Orion CMC USA LP (Debt) (DFC-2026-ORIONCMCUSAL)

Regions
  • World
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Borrower
Critical Minerals Consortium (Orion Resource Partners)
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
  • Mining
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Equity
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 900.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 900.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Media Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ DFC website

Updated in EWS Jul 13, 2026

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated by the DFC, the Critical Minerals Consortium (CMC) consists of a permanent capital vehicle funded by DFC equity and debt, which will invest with several other vehicles managed by Orion through the Critical Minerals Platform. The CMC Platform will invest in strategic critical minerals mining projects.

The global shift towards new energy and advanced technologies has driven up the demand for critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements. Over the past 20 years, annual trade in energy- related critical minerals has increased seven-fold, and demand is expected to triple by 2030. The increase in demand presents significant economic growth opportunities for resource-rich developing countries, where mining often constitutes over 50% of exports and a substantial portion of GDP. These countries face challenges as they seek to maximize benefits from mineral resources, such as inadequate infrastructure, outdated technology, and a lack of skilled labor, along with a reliance on informal employment, which contributes to job insecurity and exacerbates already high unemployment rates.

The Project will address these challenges by investing in a pipeline of diverse mining assets across a range of geographies and critical minerals. Investment in the extraction and processing of these minerals is expected to stimulate local job creation and spur economic growth through tax revenue, royalties, local procurement, and increased export revenues.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated by the DFC, Orion Resource Partners is an American asset manager headquartered in New York, NY.

According to Reuters, the Critical Minerals Consortium plans to form a third regional leg of investment to add to US$ 1.8 billion raised by the group last year to bolster Western access to copper, lithium, rare earths and other critical minerals.
It is led by mining-focused private equity house Orion Resource Partners, and backed by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and Abu Dhabi;s sovereign wealth fund ADQ.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No project contacts provided at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Unlike many other development finance institutions, DFC does not currently have an access to information policy.

Under the United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), DFC is obliged to respond to reasonably formulated requests for Agency records. However, DFC may apply exemptions from release to certain types of information and may charge fees in responding to requests. DFC has a designated FOIA officer who is trained in how to respond to requests and implement the law. You can learn more about filing a FOIA request at: https://www.dfc.gov/foia

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATION (DFC)

The Office of Accountability is an independent office that addresses complaints about environmental or social issues related to DFC-supported projects. The office provides communities an opportunity to have concerns independently reviewed and addressed. If you submit a complaint to the Office of Accountability, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a problem solving dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the DFC complied with its policies to prevent environmental, social, human rights, and labor harms.

You can find more information about the Office of Accountability at: https://www.dfc.gov/who-we-are/office-accountability

How it works

How it works