EV Battery Metals & Critical Minerals

Non-China supply chains built, financed, delivered

Bankable offtakes, multi-source aggregation, vertical integration, and institutional alignment. From resource to OEM - one commercial platform.

1991
First critical metals exports
from Kazakhstan & former USSR
35+
Years in rare and critical
metals trading
IATA DGR
Hazardous goods air freight
Class 4, 6, 8 metals
Tier‑1
Counterparties across
Japan, Europe, North America

Metal Supply Experts GmbH was established in Zug, Switzerland in 2018 as the institutional platform for an execution capability built in rare and critical metals since 1991.

China's REE export control suspension expires 10 November 2026. April 2025 licensing on seven heavy REE remains in force. European approval rates below 25%. The positioning window is closing.

The Material Map

Every metal MSE sources has a destination in the vehicle.

Lithium, nickel, cobalt, the magnet rare earths - abstract on a term sheet, physical in a platform. Hover or tap any element to see where it sits and why supply security is commercial, not theoretical.

Cathode
Lithium
Li - Cathode
Nickel
Ni - Cathode
Cobalt
Co - Cathode
Manganese
Mn - Cathode
Anode
Graphite
C - Anode
Ferro Phosphate
LFP Chemistry
Structure & Wiring
Aluminium
Al - Body & Pack
Copper
Cu - HV Wiring
Electric vehicle platform cutaway showing battery pack, motor and power electronics
Permanent Magnets
Neodymium
Nd - Motor Magnets
Praseodymium
Pr - Magnet Alloy
Dysprosium
Dy - Thermal Stability
Rare Earth Elements
Lanthanum
La - Power Electronics
Cerium
Ce - Glass & Sensors
Semiconductor & Specialty
Gallium
Ga - GaN Power
Indium
In - Display (ITO)
Germanium
Ge - ADAS Sensors
Scandium
Sc - Al-Sc Alloy
Cathode & Anode
Structural
HV Wiring
Motors & REE
Semiconductor & Specialty

Why MSE

01

Offtake Architecture

Bankable offtakes with price corridors. Take-or-pay. SPV under Swiss law. Fee and spread model - no naked price exposure.

02

Supply Aggregation

Multi-source portfolio: Central Asia, Australia, MENA, India, Latin America. Specification flexibility. Single-source risk eliminated.

03

Vertical Integration

Oxides to alloys to magnets. Gallium to GaN substrates. Each stage 5-7x value. MSE drives the movement down the chain.

04

Institutional Access

FORGE, CRMA strategic pipeline, EXIM, DFC, EIB, JOGMEC. Project positioning for sovereign financing and diplomatic support.

05

Traceability & ESG

Mine-to-OEM chain of custody. IRMA, ASI, OECD standards. Carbon tracking. CRMA Strategic Project alignment.

06

Kazakhstan Since 1991

Operational network across Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan. Critical metals corridors built before the term existed. Government-level relationships. Not a newcomer. Tajikistan: the resource base →

Value Chain

Each stage multiplies value. MSE integrates the chain.

Resource
REE, Li, Co, W, Ga. Mine or by-product.
→
Processing
Separation, refining. 90% China today.
→
Materials
NdFeB alloys, cathode precursors, GaN.
→
Components
Magnets, cells, power electronics.
→
OEM
EV, wind, 5G, aerospace. $1T+.

Track Record

The operational model is proven. The sector is new. The capability is not.

MSE was structured in 2018 to bring this thirty-year operational architecture — built by its founder in rare and critical metals — into institutional form. Offtake structuring under non-China sourcing constraints, IATA-compliant logistics, bonded trade finance, semiconductor-grade quality protocols, and direct OEM relationships across electronics, aerospace, and energy.

3 decades
Continuous presence in rare and critical metals trading
12+ metals
Rare and critical metals traded in volume
Air freight
Primary execution mode — IATA dangerous goods clearance
Zug
Swiss domicile — neutral jurisdiction for sensitive flows

Heritage

Critical minerals is not a new sector for MSE.

The capability MSE applies in critical minerals was built since 1991. Its founder was one of the principal traders of rare and critical metals out of Kazakhstan and the former Soviet Union — organising and executing end-to-end export flows of gallium and germanium, and trading significant volumes of indium, tantalum, niobium and niobium oxide, yttrium oxide, titanium (sponge and alloys), and the magnet metals group (samarium, neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium).

Counterparties included the Japanese sogo shosha — Sojitz (then Nissho Iwai), Toyota Tsusho, Mitsui, Marubeni, Chori — alongside Solvay (then Rhône-Poulenc), Eagle-Picher, and Wogen.

Critical metals are not bulk commodities. They move by air freight as IATA-classified dangerous goods — gallium UN 2803 (Class 8), lithium compounds (Class 4.3), tantalum and niobium powders (Class 4.1) — through bonded warehousing under customs supervision, with chain-of-custody documentation that satisfies semiconductor-grade purity requirements. MSE built that execution layer in the 1990s, before the term “critical minerals” entered industrial policy.

What is “critical” today, MSE was structuring three decades ago.

The mandates are binding. The financing is committed. MSE is ready.

Contact MSE →