{"id":110112,"date":"2025-09-16T14:13:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T14:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/uk-critical-minerals-firm-expands-operations-in-rwanda"},"modified":"2025-09-16T15:02:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T15:02:47","slug":"uk-critical-minerals-firm-expands-operations-in-rwanda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/uk-critical-minerals-firm-expands-operations-in-rwanda","title":{"rendered":"UK Critical Minerals Firm Expands Operations in Rwanda"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>London Stock Exchange (LSE)-listed mining company Aterian Plc has expanded its mineral trading operations in Rwanda, where it will collect minerals from local artisanal and small-scale miners, as well as cooperatives, for export.<\/p>\n<p>Aterian has operated in Rwanda for some time, primarily focusing on lithium exploration. In July this year, the company reported the discovery of high-grade lithium deposits, although production has not yet started.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement of its expanded trading operations was made on September 15. Charles G. Bray, Executive Chairman of Aterian, told The New Times that only suppliers complying with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Tin Supply Chain Initiative (ITSCI) traceability standards will be eligible to work with the company.<\/p>\n<p>To support mineral acquisition and boost trading volumes, Aterian has secured a $250,000 loan. Bray explained that the loan is a mezzanine facility intended to provide initial capital to activate trading activities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPractically, this meant we could finance the procurement of minerals, establish logistics channels, and build up stock for export. It has taken some time, especially as we will not lower our standards for traceability, but allow us to execute on the first container shipment, and as volumes grow, we expect operations to become self-financing from cash flows,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n<p>Bray added that the company will remain open to expanding its financing base should supplier demand outpace their initial funding.<\/p>\n<p>Talking about the importance of both the company\u2019s trading and mining activities, Bray said mining is about creating longer term value from discovering and developing resources, whereas trading is about short-term networking, aggregating and exporting supply today \u2014 creating an immediate route-to-market for Rwanda\u2019s minerals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth are necessary for in-country value addition in our view,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) guidelines set global standards for responsible mineral sourcing, focusing on preventing conflict financing and human rights abuses in supply chains. The ITSCI (International Tin Supply Chain Initiative) program provides traceability and due diligence tools to verify that minerals are conflict-free and ethically sourced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEach supplier undergoes rigorous compliance checks, including on-site audits and conflict-free verification,\u201d he said. \u201cOur aim is to build a diversified, high-integrity supply chain that strengthens Rwanda\u2019s position as a trusted exporter of responsibly sourced minerals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The platform, he added, is designed to support local suppliers and improve productivity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to share our knowledge and capital with local miners and provide them with direct access to international markets through a responsible and compliant channel,\u201d Bray said. \u201cUltimately, we hope that this will boost Rwanda\u2019s export capacity and generate benefits at both the national and community level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aterian, which has a market capitalisation of \u00a34.8 million, focuses on critical minerals such as tantalum, niobium, lithium, and other base metals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Rwanda<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. London Stock Exchange (LSE)-listed mining company Aterian Plc has expanded its mineral trading operations in Rwanda, where it will collect minerals from local artisanal and small-scale miners, as well as cooperatives, for export. Aterian has operated in Rwanda for some time, primarily focusing on lithium exploration. In July this year, the company [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":110111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[8075,7138,496,6469,758,374],"class_list":["post-110112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-aterian-plc","tag-itsci","tag-mining","tag-oecd","tag-rwanda","tag-uk"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UK Critical Minerals Firm Expands Operations in Rwanda - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"London Stock Exchange (LSE)-listed mining company Aterian Plc has expanded its mineral trading operations in Rwanda, whe ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/uk-critical-minerals-firm-expands-operations-in-rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK Critical Minerals Firm Expands Operations in Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"London Stock Exchange (LSE)-listed mining company Aterian Plc has expanded its mineral trading operations in Rwanda, whe ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/uk-critical-minerals-firm-expands-operations-in-rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-16T14:13:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-16T15:02:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/09\/sm_1758022288.512806.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"642\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/uk-critical-minerals-firm-expands-operations-in-rwanda#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/uk-critical-minerals-firm-expands-operations-in-rwanda\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UK Critical Minerals Firm Expands Operations in Rwanda\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-16T14:13:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-16T15:02:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/uk-critical-minerals-firm-expands-operations-in-rwanda\"},\"wordCount\":478,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/uk-critical-minerals-firm-expands-operations-in-rwanda#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/09\/sm_1758022288.512806.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ATERIAN PLC\",\"ITSCI\",\"mining\",\"OECD\",\"Rwanda\",\"UK\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/uk-critical-minerals-firm-expands-operations-in-rwanda#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/uk-critical-minerals-firm-expands-operations-in-rwanda\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/uk-critical-minerals-firm-expands-operations-in-rwanda\",\"name\":\"UK Critical Minerals Firm Expands Operations in Rwanda - 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