Fyi, In other News, I see where
China’s grip on Africa’s minerals sparks a US response
The US is going full steam ahead in its effort to catch up with China in a part of the world that’s become central to the green transition: Africa’s “Copperbelt.”
Loaded with minerals critical to the production of batteries and other renewable energy components, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo have become the latest venue in the struggle for advantage between Washington and Beijing.
As part of its stated ambition to challenge China’s dominance, the Biden administration saw an opportunity to revitalize a century-old rail line linking key African mines to an Atlantic Ocean port.
Called the Lobito corridor, the US is investing hundreds of millions of dollars on the project.
In the Bloomberg Originals mini-documentary
How the US Can Rival China in Africa, we show how the initiative could offer a quick route to the US and the European Union for these critical elements.
But the US is late to the game.
China first built a rail line in the 1970’s heading eastward out of the Copperbelt to the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
A Chinese state company later rebuilt a key railway line in Angola at an estimated cost of $2 billion.
Over the past decade, President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative has seen China invest almost $1 trillion dollars on infrastructure projects in developing countries.
The US hasn’t come close to matching that.
Now, this may be changing, with the Lobito corridor serving as a flagship for the plan by US President Joe Biden and the Group of Seven to invest $600 billion in similar projects over five years.
However, it’s not just infrastructure that China has dominated.
Much of Congo’s copper production is controlled by Chinese companies, and there’s been little US investment in Zambian mining.
A Silicon Valley startup called KoBold metals says it wants to alter that dynamic.
Backed by Bill Gates and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, the company is racing to transform its massive copper deposit in northern Zambia into a mine that will be a key beneficiary of the Lobito corridor project.
www.mining.com/web/chinas-grip-on-africas-minerals-sparks-a-us-response/
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Zimbabwe lithium export earnings treble as projects take off
Zimbabwe earned $209 million from lithium exports in the first nine months of 2023, nearly treble last year’s earnings, Mines Minister Zhemu Soda said on Wednesday, as Chinese-driven mining and processing projects take off.
Africa’s top lithium producer, Zimbabwe hopes demand for the mineral, which is key for renewable energy storage, will help revive its ailing economy.
Lithium is set to become Zimbabwe’s third biggest mineral export after gold and platinum group metals, which registered $2.46 billion and $2.27 billion in export receipts last year.
“The revenue generated from the export of lithium grew from $1.8 million in 2018 to $70 million in 2022.
By September 2023, a total of $209 million had been realized from lithium exports,” Soda said at a mining conference in Bulawayo.
Chinese firms, including Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Sinomine Resource Group, Chengxin Lithium Group, Yahua Group and Canmax Technologies, have spent more than $1 billion over the past two years to acquire and develop lithium projects in Zimbabwe.
Most of these companies have built processing plants commissioned this year and are shipping lithium concentrates to China for further processing.
Zimbabwe’s government banned raw lithium exports last year, as it seeks to get more value from the mineral.
Other major producers are expected to start operations in Zimbabwe in 2024 as the country seeks to expand output, Soda said.
China to invest $2.8 billion in Zimbabwe in lithium, energy
Chinese companies were awarded licenses in the third quarter that could see $2.79 billion of investment flow into Zimbabwe, mostly in mining and energy as the government pushes to develop some of Africa’s biggest lithium deposits and end power outages.
The planned investment, a tenfold increase on the $271 million pledged in the same period last year, dwarfs that of its closest rival, the United Arab Emirates, which eon licenses to invest $498.5 million.
The total value of investment licenses awarded was $3.41 billion.
Chinese applications “were the most by number and investment value with mining being their most preferred sector followed by the manufacturing sector,” the Zimbabwe Development Agency, the state-owned unit tasked with securing investment, said in a report on Wednesday.
China accounted for more than two thirds of the 180 applications.
Chinese companies have been buying lithium mines, which supply a key component for the batteries used in electric vehicles.
They are also involved in revamping and building power plants in the country.
Of the planned investment $2.8 billion is slated for energy projects and $411 million for mining.
One China-backed project is a $2.3 billion planned energy and mining complex that will process minerals in Mapinga while another is 500 megawatt solar energy project.
The mines ministry said Wednesday the country has earned $209 million in revenue from lithium exports in the nine months to September.
www.mining.com
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Food for thought ( Felix you Fool )
GLTAH's
Cheers
Frank
