Mick Davis
MANAGING PARTNER: Vision Blue Resources
‘Governments have to find a way to reduce the cost of capital for resource companies’
MICK Davis launched Vision Blue Resources after his previous fund, X2 Resources, closed in 2016. Davis was unable to get any deals approved by investors, but in Vision Blue he appears to have a more efficient structure. Certainly, the portfolio build has been quick-fire. Since formation two years ago, Vision Blue comprises seven development-stage companies in energy transition minerals ranging from lithium to cobalt, rare earths and graphite mining and processing.
The emphasis is on mineral processing, reflecting Davis’s conviction that Western economies need to develop low-cost and scalable supply chains in order to reduce Western reliance on China, which has an established, dominant mineral processing business. Davis argues that the cost of capital for Western mining companies has rendered them uncompetitive. Stringent regulation in the West has also made it difficult to advance mining and processing projects, he contends.
Governments should change their outlook to see mining companies as a force for good rather than a moral hazard – a broad policy undertaking that would pave the way to new and quicker investment. Davis contends that huge investments are also needed in minerals such as copper, graphite and cobalt to address future deficits. However, that will not happen unless the industry is certain of a benign regulatory environment and a cost of capital that provides a return for investors.
LIFE OF MICK
Davis is famed in world mining for his role in the merger of BHP with Billiton, and then in the early 2000s the development of Xstrata via a series of acquisitions. This established Davis’s reputation as an ice-cold dealmaker. Xstrata subsequently merged with Glencore in 2013, which went on to list in London. Davis later joined the UK Conservative Party, where he was put in charge of rebuilding its campaign capability to counter the extreme left. He was knighted in 2015 for his services for Holocaust commemoration. He co-founded Vision Blue in 2021.
