ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): Pakistan is set to receive a historic investment of approximately $500 million in its strategic minerals industry under a recently signed agreement with United States Strategic Metals (USSM), the Prime Minister’s Office has declared on Monday.
The undertaking comes after two Memoranda of Understanding were signed in the Prime Minister’s House during a visit by a senior US delegation, including USSM and Mota-Engil, a multinational mining and infrastructure company.
The undertakings involve collaboration in the development and processing of key minerals such as rare earth elements and logistics services.
Frontier Works Organisation, Pakistan’s biggest miner of strategic minerals, signed a historic MoU with USSM, a top US-based processor, recycler, and miner.
The agreement provides a blueprint for cooperation in the production of a variety of strategic minerals used in the defence, aerospace, and technology sectors.
According to the deal, the export of minerals, including antimony, copper, gold, tungsten, and rare earth, will start immediately, paving the way for setting up USSM’s proprietary poly-metallic refinery in Pakistan.
The plant will manufacture intermediate and finished goods to satisfy the increasing demand of the US market.
The USSM, located in the state of Missouri, is dedicated to producing and recycling essential minerals, which the United States Department of Energy has established as vital in an array of technologies involved in advanced manufacturing and energy generation.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also witnessed the signing, as did Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, and federal ministers.
The delegation separately met with the COAS, the petroleum minister, and the commerce minister to discuss Pakistan’s mineral reserves, including copper, gold, and REEs.
The cooperation, in the statement by the Prime Minister’s Office, is expected to unveil new opportunities for sustainable growth, transfer of technology, and creation of jobs, while promoting environmental sustainability.
Subsequent action will involve the establishment of specialized teams to establish priority critical minerals for export, increase exploration and processing activities, and consider innovative financing mechanisms like tokenization of minerals to attract international investors, the statement further said.
In a separate development, the National Logistics Corporation entered an MoU with Mota-Engil Group to discuss long-term collaborations in engineering and construction.
The international company showed interest in aligning its interests with Pakistan’s infrastructure development vision and increasing its presence in West Asia through job creation within the country, technology transfer, and sustainable practices.
The statement labelled the delegation’s visit and the MoU signings as a milestone in Pakistan’s bid to lure foreign investment in the mining and logistics industries, citing intensified economic cooperation between Washington and Islamabad.
The US Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker termed the signing of the agreements as a positive step in consolidating bilateral ties and mentioned that such cooperation would be good for both nations.
She mentioned that the Trump administration has taken a priority in securing agreements on the critical minerals because they are important in matters of economic and energy security.
“We look forward to seeing future agreements between US companies and their counterparts in the critical minerals and mining sector in Pakistan,” the US envoy further said.
