TECHMET LIMITED (DFC-2020-TECHMETLIMITED)

Countries
  • Brazil
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
Active
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
TechMet Limited
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)
$ 25.00 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.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 80.00 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
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ DFC website

Updated in EWS Jan 4, 2021

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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.

DFC will make a $25 million investment (the “DFC Investment”) for the purchase of 13,960 ordinary shares of TechMet. TechMet is an investment platform that holds interests in companies that mine and process various metals critical to technology applications including energy, transportation, and defense. It currently holds equity positions in several technology metal assets. The DFC Investment will contribute a portion of TechMet’s $80 million second round capital raise (“Round 2 Raise”). TechMet will use the DFC Investment proceeds solely for a downstream investment in its Brazilian Nickel subsidiary to support the development and operation of an open pit nickel and cobalt mine in northeastern Brazil (“the Project”).

DEVELOPMENTAL OBJECTIVES
This Project is expected to have a highly developmental impact through an investment in the development a nickel and cobalt mine in Northeastern Brazil. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IMF estimates that the economy of Brazil is expected to contract by 9.1 percent in 2020, with a slow recovery expected in 2021. The Project, located in one of the least developed portions of the country, will lead to significant impacts through local income, taxes and fees to both the local and federal government, and significant initial and on-going local procurement. The Project Company expects to be an important source of formal employment in the local economy in rural Piauí state, including hundreds of new permanent and construction jobs. With newer technology and improved design, the project’s heap leaching mining process will provide demonstration effects in the country for the mining of nickel and cobalt while expecting to use other natural resources less intensively, including fresh water. At the national level, the Project will increase nickel and cobalt exports, supporting foreign exchange earnings and helping to support a stressed trade balance.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Brazilian Nickel Subsidiary Mining
- - - - TechMet Limited Investor Mining

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.

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