总部位于伦敦的私募股权公司Appian Capital Advisory正与欧洲复兴开发银行（EBRD）及其他机构就投资关键矿产项目的资金进行磋商，该公司一位高管向路透社透露。
Appian Capital Advisory, a London-based private equity firm, is in talks with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and others for funds to invest in critical minerals projects, an executive at the firm told Reuters.
欧洲复兴开发银行发言人周四证实了围绕潜在交易的讨论，但未透露考虑中的投资规模。此次潜在交易是在Appian与国际金融公司（IFC）达成10亿美元联合基金之后出现的。
Discussions around a potential transaction were confirmed by an EBRD spokesperson on Thursday, and while the scale of investment under consideration was not stated, the potential transaction comes in the wake of Appian's $1 billion joint fund with the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Appian关键矿产业务首席执行官Paulo Castellari表示，Appian与国际金融公司的合作已为未来更多交易提供了蓝图。
Appian's link with the IFC has acted as a blueprint for more deals to come, said Paulo Castellari, Appian's CEO for critical minerals.
在北京去年对永磁实施出口管制、暴露了全球对单一来源的依赖后，西方国家正竞相为从汽车到国防等行业至关重要的金属实现供应链多元化。
Western countries are racing to diversify their supply chains for the metals that are vital to industries ranging from automotive to defence after Beijing rattled global markets last year when it imposed export curbs on permanent magnets and exposed their reliance on a single source.
政府、主权财富基金和开发机构正向该领域投入数十亿美元，并越来越多地寻求像Appian这样的专业私募股权公司协助，以有效引导资金。
Governments, sovereign wealth and development bodies are allocating billions of dollars to the sector and increasingly tapping specialist private equity firms like Appian to help them effectively direct capital.
Castellari表示，与国际金融公司的关系帮助Appian建立了与其他欧洲机构和开发机构的联系。“我们在欧洲获得了非常好的势头，”他说。
Appian's relationship with the IFC has helped it to establish connections with other European institutions and development agencies, Castellari said. "We have been getting really good momentum in Europe," he said.
“我们在一年前宣布了与国际金融公司的合作伙伴关系。但这是酝酿多年的成果。因此，其他合作伙伴关系也将需要时间，”他在悉尼举行的IMARC矿业会议间隙表示。
"We announced the partnership with the IFC a year ago. But it's something that has been in the making for many years. So likewise other partnerships will take time," he said on the sidelines of the IMARC mining conference in Sydney.
他说，由于Appian在过去五年里建设了14个矿山项目，证明了其能够按时、按成本、安全且负责任地建设矿山，这一过往记录为新的合作伙伴关系打开了大门。
Because Appian has built 14 mine projects over the last five years, it has shown that it can build them on time, at cost, safely and responsibly, he said, and that track record has opened the door to new partnerships.
Appian 计划在未来 12 至 24 个月内在全球部署 50 亿至 70 亿美元资金，其中约 20 亿美元用于非洲，但政策不确定性正将投资推向拉丁美洲，首席执行官 Michael Scherb 本周早些时候表示。
Appian plans to deploy $5 billion to $7 billion globally over the next 12 to 24 months, with roughly $2 billion for Africa, though policy uncertainty is pushing investment toward Latin America, CEO Michael Scherb said earlier this week.
“我们可以确认，与 Appian 的讨论正在进行中。我们不在交易完成前对潜在交易发表评论，”欧洲复兴开发银行（EBRD）一位发言人对路透社表示。
"We can confirm that discussions with Appian are ongoing. We do not comment on potential transactions before they are concluded," a spokesperson for the EBRD told Reuters.
Castellari 说，Appian 还将考虑进一步向下游加工资产投资。加工已被证明是某些类型关键矿产（如稀土磁体）的更大瓶颈，法国首席关键矿产贸易官员本周早些时候在悉尼提出了这一点。
Appian will also look at investing further downstream into processing assets, Castellari said. Processing has proven to be a greater chokepoint for some types of critical minerals like rare-earth magnets, a point that was raised by France's top critical minerals trade official in Sydney earlier this week.
“关键矿产的美妙之处在于，平均单笔投资规模较小，”因此可以为更多项目提供资金，Castellari 说，他曾担任法国 Eramet（ERMT.PA）首席执行官。
"The beauty with critical minerals is that on average the ticket size is smaller," so more projects can be funded, said Castellari, who previously served as CEO of France's Eramet (ERMT.PA).