Africa-Press – Cape verde. Over the past two years, lithium has increased in price by around 1,100%. The mineral is a crucial component of batteries used in electric cars and devices such as computers and mobile phones.
African countries have revealed plans to create their own lithium refining and processing industries. Lithium prices and demand have skyrocketed in recent years against the backdrop of proposed bans on fossil-fuel cars and the popularization of electric ones.
According to commodities trader Trafigura, cited by the media, Africa’s lithium production could grow from 40,000 tonnes this year to 497,000 tonnes in 2030, with most coming from Zimbabwe.
Establishing processing industries would enable African countries such as Zimbabwe and Namibia to retain more of the value of their natural resources than in the case of mining to export raw materials.
Another southern African country, Zimbabwe, imposed a ban on raw lithium exports in December in an effort to combat smuggling and promote domestic lithium processing. The country’s government announced that it was losing €1.7 billion by exporting the mineral unprocessed.
In other countries that are rich in lithium, new mines are in development. Australian firm Atlantic Lithium is working on opening the first lithium mines in Ghana, while Leo Lithium, also headquartered in Australia, plans to export two 30,000-tonne shipments of raw lithium from its Goulamina mine in Mali by the end of 2023. According to the company’s managing director, cited by the media, the earnings would help to develop domestic processing.
As western media notes, some Western governments see African lithium reserves as an opportunity to challenge China’s status as the world’s top lithium refiner and a leading producer.
Lithium is merely one of the minerals that are utilized in “green” technologies. At the African Mining Indaba, DR Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi announced his country’s plans to launch new exploration for such metals as nickel and chrome and to become a major supplier of metals necessary for the green energy transition.
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