The US Export-Import (Exim) Bank will provide a $1.25 billion loan for Barrick Mining’s Reko Diq project in Pakistan as part of a broader plan to deploy $100 billion to strengthen supply chains for critical minerals, nuclear energy and natural gas, the bank’s chief said in an interview with the Financial Times.
Exim Bank chair John Jovanovic said that the Pakistan financing will be included in the first tranche of deals alongside projects in Egypt and Europe. He said the West had become overly dependent on supply routes that were “no longer fair,” stressing the need to secure and stabilise access to essential raw materials.
Jovanovic said the bank still has $100 billion available from the $135 billion authorised by the US Congress. He noted that the upcoming package of early transactions also includes a credit insurance guarantee covering $4 billion worth of natural gas being supplied to Egypt by New York-based Hartree Partners.
He added that securing reliable mineral and energy inputs was essential for broader economic and industrial goals. “We can’t do anything else that we’re trying to do without these underlying critical raw material supply chains being secure, stable and functioning,” he told the newspaper.
The Reko Diq financing is expected to support development of one of Pakistan’s largest mining projects, which holds major copper and gold reserves and is viewed by Washington as strategically relevant to the global minerals landscape.
