The Case of the Export-Import Bank and the International Development Finance Corporation
In recent years, the United States government has adopted a geopolitical strategy of diversifying the sourcing of critical minerals in an effort to reduce dependence on China. This objective gained considerable steam under the Biden administration and continues to be a priority of the second Trump administration.
Two US government trade support agencies – the Export Import Bank (EXIM) and the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) — are making sizeable loans, debt guarantees, and equity investments to aid extractive industries and the building of infrastructure required to bring minerals and petroleum to market. These two agencies have become the centerpiece of US efforts to increasingly extract resources such as copper, cobalt, graphite, coltan, tantalum and lithium needed for the transition to more climate friendly economies, the growth of the Artificial Intelligence industry, and for national defense.[i]
These two agencies are in a position to play a leadership role in working with private sector partner companies to ensure highest standards for community development. This will not only advance the US government’s development, economic growth, and foreign policy objectives, but will provide benefits to private sector firms through risk reduction and the enhancement of their brands.
IWA’s Extractive Industry and Human Development Center is committed to researching and publishing information about best practices by private and public sector actors in this domain to be used as models for approaches that while ensuring stable operations also promote human development.
Our aim is to help governments and business avoid practices that have proven suboptimal both for companies and the communities they impact. There are instances when extractive industries have left the communities in which they are active worse off economically and socially, at times leading to youth alienation and even violent extremism. According to the international NGO, Global Witness, between 2021 and 2023, there were 334 incidents of violence or protest linked to mining copper, cobalt, lithium and nickel in the top 10 producing countries.[ii]
From a foreign policy perspective, ensuring that US-supported investments have positive human security outcomes is particularly important, given the retreat of US soft power, such as the recent elimination of the United States Agency for International Development and the Voice of America. The dramatic pullback from the use of so-called soft power instruments has created a vacuum in the human security space that geopolitical rivals can and are capitalizing on to discredit western business activities in the developing world. In this context, it is in the interest of the U.S. government/people and businesses that EXIM and DFC ensure businesses benefiting from their financial instruments produce positive human development outcomes where they operate. EXIM and DFC can help lead the way to better outcomes.
Below, we will examine select cases where misguided social impact practices have harmed the interest of companies and hurt local communities. Our purpose is to demonstrate why EXIM and DFC need to exercise greater positive leadership.
The southern African country of Mozambique stands out as an illustrative example where more could have been done to ensure positive human development. In one instance, protests by community members forced the closure of a mine benefiting from a DFC loan. In another instance, EXIM promised loans to petroleum firms despite violent responses locally to the resettlement of communities. In this case there were even allegations that a government security force protecting the compound of TotalEnergies had killed more than a hundred innocent civilians.
We also suggest methods for engaging local communities and for monitoring of social and environmental impact to mitigate negative repercussions on local people. Adopting better social license practices by US-government supported companies will help to ensure more consistent, positive human security outcomes.
It is especially critical that the US Congress exercise its oversight responsibilities over EXIM and DFC and the financial support these institutions provide to private sector firms to ensure that social license practices benefit local communities.
DFC Loan to a Mining Firm that Community Protests Shut Down
In September 2023, the DFC made a US$150 million tentative loan commitment to Twigg Exploration and Mining Limitada – a subsidiary fully-owed by Syrah Resources (based in Australia) – for its graphite mine in Balama, located in Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique. Syrah, a major graphite producer outside of China, also received a loan in 2022 from the Department of Energy for $102 million to build a graphite processing plant in Vidalia, Louisiana, a facility that is now operational. Syrah has since asked for a second loan guarantee of approximately $300 million to increase the capacity of this plant. Tesla is to be a major beneficiary of these loans, as it reached an agreement with Syrah in 2021 to purchase 80 percent, roughly 8,000 tons, of the refined graphite that Syrah was to produce at its Vidalia’s processing facility. Tesla uses a graphite anode in its lithium-ion batteries
In late September 2024, a group of farmers – with grievances arising from the resettlement of their communities to make room for the mine and processing facilities – initiated protest actions near the Balama mine complex.[iii]
While these protests were underway, Syrah received a $53 million tranche from the DFC, in November 2024, to be used as Balama’s working capital.[iv] The release of these funds occurred after the protests began and just prior to the December 2024 release of an assessment conducted by the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance at the behest of Syrah. The assessment indicated that Syrah’s community engagement process was flawed.[v]
After a local militia known as the Naparamas joined in the community protests the mine complex was forced to shut down completely. This obliged Syrah to declare Force Majeure in December 2024. In invoking the Force Majeure, a party to a contract can avoid being found in breach of the contract and being held responsible for damages that arise from the inability to perform. Accordingly, the protests caused the company to default on its DFC loan and the DOE loans for its processing plant in Louisiana.[vi]
On May 5, 2025, Syrah announced that it had restored access to the mine after reaching an agreement with local farmers and government officials.[vii] In August 2025, the DFC reinitiated its disbursement of funds to Syrah, which had been paused due to the Force Majeure.[viii]
EXIM Banks’s Loan Commitments Appears to Ignore a Violent Insurgency
The emergence of violent extremism in Cabo Delgado occurred against a backdrop of increasing foreign economic investments in the region, particularly by the British firm Gemsfield, which obtained a concession to mine rubies, and by the U.S. petroleum company Anadarko, which set out to build a Liquified Natural Gas facility. Violent abuses by security forces protecting Gemsfield’s operations appear to have been the trigger for the rise of violent extremism.[ix]
Despite the insecurity of the social and political environment, EXIM has twice made loan commitments for the development of the LNG facility in Cabo Delgado Province, raising questions about the bank’s commitment to human security.
The US-based firm had obtained concessions from the Mozambican government to construct and operate one of the world’s largest LNG plants to be fed by offshore gas production and the development of a port capable of harboring vessels specially designed to transport LNG. As part of its engagement, Anadarko said that it sought to have a positive social impact, so the company could enjoy good community relations, contribute positively to the stabilization of the region, and enjoy a more secure work environment.
The development of the LNG project entailed the resettlement of thousands of farmers and fishing people from the Afungi peninsula in the Palma District of Cabo Delgado Province. Anadarko’s stated goal was to oversee resettlement in a way that restored or improved the standard of living of those displaced. The author’s conversations with local community members paints a different picture. The social and economic disruptions provoked by land appropriation and population resettlement by Anadarko became drivers of violent extremist recruitment. [x]
The Mozambican government contracted with a series of Private Military Companies (PMCs) to end the violent insurgency in Cabo Delgado, including the Russian PMC, the Wagner Group, headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin. The full Wagner contingent arrived in Cabo Delgado in September 2019 but departed by early 2018 having suffered significant losses.[xi] Interestingly, the same month the Wagner forces arrived was the same month the EXIM approved a $5 billion loan to Anadarko. The timing of the EXIM loan commitment raises red flags of the agency’s commitment to human security, as it approved a loan for an operation that already had serious human security outcomes.
While this insecurity was underway, another American firm, Occidental Petroleum, acquired Anadarko Petroleum in August 2019; Occidental then sold Anadarko’s Mozambican assets in September to the French firm, Total — later called TotalEnergies. EXIM’s loan commitment was then transferred to TotalEnergies. In the deal, TotalEnergies inherited the Anadarko LNG project as well as the insecurity already existing in Cabo Delgado Province.[xii] Since 2017, it is estimated that over one million people have been displaced and more than 6,100 have died as a result of the conflict that emerged in Cabo Delgado.
The onshore LNG project taken over by TotalEnergies suffered from actions by the violent extremist insurgency in the nearby town of Palma in March 2021. Nearly 1,200 local residents and around 55 TotalEnergies contractors were killed, according to a journalistic investigation of the impact. In response TotalEnergies stopped all its operations and declared a Force Majeure. None of this EXIM’s $5 billion loan had been transferred to TotalEnergies.
After this attack, the Rwanda government deployed a 3,000 combat-ready force that appears to focus on creating an operationally secure zone for the French TotalEnergies onshore LNG facility. This protection of the French company’s operation came after a 500 million Euro commitment of humanitarian aid to Rwanda by the French government.[xiv]
With the Force Majeure still in place, in March 2025, EXIM made a new loan commitment of $4.7 billion to TotalEnergies. This occurred despite the fact that in October 2024, Politico published an exposé about how Mozambican government soldiers based on the grounds of the TotalEnergies site in 2021 carried out rapes of women and a mass killing of innocent civilians. According to the Politico account:
The soldiers accused the villagers of being members of the insurgency. They separated the men — a group of between 180 and 250 — from the women and children. Then they crammed their prisoners into the shipping containers on either side of the entrance, hitting, kicking and striking them with rifle butts.
The soldiers held the men in the containers for three months. They beat, suffocated, starved, tortured and finally killed their detainees. Ultimately, only 26 prisoners survived.[xv]
According to a report on Politico’s European website published shortly after this exposé, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, warned TotalEnergies about these human rights violations. He said legislation going into effect in 2027 would require compensation to victims of abuses.[xvi]
In July 2025, the US NGO Friends of Earth and a Mozambican NGO, Justiça Ambiental (Environmental Justice) challenged in a US Court EXIM’s approval of the $4.7 billion to TotalEnergies. The lawsuit alleges that the LNG project:
. . . has displaced thousands of local people, been the site of alleged human rights violations, surrounded by a violent conflict, and will cause significant environmental destruction. Yet, as alleged in the lawsuit, EXIM rushed through approval without conducting required environmental reviews, economic assessment, or allowing the required input by the public and Congress. EXIM failed to follow its own Charter and federal law, setting a dangerous precedent for future decisions.[xvii]
In October 2025, TotalEnergies ended its Force Majuere for the LNG operations. TotalEnergies says that the cost of halting its operations for four years added around US$4.5bn to the original price tag. TotalEnergies is also requesting from the Mozambican government a 10-year extension of the development and production period of the project. Reportedly, the company is bringing in workers to the LNG site by air and sea because of the continued insecurity.[xviii]
Developing Better Practices to Ensure Positive Outcomes
EXIM and DFC and indeed the US Congress must ensure that positive human development outcomes result from investments made in the extractive industries. The above Mozambican examples indicate that multiple stakeholders – investing businesses, impacted communities, security forces – suffered. If the US government intention is to leverage the private sector for development in lower- and middle-income countries for both the upliftment of the host economies and for American manufacturing, the U.S. government must ensure that these corporations adopt social responsibility approaches that are truly effective.
EXIM and DFC need to play a stronger role to ensure that businesses benefiting from their financial support optimize their “social license.” It should be noted that businesses have a lot to gain from a more robust social license, helping to mitigate risk of project failure, costly delays or damaged reputation that can adversely affect capital market perception in an increasingly polarized world with competing geopolitical interests.
It appears that the unsuccessful strategies of companies and the nongovernment organizations contracted to facilitate sustainable development in communities affected by corporate operations have either not used or unsuccessfully implemented informed, evidence-driven practices and methodologies.
EXIM and DFC should require more robust community engagement plans from clients before making commitments to support projects. Throughout the implementation of projects, there needs to be constant monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of the impact on communities by highly-qualified independent social auditors with the objective of taking corrective action when social impact outcomes fall short. Sharing of independent M&E findings with governments and in-country NGOs contracted to help corporations meet their social responsibilities goals will help keep all pertinent actors on track and on the straight and narrow.
Both DFC and EXIM must insist that companies receiving support implement a structured grievance mechanism for receiving, assessing, and addressing concerns from stakeholders, particularly communities affected by projects. These mechanisms are crucial for meeting corporate accountability and human rights obligations, building trust, and providing a channel for resolving issues related to environmental, social, and operational impacts, such as land use, compensation, and employment.[xix]
To minimize the chances of private-sector investments fueling alienation, discontent and conflict, it is important to apply evidence-driven best practices for community engagement and social investment as part of a conflict prevention strategy. Proven methodologies from the field of Social and Behavior Change Communication, structured on community participation approaches, have proven quite capable of restoring trust between governments and society, and of improving development outcomes. Local traditional leaders, women’s groups, youth groups and other civic organizations must be at the table when decisions about community development such as access to quality healthcare delivery, education, economic infrastructure, access to markets, employment, etc. are made.[xx] Indeed, such techniques have been used in the past in Cabo Delgado to effectively combat the illegal timber industry through community buy-in into the effort.[xxi]
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[i] https://foe.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Transition-Minerals_Issue_Brief_final.pdf
[ii] Global Witness. Critical Mineral Mines Tied to 111 Violent Incidents and Protests on Average a Year. Global Witness, 2024. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/critical-minerals/critical-mineral-mines-tied-to-111-violent-incidents-and-protests-on-average-a-year/
[iii] Sánchez, Wilder Alejandro. “Protests Shutter Mozambique’s Balama Graphite Mine.” Geopolitical Monitor, 30 December 2024. https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/protests-shutter-mozambiques-balama-graphite-mine/
[iv] Northey, Hannah. “DOE: Embattled Graphite Producer Is Making Loan Payments.” E&E News, 13 December 2024. https://www.eenews.net/articles/doe-embattled-graphite-producer-is-making-loan-payments/
[v] Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA). Syrah Balama Audit Report Packet. IRMA, December 2024. https://www.irma.org/syrah-balama-audit-report-packet
[vi] “Australia’s Syrah Resources Shares Tank on Force Majeure, US Loan Defaults.” Club of Mozambique, 12 September 2025. https://clubofmozambique.com/news/australias-syrah-resources-shares-tank-on-force-majeure-us-loan-defaults-reuters-272455/#:~:text=Force%20majeure%20is%20a%20clause,Mozambique%20due%20to%20the%20protests
[vii] https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/2025/05/06/oilgas/extractivas/cabo-delgado-syrah-resources-recupera-acesso-a-mina-de-grafite-de-balama/
[viii] Syrah Receives US $65 m from DFC to Ramp Up Balama After Suspension.” Mining Weekly, 19 August 2025. https://www.miningweekly.com/article/syrah-receives-65m-from-dfc-to-ramp-up-balama-after-suspension-2025-08-19
[ix] Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA). Syrah‑Balama Audit Report Packet. IRMA, December 2024. https://www.irma.org/syrah-balama-audit-report-packet
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. “Gemfields Settles UK Claim Over Alleged Human Rights Abuses at Ruby Mine in Mozambique for £5.8 Million; Co. Denies Liability.” Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 29 January 2019. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/gemfields-settles-uk-claim-over-alleged-human-rights-abuses-at-ruby-mine-in-mozambique-for-58-million-co-denies-liability/
- [x] Pirio, G., Pittelli, R., and Adam, Y. The Emergence of Violent Extremism in Northern Mozambique. African Center for Strategic Studies, Spotlight, 25 March 2018. https://africacenter.org/spotlight/the-emergence-of-violent-extremism-in-northern-mozambique/
- Pirio, G., Pittelli, R., and Adam, Y. The Many Drivers Enabling Violent Extremism in Northern Mozambique. African Center for Strategic Studies, Spotlight, 20 May 2019. https://africacenter.org/spotlight/the-many-drivers-enabling-violent-extremism-in-northern-mozambique/
- Pirio, G., Pittelli, R., and Adam, Y. “Cries from the Community: Listening to the People of Cabo Delgado.” African Center for Strategic Studies, 30 August 2021. https://africacenter.org/spotlight/cries-from-the-community-listening-to-the-people-of-cabo-delgado/
[xi] Sauer, Pjotr. “In Push for Africa, Russia’s Wagner Mercenaries Are ‘Out of Their Depth’ in Mozambique.” The Moscow Times, 19 November 2019. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/11/19/in-push-for-africa-russias-wagner-mercenaries-are-out-of-their-depth-in-mozambique-a68220/
[xii] Pirio, G. and Robert Pittelli, “President Biden Needs To Ensure His Faith In The Private Sectors Role In Foreign Policy Pays Off – Analysis,” Eurasia Review, March 23, 2024. https://www.eurasiareview.com/23032024-president-biden-needs-to-ensure-his-faith-in-the-private-sectors-role-in-foreign-policy-pays-off-analysis/
[xiii]Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. “Mozambique: Cabo Delgado Conflict Death Toll Tops 6,100 Amid Ongoing Violence, Child Abductions, and TotalEnergies’ Planned $20 bn Gas Project Resumption.” Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 5 August 2025. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/mozambique-cabo-delgado-conflict-death-toll-tops-6100-amid-ongoing-violence-child-abductions-and-totalenergies-planned-20bn-gas-project-resumption/ Business & Human Rights Resource Centre+1
Al Jazeera. “UN Says Nearly 60,000 Displaced by Heavy Fighting in Northern Mozambique.” Al Jazeera, 5 August 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/5/un-says-nearly-60000-displaced-by-heavy-fighting-in-northern-mozambique#:~:text=The%20Southern%20African%20nation%20has,Africa%20Centre%20for%20Strategic%20Studies
[xiv] Al Jazeera. “Rwanda Deploys 1,000 Soldiers to Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado.” Al Jazeera, 10 July 2021. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/10/rwanda-deploys-1000-soldiers-to-mozambique-cabo-delgado#:~:text=In%20July%202021%2C%20Rwanda%20began%20deploying%201%2C000,to%20deal%20with%20terrorism%20and%20security‑related%20issues Al Jazeera
Agence Française de Développement (AFD). “France’s Half Billion Euro Boost to Rwanda’s Health, Training and Climate.” AFD, 5 February 2024. https://www.afd.fr/en/actualites/frances-half-billion-euro-boost-rwandas-health-training-and-climate#:~:text=%C3%80%20l’%C3%89cole%20polytechnique%20IPRC,it’s%20time%20for%20an%20assessment
[xv] Perry, Alex. “’All Must Be Beheaded’: Revelations of Atrocities at French Energy Giant’s African Stronghold.” POLITICO, 29 October 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/29/revelations-of-atrocities-at-french-energy-giants-african-stronghold-00185817
[xvi] “EU Foreign Policy Chief Warns French Energy Giant on Human Rights Violations.” POLITICO Europe, 30 October 2024. https://www.politico.eu/article/totalenergies-human‑rights‑mozambique-joseph-borrell/
[xvii] Friends of the Earth US and Justiça Ambiental / Friends of the Earth Mozambique. “Friends of the Earth International Members Sue EXIM for Unlawfully Approving $4.7 B to Support Disastrous Mozambique LNG Project.” Friends of the Earth, 15 July 2025. https://foe.org/uncategorized/foe-members-sue-exim/
[xviii] Gonçalves, Maria. “TotalEnergies Criticised for Lifting Force Majeure on US$20 bn Mozambique LNG Project.” Global Trade Review (GTR), 29 October 2025. https://www.gtreview.com/news/africa/totalenergies-criticised-for-lifting-force-majeure-on-us20bn-mozambique-lng-project/
[xix] Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO). “Purpose, Design & Implementation: Grievance Mechanism Toolkit.” CAO, 2016. https://www.cao-ombudsman.org/grm/purpose-design-and-implementation.html
[xx] Gregory Pirio, Improving Development Outcomes Through Social And Behavior Change Communication: Applying a Governance Lens (USAID 2018).
[xxi] Pirio, G., Pittelli, R., and Adam, Y, “Corporate Social Responsibility in Mozambique Requires Proven Development Methodologies,” HSE Now (Society of Petroleum Engineers), March 2, 2020. https://pubs.spe.org/en/hsenow/hse-now-article-page/?art=6685