Morocco has emerged on the investment radar of a US-backed critical minerals consortium seeking to finance a $20 billion global pipeline, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
The Orion Critical Mineral Consortium, led by private equity firm Orion Resource Partners and backed by the US International Development Finance Corporation and Abu Dhabi sovereign investor ADQ, is assessing opportunities in Morocco, Namibia, Mali, Brazil, Argentina and Chile, executives told Reuters.
The group has raised $1.8 billion so far, with each of its three founding partners committing $600 million. It is now in advanced talks to form three additional public-private partnerships in Asia as Western governments and investors seek new sources of copper, lithium, rare earths and other strategic materials outside supply chains dominated by China.
The consortium’s immediate expansion is centred on Asia, but Reuters said its wider pipeline extends across Africa’s copper belt and mineral-rich economies on the Atlantic rim.
Morocco is one of Africa’s leading cobalt producers and hosts the Bou Azzer mine, operated by Managem, one of the world’s few mines where cobalt is extracted as a principal mineral rather than mainly as a by-product of copper or nickel.
Managem has also developed plans to produce battery-grade cobalt sulphate at its Guemassa industrial complex near Marrakech. Under a 2022 agreement, the company is due to supply Renault with 5,000 tonnes of cobalt sulphate a year for seven years, with deliveries originally scheduled to begin in 2025.
The kingdom is also trying to move beyond raw mineral exports by attracting investment in battery materials, processing and electric-vehicle supply chains, using its phosphate reserves, industrial base and trade access to Europe and the United States.
Washington has placed Morocco inside a wider push to diversify critical mineral supply chains. Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita attended the US Critical Minerals Ministerial in February, where Morocco signed a cooperation framework with the United States.
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