Italy has announced its formal withdrawal from the Belt and Road Initiative after joining the China-centered infrastructure and investment project in 2019.
The timing of the announcement that Rome won’t renew its BRI commitment is notable. It came only a day before the EU-China summit, which kicks off on Thursday. The summit will likely be more contentious than usual, with European leaders expected to push China on the treatment of EU firms amid discussions ...
Category: Mining
Chinese ‘Illegal Mining Queen’ Jailed in Ghana
Aisha Huang -- a Chinese national with the notorious nickname "Galamsey Queen" -- is now sitting in a Ghanaian prison cell after she was sentenced this week by the High Court in Accra for running a massive illegal mining operation.
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Awkward Timing as Italy Withdraws from BRI
Ford’s Nickel Deal With Huayou Cobalt Exposes the Limits of U.S. Influence to Counter China
The Ford Motor Company is moving forward with a massive $3.8 billion three-way nickel deal with Brazilian miner Vale and Chinese mining giant Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt. Nickel is one of the key metals used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries, that companies ...
Chinese Media Reaction to Aisha Huang’s Sentencing Focuses on the Lack of Effective Governance in Ghana
Online media reaction to this week's sentencing of Chinese national Aisha Huang, aka "The Galamsey Queen," by the High Court in Ghana to four and a half years in prison for running a vast illegal mining operation was predictably subdued. Generally speaking, ...
Ghanaian Court Jails the Notorious Chinese “Galamsey Queen” for Illegal Mining
Aisha Huang will spend the next four and a half years in a Ghanaian jail cell after the Accra High Court handed down a ruling on Monday that dominated the news in the West African country. Huang, who was known as the ...
Zimbabwe Commissions Chinese-Built Lithium Plant
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa officially opened a new lithium processing facility aimed at moving the country up the mineral value chain. The $300 million plant, run by Bikita Minerals, a subsidiary of China’s state-owned Sinomine, will produce 480,000 tonnes of petalite and 300,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrates annually. ...
Japan Begins to Feel Pain of China’s Graphite Export Restrictions
China’s recent decision to restrict graphite exports is hitting importers hard, not least in Japan. On December 1, Chinese exporters will need special permits that meet national security concerns before they export the key mineral used in batteries that power electric ...
Discourse Check: How China Frames Its Involvement in DRC Mining
Western opposition to Chinese involvement in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mining sector is sharpening, with measures proposed to ban supplies of cobalt from Chinese companies. This opposition partly reflects concerns about Chinese control of a strategic resource, but it is also ...
Africa is at the Center of U.S.-China Competition for Critical Resources
U.S. lawmakers met this week to discuss how to combat the use of child labor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's cobalt mining sector which they claim is largely controlled by Chinese mining companies. The issue is part of a ...
U.S. Lawmakers Weigh Sanctions, Criminal Charges Against Chinese Companies Over Child Cobalt Mining in DR Congo
U.S. legislators are proposing much stricter measures to counter China's dominance of the cobalt supply chain, including sanctions that would restrict the import of any cobalt mined by Chinese companies in the DR Congo. The proposed law by New Jersey ...
Four Key Trends in Battery Metals
Amid heightened demand for green technology, prices for critical minerals should be going up, up, up, right? In reality, prices have proven volatile. Even as demand keeps rising, new supply sources are coming online, potentially driving down prices. In addition, geopolitical ...
Why Rock Bottom Prices for EV Battery Metals Bolsters China’s Longterm Strategy to Dominate Critical Minerals
South Africa's Impala Platinum announced voluntary buyouts this week in a bid to cut costs as the mining company grapples with persistently low metal prices. With the price of palladium down 40% this year and platinum off 14%, the challenge facing Impala ...