![]() ![]() China enjoys quasi-monopolies on the refining of a number of critical minerals: 85% of the rare earths, 70% of the world’s lithium, 84% of its nickel and 85% of its cobalt are refined and processed in China.įor local processing capacities to be established, African producing countries must also work to improve their business climate on capital-intensive industrial investments. Midstream, the transformation of critical minerals still largely eludes Africa, which fails to best capture the value of its natural resources. In particular for Western players (EU, USA), who are increasingly sensitive to products that are not only green, but also sustainable and traceable, “so that the energy solutions of the future are not built on the negation of the rights of the people”, as an NGO involved in DRC puts it. Second, to offer an acceptable ore from a political, social (economic impact on local populations, fate of artisanal miners) and environmental (carbon impact) point of view.This also involves the constitution of “national champions”, like OCP in Morocco on a crucial mineral for agriculture (phosphate) or Codelco in Chile, a public company among the world leaders in copper. This requires an improvement in the business environment to attract the colossal capital needed to develop these deposits, as well as accelerated investment in infrastructure (corridors from the “copper belt” to Tanzania, South Africa and Angola for example). First, produce more to maximise the role of producing African countries on the world market.The continent produces more than 70% of the world’s cobalt (DRC-Zambia), 60% of manganese (Gabon, South Africa), 25% of bauxite (Guinea), nearly 15% of copper (“copper belt” of the DRC-Zambia), a significant portion of graphite (Mozambique, Madagascar, Guinea). On the mining upstream, many African countries have been largely endowed with minerals, some evoking a “geological scandal”. READ MORE US looks to Africa to diversify supply chain for critical minerals
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