A NEW battle for influence is emerging in Africa as the United States ramps up efforts to secure access to the continent’s critical minerals. These minerals, including cobalt and lithium, are essential for clean energy and electric vehicles, but are currently dominated by China’s processing infrastructure.
At the Green Energy Africa Summit held in Cape Town during Africa Oil Week, attendees carefully navigated discussions about this growing competition between the US and China for Africa’s critical minerals.
One of the panel’s speakers, Deputy Assistant Secretary Kimberly Harrington from the US State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources, mentioned that Washington was looking to ‘diversify’ its mineral supply chain rather than explicitly stating competition with China.
Chiza Charles Newton Chiumya, the African Union’s director for industry, minerals, entrepreneurship, and tourism, acknowledged the considerable interest in Africa’s critical minerals but refrained from framing it as a competition between the West and China.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Washington took a diplomatic stance by emphasising their commitment to supporting Africa’s
development without addressing the issue of competition directly.
Independent analysts, however, have pointed out China’s two-decade strategy to secure critical minerals from Africa, primarily via long-term debt and infrastructure investments. They assert that the West has been playing catch-up.
In response, the US initiated the Minerals Security Partnership, involving several countries, to diversify mineral supply chains and reduce vulnerabilities. The US sees a substantial surge in demand for critical minerals worldwide and is committed to ensuring diverse supply sources to prevent overreliance on a single supplier.
Harrington stressed that the US maintains a complex and consequential relationship with China, cooperating in some areas while competing in others.
The African Union’s Chiumya highlighted the importance of ensuring Africa benefits from its mineral wealth and called for a different approach to previous mineral deals that have not contributed to the continent’s social and economic development.
Africa is rich in critical minerals such as cobalt and lithium, which are essential for clean energy and electric vehicle production. However, African nations have often struggled to maximise the benefits from these resources.
For instance, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a major cobalt producer, has raised concerns over the terms of mineral contracts with China. Zimbabwe has banned the export
of raw lithium ore to encourage domestic processing and value addition.
The US is working to promote environmentally and socially responsible practices in the African mining sector. Washington also seeks
to support local processing and refining of critical minerals to create jobs and build local ca
pacity.
At the US-Africa Summit in Washington, the US signed a memorandum of understanding with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia to develop a supply chain for electric car batteries, partly as a response to China’s influence in the region. This initiative aims to refine electric vehicle batteries locally and create jobs.
Furthermore, the US and the European Union have pledged to develop the Lobito Corridor, a railway connecting the DRC’s cobalt belt to Zambia’s copper belt and Angola’s port of Lobito, facilitating international mineral exports.
