2026

Summit


CMF US-Africa Investment SUMMIT

June 3, 2026 Washington, DC

​The Critical Minerals Forum is hosting its 3rd Annual Summit, a convening of senior U.S. government officials, international finance institutions, sovereign investors, and mining executives focused on accelerating investment across critical mineral supply chains.

Attendance is open to investors, manufacturers, metals traders, miners, U.S. Government, and minerals processing firms. Paid CMF member companies receive free admission.

Summit Programming

Join us for a full day of programming, including panels, investment showcases, supply chain mapping and cost forecasts. Senior U.S. government officials, foreign ministers, and private sector executives will meet with investors to to identify opportunities, deploy capital, and accelerate collaboration across critical industries. Topic include:

  • Strengthening U.S.–Africa cooperation in critical minerals and strategic industries

  • The role of transparent cost and pricing mechanisms in supporting sustainable supply chains

  • Advancing environmentally responsible mining, processing practices, and community development

  • Addressing regulatory considerations and investment frameworks to support project development

  • The event will feature senior U.S. government officials involved in mineral project finance and supply security, foreign mining ministers and heads of state, executives from commercially-viable mining and mineral processing companies, and investors providing the capital to build these resilient supply chains.

  • Tentative (Subject to Change)

    8:35 AM | Opening Remarks by President Rob Strayer

    8:45 AM | CMF Metals Platform Demo

    • Live demonstration of CMF data + project pipeline platform

    • Africa-focused asset mapping and investment visibility

    9:00 AM | Keynote Addresses (Government and Global Investment)

    9:30 AM | PANEL: U.S. Development Finance in Africa

    10:00 AM | PANEL: International Finance & Sovereign Capital

    • Focus: co-investment, risk mitigation, blended finance

    10:45 AM | PANEL: African Mining Ministers Roundtable

    • Ministers from key jurisdictions

    • Focus: regulatory frameworks, project pipelines, investor readiness

    11:25 AM | PANEL: Defense Industrial Base Demand Signal

    • Defense Primes + advanced manufacturers

    • Focus: procurement needs, offtake, supply chain requirements

    11:50 AM | Sponsored Executive Insights Limited Corporate Speaking Slots

    • Short, high-impact executive remarks. Positioned before lunch for peak audience

    12:30 – 1:30 PM | U.S.–Africa Critical Minerals Leadership Luncheon

    • Structured to align: Investors, Mine operators, Government officials

    _________________________________________________

    1:30 - 4:30 PM | AFTERNOON PROGRAM: Commodity Deep Dives & Investment Execution

    Each session will feature:

    • Baseline Market Presentation by DARPA OPEN: Market outlook, pricing, supply gaps

    • Commercial Project Pipeline Overview: identifying viable, financeable assets

    • Asset Presentations by mining companies, project developers, and African governments

    • Open Discussion & Q&A between Investors, manufacturers, and policymakers

    Session I: Tungsten End-to-End Supply Chain + Project Pipeline

    Session II: Antimony Supply Security & Near-Term Production

    Session III: Rare Earths & Magnet Supply Chain

    _________________________________________________

    5:00 - 7:00 PM | Networking Reception

  • This event is structured as an actionable forum for African leadership to convene with both U.S. government and private financiers. There have been many formal governmental agreements, and this event is the next practical step in catalyzing durable investment and project development across Africa.

  • There are still opportunities to sponsor this event! If your company wishes to speak or be highlighted during the investment showcase, please reach out to events@cmforum.org or indicate your interest here.

    Sponsored Executive Insights (5 min each)

    Limited Corporate Speaking Slots

    • Short, high-impact executive remarks

    • Positioned before lunch for peak audience

    Afternoon Asset Presentations (5 min each)

    • If your company develops tungsten, antimony, REEs, or magnets, please reach out for the opportunity to be featured in our asset presentations to a number of investors, USG financiers, manufacturers, and foreign governments.

    Meal or Branding Sponsorship

    • There are opportunities to sponsor a meal and cobrand the event. Reach out to events@cmforum.org

  • "…according to more than two dozen industry consultants, purchasing agents, analysts, regulators and investors who told Reuters the [Critical Minerals Forum] reflects one of the boldest efforts to date to transform the ways certain metals are bought and sold."

    Ernest Scheyder, Reuters

  • "The value-add for me, having worked in this for a number of years, was bringing together a group of people who actually were from industry: mining, OEMs, big primes. Oftentimes, it's just not like that."

    Dennis Bartow, Polemarchoi

Last Year’s Summit

October 7 & 8, 2025 | 2nd Annual Summit

We convened the full supply chain, connecting miners, minerals processors, and advanced manufacturers with metals traders, private equity, venture capital, and U.S. and foreign government officials in one room. The result was actionable connections, commercial transactions, and durable partnerships.

In panels with the defense sector, we discussed procurement strategies and navigating sourcing across multiple tiers of suppliers. Allied foreign governments underscored their capacity to collaborate on tangible steps toward mineral resilience, while making clear that the “middle” of refining and processing must be built into U.S. and allied supply chains. Former and current U.S. government officials emphasized the urgency of this issue—from project finance to direct engagement with mineral-related projects. Executives from domestic producers, including South32 Hermosa and NioCorp Developments, spoke about their anticipated role in securing supply for U.S. industries.

We also previewed the CMF Dashboard, a comprehensive, novel tool for supply, demand, and cost insights with geographic customization and asset-level cost curves. Powered by AI-driven models that forecast trends by country and identify minerals most vulnerable to disruption, it provides transparent outputs to help stakeholders make informed investment decisions and accelerate new capacity. With transparent cost information and without relying on manipulated benchmark indices, suppliers and end-users can confidently enter into offtake contracts using price indices that are relevant to the counterparties and viable for the long term. Data-driven modeling of supply-demand dynamics and production costs helps de-risk investments and counteract the distortions created by state-backed market manipulation