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TECHMET is buying refinery by-products from Venezuela for processing at its vanadium operations in Arkansas.
Brian Menell, chairman and CEO of the US government-backed critical minerals investor, said the change in US policy towards Venezuela had opened a new source of material for TechMet’s vanadium business.
Menell founded TechMet in 2017 as an investment company focused on critical minerals. A former executive director of Anglovaal Mining, he comes from the Menell mining family, which together with the Hersovs established Anglovaal in the 1930s.
The opportunity in Venezuela comes after a significant change in relations between Washington and Caracas after US forces captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January.
The US has since eased restrictions on parts of Venezuela’s oil and minerals sectors, allowing American companies to buy Venezuelan petroleum products and refinery by-products under Treasury licences.
“In the case of Venezuela … it did open up the opportunity for us to buy by-products of the refineries for our vanadium plants in Arkansas, which we're busy doing,” Menell said at the Financial Times Metals & Mining Summit in London on Friday.
He said this was “very, very valuable for the US in terms of vanadium supply chain security”, because the metal is “a key element of a lot of defence and other technologies”.
TechMet owns US Vanadium, a US producer and processor of high-purity vanadium chemicals based in Arkansas. It processes industrial waste products into material used in applications including titanium alloys for jet engines and vehicle armour.
In July, US Vanadium was awarded the largest single contract in its history by the US Defence Logistics Agency to supply high-purity vanadium pentoxide from Arkansas to the National Defense Stockpile over three years.
The material is used to make aerospace-grade titanium alloys for US defence systems.
Menell said defence was becoming an additional source of critical mineral demand alongside the energy transition, electric vehicles and renewable energy.
“Added to that now … is the critical mineral-intensive nature of AI data centres, electrical infrastructure feeding AI data centres, obviously defence technologies and manufacturing,” he said.
Future demand would also come from humanoid robotics, autonomous drones and autonomous transport, he said.
Menell said the mining industry was not expanding quickly enough to meet these demands, while China continued to strengthen its position in critical mineral supply chains.
“The question is whether all of that increased attention and increased analysis has actually yet started to move the dial with respect to lessening Chinese dominance, and the answer is no,” he said.
Change in approach
The US government is a shareholder in TechMet, which has worked with Washington under three administrations. Menell said critical minerals had remained a priority for successive US governments.
He said the Trump administration had, however, moved faster and been more willing to try new approaches.
“The present government administration has been different to the last in terms of their willingness to not be beholden to precedent and bureaucracy and do big new things to move the dial,” Menell said.
That had already resulted in “some big deals” with more in the pipeline, he said.
Menell said TechMet was not directed by Washington despite the US government being a shareholder, but its investment strategy was closely aligned with US strategic interests.
“We are certainly available to support and engage and benefit from US strategic and global initiatives where appropriate,” he said.