EU seeks critical minerals deals with more African countries
The European Union (EU) is in negotiations with Democratic Republic of Congo, a leading source of battery minerals, and aims for talks with other African countries to shore up its supplies of critical raw materials, an EU official said on Wednesday.
As part of efforts to reduce dependency on China, which dominates supplies of minerals needed for a transition to a lower carbon economy, the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act, which has yet to enter force, established targets to develop alternative sources.
So far the EU has signed partnerships with countries such as Canada, Kazakhstan, Namibia and Ukraine, and said deals with Argentina and Chile are imminent.
Elisabetta Sartorel, the EU's policy officer on critical raw materials, said in a virtual presentation to the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines annual general meeting, a delegation from the bloc would be in the Democratic Republic of Congo for discussions in June.
"We expect, in the near future, to launch negotiations with other countries in the Great Lakes region, particularly Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and perhaps Tanzania as well," she added.
The EU's critical materials partnerships offer investment, collaboration on research and innovation, infrastructure development and skills development.
Sartorel said that once a critical materials agreement is signed, a roadmap of concrete action to be jointly implemented by the EU and the partner country is drawn up.
The EU however, faces an uphill struggle to catch up with China.
Its critical raw materials plan notes 63% of the world's cobalt, used in batteries for electric vehicles, is extracted in Democratic Republic of Congo, and 60% is refined in China.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
AxFlow AQS Liquid Transfer (Pty) Ltd is an Importer and Distributor of Pumps in Southern Africa
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
