US convenes Minerals Security Partnership meeting
24 September 2022
The United States this past week convened Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) partners and key minerals-rich countries to discuss priorities, challenges, and opportunities in responsible mining, processing, and recycling of critical minerals. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken opened the meeting, held in New York City on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week.
First announced in June 2022, the MSP is a new multilateral initiative to bolster critical mineral supply chains essential for the clean energy transition. The MSP aims to ensure that critical minerals are produced, processed, and recycled in a manner that supports countries in realizing the full economic development potential of their mineral resources.
The MSP is intended to attract public and private investment, increase transparency, and promote high Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards throughout critical minerals supply chains.
MSP partners participating in the meeting included: Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. Additional minerals-rich countries in attendance included Argentina, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zambia.
The MSP is currently considering promising critical minerals projects that could be of interest to one or more MSP partners, promoting innovation, developing a joint approach on ESG standards, and engaging both project operators and minerals-producing countries.
Demand for critical minerals, which are essential for clean energy and other technologies, is projected to expand significantly in the coming decades.
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