minerals policy, adding, however, that it had to be backed with stable and encouraging fiscal and regulatory conditions. Menell attracted headlines in 2024 for expressing an interest in the Dobra lithium mine in Ukraine — but matters are somewhat fluid, to say the least.