As investment adviser Appian Capital Advisory builds out its critical minerals portfolio to serve industrial and defence supply chains, the company has established a base in Washington DC, and appointed Brian Greeley CFO of critical minerals and Christoper Smith and John Meier as senior advisers.

Greeley formerly worked as senior VP and chief banking officer at the US Export-Import Bank, while Smith previously worked as chief government affairs officer at Ford Motor Company. Meier is a retired Rear Admiral of the US Navy.

The appointments bring direct experience across finance, industrial government affairs, public-private financing and defence procurement, which complements Appian's in-house technical team as it advances its existing critical minerals portfolio.

The critical minerals portfolio has a planned development capital pipeline of $2.5-billion over the next five years.

The additions strengthen Appian’s capabilities as it evaluates further critical minerals opportunities, helping ensure new investments are underwritten and structured to meet the specifications and offtake demands of industrial and defence supply chains. In turn, the presence in Washington DC reflects the firm's commitment to deepening its engagement with industrial defence and policy stakeholders.

Appian's portfolio currently spans cobalt, copper, graphite, lithium, mineral sands, nickel and rare earths assets, including Atlantic Strategic Minerals' mineral sands operation and the largest minerals separation plant in North America.

Atlantic is working to build domestic rare earths processing capacity in Virginia.

Notably, another investment of Appian is that of Gippsland Critical Minerals, which owns the advanced-stage Fingerboards project in Australia, which Appian says has the potential to provide 7.1% of the world's heavy rare earths dysprosium and terbium supply.

"These appointments reflect the growing complexity of sourcing, financing and delivering critical minerals projects at the pace industrial and government customers now require. Greeley, Smith and Meier bring direct experience and strengthen our ability to scale the critical minerals portfolio in step with the partners who rely on its supply," says Appian founder and CEO Michael Scherb.

"Mining is a highly technical industry, and without that expertise, organisations struggle to select and advance assets to reach production. Appian has the largest in-house technical team of any private capital investor in mining and is uniquely positioned to support not only asset selection but operatorship as well," he adds.

“In my experience structuring financing for critical minerals projects, I saw firsthand how aligning private capital with policy goals can accelerate projects to completion and meaningful production. Appian’s in-house technical expertise is a unique differentiator in the industry," comments Greeley.

He concludes that private capital must play a significant role in building global critical mineral supply chains, and Appian is positioned to be at the forefront of this effort.