With U.S.-South Africa ties in the deep freeze, it was notable to see the sheer size of the U.S. delegation sent to this week’s Mining Indaba in Cape Town – one of the most prominent industry gatherings and one of the few where the Global South gets a prominent voice.
The Trump administration’s famous Afrophobia seems (momentarily at least) tempered by its greed for minerals. It is reportedly walking ...
Category: Critical Minerals
The Rise of “Bully Diplomacy” in Critical Minerals
If Trump’s cold, realpolitik, interest-driven critical minerals diplomacy is unlikely to fundamentally shake China’s dominance of the global critical minerals supply chain, it may nevertheless begin to shift certain fault lines and push Chinese interests into spaces where they had previously gone largely unchallenged. ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
U.S. Signs Critical Minerals Deal with Uzbekistan to Counter China’s Resource Dominance in Central Asia
By Marc Jones The U.S. government has signed an agreement with Uzbekistan to secure better access to the Central Asian country's critical minerals, as U.S. President Donald Trump moves to counter China's dominance of crucial resources and their supply chains.
China E-Mobility Weekly Digest: Africa’s EV Minerals Processing Shifts Manufacturing as Electricity Revenues Grow
This is a free preview of the Africa EVs Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service. From Kenya’s green number plates to South Africa’s industrial incentives, a number of African governments are moving beyond small electric vehicle ...
Nickel Gains After Indonesia Cuts Quota for World’s Biggest Nickel Mine
Nickel climbed on Thursday, after Indonesia sharply cut this year's mining quota for PT Weda Bay Nickel, the world's biggest mine for the critical mineral. The most-active nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SNIcv1 climbed 2.49% to 140,570 yuan ($20,366.86) a metric ton as of 0250 GMT. The Shanghai contract surged ...
Congo Says It Would Seek Other Partners if U.S. Minerals Framework Fails
The Democratic Republic of Congo will look for other partners if its minerals cooperation framework with the U.S. does not lead to concrete projects, the country's mines minister said. "Everything we have done with America is a framework under which we will discuss ...
China’s Zijin to Launch Congo’s First Lithium Output in June From Disputed Manono Deposit
China’s Zijin Mining will initiate Congo’s first lithium output in June from the disputed Manono deposit and move immediately to exports, the company and state miner Cominiere said, marking a major step in Beijing’s push to secure more critical minerals in Africa. Zijin ...
The China Factor Missing From the Headlines at This Year’s African Mining Indaba
The mining industry’s most important annual gathering is underway this week in Cape Town, South Africa, where corporate and government elites are convening for what is typically a routine, largely unremarkable business conference. This year is a little different.
Chinese Miners Double Down on Africa as U.S. Pushes Parallel Critical Minerals Chain
Chinese analysts are responding to Washington’s push to build a China-free critical minerals supply chain with a mix of urgency and confidence. While U.S. policymakers are leaning on allies, financing, and offtake agreements to secure supplies of African copper, cobalt, and other strategic inputs, analysts in China ...
Chinese Analysts Question Whether a U.S.-Led Minerals Alliance Can Ever Match China’s Costs
As Washington and its allies rally around a rare point of consensus under U.S. President Donald Trump on stockpiling critical minerals, a move clearly targeting China’s dominance in this sector, some Chinese scholars are questioning how durable this alignment will be for one simple reason: cost.
U.S. Mining Deals in the DR Congo Alarm Chinese Industry Analysts
The emerging mineral deals between the United States and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are posing direct challenges to China’s mineral domination in Africa, some Chinese media warned, urging stakeholders to rapidly look for alternative solutions such as diversifying from its heavy reliance on a single ...
U.S. Challenges Chinese Control in Race for African Minerals
By Maxwell Akalaare Adombila The U.S. is using offtake deals and state-backed funding to compete in the short term with China in securing supplies of African copper, cobalt and other critical minerals, diplomats, executives and analysts said ahead of this week's Indaba.
After Washington Talks, U.S. and EU Moves on Critical Minerals Put China and Global South at Center
The Washington critical minerals talks have already begun translating into policy. Within hours of the meeting, U.S. lawmakers and allies announced a coordinated set of proposals—from expanded export finance to strategic stockpiles—signaling a faster, more interventionist push to loosen China’s grip on global ...
U.S. Proposes Critical Minerals Trade Bloc Aimed at Countering China
By Michael Martina, Simon Lewis and Jarrett Renshaw U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday unveiled plans to marshal allies into a preferential trade bloc for critical minerals, proposing coordinated price floors as Washington escalates efforts to loosen China's grip on materials ...