The United States Department of State, through the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and the United States Embassy in Tunis, has awarded a 1.5 million dollar grant to consultants CrossBoundary Group to help PhosCo secure United States investment, commercial partnerships and technical expertise for its Gasaat phosphate project in Tunisia. The programme aims to attract investment of up to 100 million dollars. The award concludes the Notice of Funding Opportunity process first announced on August 10, 2026, under the title Safeguarding United States Critical Minerals Supply Chains in Tunisia.
The structure matters more than the cheque. PhosCo is not a party to the award and will not receive funds under it. Its role is as the counterparty asset for the United States investment and commercial engagement the programme facilitates, with access to a consortium of engineering, phosphate processing and Tunisian legal expertise assembled by CrossBoundary. The programme does not constitute a commitment by any party to invest in, finance or purchase product from PhosCo, and no investment, financing or offtake agreements have been entered into.
Gasaat forms part of PhosCo’s plan for an integrated phosphate hub in north western Tunisia, in the Northern Phosphate Basin. The State Department’s funding notice describes the basin as holding a 50 year, 146 million tonne deposit of phosphate rock, and Tunisia as occupying a pivotal position in the global competition for critical minerals, while noting that declining Tunisian phosphate production and underutilised reserves have constrained export revenues. Phosphate is a fertiliser input rather than a battery metal, and its inclusion shows how broadly Washington is drawing the critical minerals map when the alternative supplier base is concentrated elsewhere.