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Europe, US racing to challenge China’s dominance over vital African minerals market, but will they succeed?
- Countries in the West are attempting to challenge China’s lead in the mining and refining of vital minerals including cobalt and copper
- The EU and the US have agreed to help the DRC, Zambia and Angola develop the Lobito transport corridor to help ease supply of minerals
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As the world transitions to green energy, the race is on to control the mining and refining of vital minerals such as cobalt, lithium and graphite. The current leader in that race, by far, is China – which controls the majority of the market. But that dominance is fast being challenged by the West.
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During last month’s Global Gateway Forum in Brussels, the European Union made it known it intended to challenge China’s dominance of the mining and processing of minerals that power electronics and electric vehicles.
The US has also announced various plans aimed at securing mineral supplies from resource-rich Africa in recent months.
In Central Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) supplies more than 70 per cent of the world’s cobalt, exported almost exclusively to China. Just south of the DRC, China has made extensive investments in Zambia, which has one of the world’s highest-grade deposits of copper.
Now both countries are being courted by the EU and America.
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On the margins of the Global Gateway Forum, the EU signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the DRC and Zambia to develop the critical and strategic raw materials value chains. A similar deal was struck with the US last year.
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China-built hydropower station in Angola enters main construction phase
China-built hydropower station in Angola enters main construction phase
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