India, Feb. 6 -- The US State Department listed Pakistan's Reko Diq mine as one of America's crucial foreign critical minerals investments aimed at securing Washington's supply chains.

The US Export Import Bank's $1.25 billion loan to finance the copper and gold mine in Pakistan's troubled Balochistan province is listed alongside the newly announced $10 billion Project Vault - which will create a domestic strategic critical minerals reserve - in a fact sheet released after Washington hosted a critical minerals ministerial summit on Wednesday. A delegation from Pakistan also attended the 55-nation conference, with India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also in attendance.

Washington announced in December that the US EXIM Bank had...