Critical Metals Corp. (Nasdaq: CRML) has executed a non-binding term sheet to form a 50%/50% joint venture with Saudi Arabia-based Tariq Abdel Hadi Abdullah Al-Qahtani & Brothers Company (TQB). The framework targets the development, financing, construction, and operation of a state-of-the-art rare earth processing facility in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Multiple reports describe the proposed project as carrying an estimated capital cost of up to USD 1.5 billion. The companies describe the structure as a mine-to-processing supply chain intended to expand non-Chinese processing capacity and strengthen supply security for Western-aligned markets.
A core input to the proposed Saudi facility would be concentrate from the Tanbreez Project in southern Greenland. Under the term sheet, 25% of Tanbreez’s rare earth concentrate production would be supplied to Saudi Arabia for the life of mine under long-term, market-based commercial terms. With this addition, the company says 100% of the Tanbreez Project’s rare earth concentrate production is now allocated under long-term offtake arrangements, providing full coverage for projected concentrate output. Critical Metals frames this as a way to de-risk the commercial pathway from mine to market, while creating an integrated channel from Greenland feedstock to downstream products.
How the JV Structure and Product Plan Are Designed to Work
The joint venture structure is presented as capital-efficient for CRML. The company says it will not issue equity or incur debt in connection with the JV and will retain its 50% ownership interest on a carried-interest basis, with no capital expenditure obligations related to construction of the processing facility. On the product side, the facility is expected to produce separated rare earth oxides, metals, and downstream products, including magnet-grade materials suitable for aerospace, defense, and high-performance industrial applications. The JV is positioned as a processing platform that can translate concentrate into separated and downstream materials within Saudi Arabia.
Strategically, the partners describe the project as aligned to a supply chain serving U.S. defense needs while involving industrial development in Saudi Arabia. The term sheet states the partnership will send all finished materials to the United States of America for use in the defense industrial complex of the USA. Other reporting similarly notes that finished products would be delivered exclusively to U.S. defense applications. TQB is described as a 75-year-old globally diversified industrial conglomerate group based in Saudi Arabia. The companies also state they will work collaboratively over the coming months to finalize technical, commercial, and regulatory aspects, including plant design, development timelines, and product specifications.
Within this rare earth processing joint venture in Saudi Arabia, the value proposition is not presented as a new technology breakthrough. Instead, it is framed as a structural response to supply chain concentration, pairing Greenland’s Tanbreez concentrate with Saudi downstream processing and U.S. demand. Commentary around the deal highlights a geopolitically diversified pathway intended to bypass China-centric chokepoints by anchoring processing capacity outside China. In parallel context on CRML’s broader Tanbreez work, the company has also referenced 2024 drilling results in Greenland with total rare earth oxide grades ranging from 0.39% to 0.54%, and it ordered a USD 1 million mobile laboratory from Bromet to expedite on-site geochemical analysis.
What did Critical Metals Corp and TQB agree to do in Saudi Arabia?
How much Tanbreez concentrate is allocated to the Saudi processing plan?
Where are the finished materials from the Saudi facility expected to go?
How is the Saudi rare earth processing joint venture structured for CRML financing?
What products is the facility expected to produce?
