Executive Summary
The Colombia-United States (US) memorandum of understanding (MOU) on critical minerals creates a framework for strengthening Colombia’s potential contribution to US supply-chain diversification. In the short term, the South American country’s contribution may be limited, but the potential of its mining industry could expand significantly with further exploration, mine development and greater processing and refining capacity. This could enable Colombian resources such as copper, zinc, graphite and potentially rare earth elements to become relevant to US supply chains. However, gaps in the critical-mineral sector constrain this potential. The memorandum’s commitment to identify investment opportunities in mining and processing projects within six months therefore provides an initial mechanism to address these constraints.
Introduction
On 8 September 2026, Colombia and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation on critical minerals. The agreement seeks to advance geological knowledge, financing, processing capabilities, recycling, and supply-chain diversification, among other areas (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Colombia, 2026; U.S. Department of State, 2026b). While Colombia has an established mining industry, much of this sector remains concentrated on extraction, with relatively limited downstream processing (Asociación Colombiana de Minería, 2025; United States Department of Commerce, 2026). This is particularly relevant in the context of the MOU, as the development of processing and refining capabilities could determine the extent to which Colombian mineral resources can contribute to US supply chains.
Analysis
The current supply of critical minerals from Colombia’s mining industry meets some of the needs of sectors seeking to diversify their sources of supply in the United States (United States Department of Commerce, 2026; U.S. Geological Survey, 2026). In the short term, Colombia could provide materials such as silver and nickel (Servicio Geológico Colombiano, 2020). In the case of silver, the United States has an import dependency of 77%, with most imports coming from Mexico, Canada, Chile and Turkey (U.S. Geological Survey, 2026). For nickel, US import dependency is 41%, with Canada, Norway, Australia and Brazil among its main suppliers (U.S. Geological Survey, 2026). In this context, Colombia’s existing production may offer opportunities for supply-chain diversification, although their strategic relevance to the US may differ from that of minerals for which the country faces greater supply vulnerabilities (White House, 2026; U.S. Geological Survey, 2026). The memorandum therefore goes beyond Colombia’s existing production by addressing future mining and processing capabilities.
In fact, strengthening processing capabilities could give Colombia’s mining industry a different form of strategic value. Developing processing capabilities could allow Colombia to increase its contribution to the US supply chains through materials for which the United States has greater import dependence. In the medium term, Colombian industry could develop greater processing capacity for minerals such as copper and zinc (Servicio Geológico Colombiano, 2020). In the longer term, greater exploration, investment and infrastructure could help develop its potential in graphite and rare earth elements (United States Department of Commerce, 2026; Bustamante and Cardona, 2024). Graphite may be of particular interest: the US market is entirely dependent on its imports, with China accounting for 46% of the import share (U.S. Geological Survey, 2026). Rare earth elements present a similar case, as the United States has an import dependency of 67%, while Chinese supplies account for 71% of imports (U.S. Geological Survey, 2026). Given Colombia’s resource potential, a key benefit for Washington of the MOU could therefore be gaining access to emerging Colombian industries by engaging in their growth and specialisation.
However, supplying materials with high demand in the United States would require the processing capabilities to be established in Colombia. In the South American country, specialisation has been mostly developed on commodities with high levels of extraction, such as coal (Asociación Colombiana de Minería, 2025; Asociación Colombiana de Minería, 2022). On the other hand, recycling has made progress in the treatment of critical minerals, including the production of black mass from batteries (Werner, Hernández and Schluep, 2025). This is relevant to the US because the development of refining could support its diversification strategy for resources with greater supply vulnerabilities (White House, 2026; U.S. Geological Survey, 2026). Graphite provides an example: although its production is not a main component of the Colombian economy, potential deposits have been identified around the Central Cordillera of the Andes (Bustamante and Cardona, 2024). Further exploration, mine development and advances in processing capabilities could eventually allow this resource to enter US supply chains on a larger scale.
To strengthen Colombia’s capabilities, the governments announced a six-month period following the signing of the MOU to identify investment opportunities in mining and processing projects (U.S. Department of State, 2026b). The process will involve developing and financing projects through guarantees, loans, equity, offtake agreements, insurance and/or regulatory facilitation (U.S. Department of State, 2026b). When considered against the longer-term development pathway outlined above, this process will also have to address challenges affecting Colombia’s mining industry, including limited geological exploration, gaps in available infrastructure and regulatory uncertainty (United States Department of Commerce, 2026). Given these barriers, the initial impact of the MOU may be concentrated on materials for which the South American country already has greater experience, such as copper and nickel. In this context, Colombia’s critical-minerals sector will require additional efforts to overcome these constraints and strengthen development across the whole industry.
Conclusion
The MOU highlights that the development of processing capacity is central to the potential contribution of Colombia’s critical minerals to US supply-chain diversification. The South American country’s existing production provides an initial basis for contributing to United States supply chains, but it does not cover the materials on which the US depends most. However, Colombia’s potential contribution extends beyond this, as greater processing and refining capacity could allow strategically important resources to become part of this relationship. This potential is constrained by gaps present in the Colombian mining environment. The memorandum’s focus on identifying investment opportunities within six months therefore represents a first step towards developing the capabilities needed to move beyond the extraction of raw minerals on established projects. Taken together, processing remains an important link between Colombia’s mineral potential and US supply-chain diversification, but turning that potential into commercially viable supply will also require exploration, project development and infrastructure. Accordingly, the developments needed to achieve greater specialisation in the Colombian mining sector will require efforts beyond the initial investments.
References
Asociación Colombiana de Minería (ACM) (2025) Minería en Colombia: Una oportunidad para el desarrollo. Available at: ACM – Minería en Colombia: Una oportunidad para el desarrollo
Asociación Colombiana de Minería (ACM) (2022) Apuestas para la minería 2022–2026. Available at: ACM – Apuestas para la minería 2022–2026
Bustamante, C. and Cardona, A. (2024) ‘Is the Central Cordillera of Colombia a potential source of graphite?: Implications for the energy transition in Colombia’, Andean Geology, 51(2), pp. 413–420. doi: 10.5027/andgeoV51n2-3728.
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Colombia (2026) ‘Colombia profundiza cooperación con Estados Unidos en minerales estratégicos y energía nuclear para fortalecer su seguridad energética’, 8 September. Available at: Cancillería – Colombia profundiza cooperación con Estados Unidos
Servicio Geológico Colombiano (SGC) (2020) Mapa Metalogénico de Colombia 2020. Available at: Servicio Geológico Colombiano – Mapa Metalogénico 2020
U.S. Department of State (2026b) ‘Secretary Rubio and Colombian Foreign Minister Bula Sign Arrangements on Critical Minerals and Civil Nuclear Cooperation’, 8 September. Available at: U.S. Department of State – Critical Minerals and Civil Nuclear Cooperation
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) (2026) Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026. Reston, VA: U.S. Geological Survey. doi: 10.3133/mcs2026.
United States Department of Commerce (2026) ‘Colombia Critical Minerals Mining Opportunities’. International Trade Administration. Available at: International Trade Administration – Colombia Critical Minerals Mining Opportunities
Werner, F., Hernández, C. and Schluep, M. (2025) Gestión de baterías usadas de ion-litio en Colombia: Lineamientos técnicos. World Resources Forum Association. Available at: Lineamientos técnicos – Gestión de baterías usadas de ion-litio en Colombia
White House (2026) ‘Securing America’s Defense Supply Chains and Ensuring Domestic Acquisition of Critical Materials’, Executive Order 14415, 20 July. Available at: White House – Securing America’s Defense Supply Chains
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