Unlocking Jordan’s Mineral Wealth: How CONNEX Helped Forge a New Era in Mining Agreements
The Challenge
For decades, Jordan’s mining sector focused largely on the extraction of non-metallic minerals like phosphate and potash. Yet beneath the Kingdom’s rugged terrain lies untapped potential: strategic minerals such as copper, gold, lithium, and rare earth elements – critical inputs for global supply chains for the green energy transition and digital transformation.
Recognizing the sector’s transformative potential, the Government of Jordan (GoJ), through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR), launched a bold strategy to diversify and upgrade its mining sector. Guided by national roadmaps like the Economic Vision Roadmap for Mining and the Economic Modernization Vision Executive Program, the GoJ’s goal is clear: attract responsible investment, build domestic processing capacity, develop local talent, and embed rigorous environmental and social standards across the mining value chain.
Yet turning vision into reality is never straightforward – especially when negotiating large-scale, hard-rock mining agreements for the first time. With existing experience rooted in sectors like oil shale and potash, MEMR faced a new level of complexity in developing Executive Agreements – the legal frameworks granting mining and export rights – that balance investor confidence with national interests. This is where CONNEX stepped in.
Our Role
Targeted Support for a Strategic Shift
CONNEX’s scoping mission to Amman helped clarify the GoJ’s core needs: geotechnical validation, legal rigor, and robust financial modeling. In response, CONNEX assembled a tailored multidisciplinary advisory team that brought together legal specialists, financial strategists, and sector-specific technical experts integrating the various disciplines in a holistic support approach.
Legal Expertise with Local Anchoring
Through collaboration with the International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP), a top-tier international law firm was engaged to provide legal support to the GoJ. The team worked in close collaboration with a Jordanian law firm and CONNEX financial experts to ensure local legal requirements are adequately covered and inputs aligned with the GoJ’s overall commercial objectives. The team of legal experts reviewed and refined a GoJ-provided model Executive Agreement (“EA”) and developed template EAs
specifically tailored for five mineral types – copper, gold, lithium, phosphate and rare earth elements – ensuring alignment with Jordanian legislation while drawing from international best practice.
Importantly, the team considered the full life cycle of mining operations, embedding clauses on environmental assessments, local community involvement, and post-mining rehabilitation. This approach ensured that the template agreements were not only legally sound, but also grounded in sustainable development principles. Government priorities were front and center throughout, with agreements designed to be realistic, enforceable, and investor-friendly without compromising national interests.
Fiscal Design with Strategic Flexibility
Simultaneously, CONNEX’s financial-strategic experts benchmarked international royalty and tax models to create fiscal regimes tailored to Jordan’s context and each specific mineral. Through in-depth workshops and scenario testing, MEMR explored the implications of different fiscal tools and gained confidence in selecting balanced, data-driven options.
One pivotal intervention emerged during the review of a rare earth elements investor’s financial model. Given the early stage of data development, the projections were still too preliminary for a definitive agreement. Rather than stall progress, CONNEX experts proposed an innovative two-phase structure: an initial exploration and early-production phase to allow for immediate activity and secure near-term revenue, followed by a full-production phase with renegotiated fiscal terms once reserves were confirmed. This phased model ensured both flexibility and fairness – protecting public interests while maintaining investment appeal. It now stands as a forward-looking template for other resource-rich nations navigating similar uncertainties.
Our Impact
With CONNEX’s support, Jordan is now entering negotiations with investors equipped with a comprehensive and robust toolkit. Five Executive Agreements – each tailored to a distinct mineral – have been finalized. These agreements leverage international best practices while being grounded in Jordanian legal frameworks.
Additionally, CONNEX has delivered adaptable fiscal models that provide the GoJ with a strategic foundation to optimize public revenue while keeping Jordan attractive to global investors. These models take into account mineral-specific economic dynamics and enable the government to adjust fiscal terms over time as project data becomes clearer.
MEMR’s institutional capacity has also been significantly enhanced. Through targeted workshops and ongoing engagement, Ministry staff have developed the knowledge and skills needed to analyze fiscal scenarios, understand contract structures, and approach negotiations with confidence and strategic insight.
CONNEX’s ongoing advisory support continues to play a vital role during live investor negotiations. The ability to respond quickly to investor proposals, make necessary legal and financial adjustments, and protect national interests in real-time has been cited by MEMR as one of the most valuable aspects of the partnership.
A Model for Strategic Resource Governance
By supporting Jordan in developing enforceable, balanced, and investment-ready mining agreements, CONNEX has helped lay the groundwork for a more diversified, resilient, and value-adding mining sector. The lessons and tools developed through this process will continue to serve Jordan as it unlocks the full potential of its geological wealth for sustainable national development.
