(Bloomberg) —
The US has established a new fund to invest in critical minerals alongside Orion Resource Partners and Abu Dhabi’s ADQ, as the Trump administration seeks to challenge Beijing’s dominance of resource supply chains.
The three partners have made initial capital commitments totaling $1.8 billion and are targeting an eventual pool of $5 billion, according to a statement released by Orion on Thursday. The investment from the US International Development Finance Corp. is a key step in President Donald Trump’s push to secure minerals deals around the world.
Bloomberg News reported in September that the DFC and Orion were in talks to set up a joint fund.
Under Trump, the US government has made it a priority to shore up access to strategically important minerals such as copper, cobalt and rare earths, which are required for the defense industry and the energy transition. There is widespread anxiety among Western leaders about the future availability of such materials, given concerns about insufficient investment and China’s grip on supply chains.
“We will go where the rocks are,” Orion Chief Executive Officer Oskar Lewnowski said in an interview. “I believe the approach we’re underlining and leading with is that a public-private partnership has unique attributes that allow us to succeed where others may have not succeeded in the past.”
The DFC – created toward the end of Trump’s first term – is co-founding the Orion Critical Mineral Consortium to help the US and allied nations “develop secure, responsible, and resilient supply chains for the critical minerals that underpin future economic growth and security,” according to the statement Thursday.
The DFC’s initial investment is being matched by funds managed by Orion and ADQ. The consortium will favor “investments in existing or near-term producing assets,” rather than early-stage exploration projects, the statement said.
The fund was created “to establish a robust pipeline of secure critical mineral investments vital to advancing American economic prosperity,” Ben Black, chief executive officer of the DFC, said in the statement. Lewnowski wouldn’t rule out further investment by the DFC, but said they’re “happy” with the $600 million the DFC has already committed.
The US signed a landmark agreement with Australia this week to boost America’s access to rare earths and other minerals. The Trump administration is pursuing a similar bilateral deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s No. 1 producer of cobalt and second-biggest source of copper. The US government has also made direct equity investments in mining companies since Trump returned to the White House.
Lewnowski declined to reveal any specific projects under consideration by the new venture but confirmed Chinese ones would not be among them.
He said the consortium is looking for new investors, including other countries, sovereign wealth funds, private-sector partners and other US agencies. The consortium will be investing in midstream and upstream projects in the supply chain, including potentially smelting.
Orion is a major financier to the mining industry, with about $8 billion in assets under management and a business spanning private equity to commodity trading. At the start of the year, the New York-based firm announced a $1.2 billion venture with Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ.
(Updates with details from interview with Orion’s Lewnowski from fifth paragraph)
© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.
