American Investment, Chaotic Environment Check China’s African Lithium Grab

Africa's lithium deposits have made it a new target for Beijing. Bjoern Wylezich/Shutterstock

As China faces fierce competition for lithium resources in Australia and South America, Africa has become a new target for Beijing’s hunt for the mineral. The rapid expansion of Chinese lithium capacity in Africa is drawing increasing attention, prompting a call for stepped-up American investment to counter the Chinese presence on the African continent. Meanwhile, although they may have a headstart in what has been called “the new gold rush,” a chaotic business environment on the continent poses significant risks for Chinese companies.

Lithium, a key mineral in electric car batteries, has been called the “oil of the 21st century.”

The progress of a Chinese company’s lithium refining plant in Africa has made headlines recently. On March 22, Chinese battery minerals producer Huayou Cobalt announced that its Arcadia lithium mine development project in Zimbabwe had begun trial production of lithium concentrate.

Arcadia is considered to be one of the largest hard rock lithium deposits in Africa—and the world; thus the new mine gives China a significant boost in the global race for lithium, according to an April 23 article in the Financial Times, which comments that China is “leaving western operators scrambling to keep up.”

Chinese companies, notably Zijin Mining and Ganfeng Lithium, have a stake in two other big African mines: Manono in the DRC and the Guolamina Mine in Mali.

Africa’s only previous lithium producer is Zimbabwe’s Bikita mine, which has been in operation since 1950 and is now 74 percent owned by Sinomine Resource Group. Other African lithium projects in Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are unfinished, according to a February report by online news platform Ventures Africa.

Because Chinese companies already dominate global lithium refining capacity, the Arcadia lithium concentrate plant has attracted a great deal of attention. According to a January World Economic Forum report, China is the world’s third-largest producer of lithium and controls 60 percent of the world’s battery-grade lithium refining capacity.

Washington Pushes Back

In response to the expansion of Chinese companies in Africa, in recent years the United States has pushed for commercial investment there as a counterweight to the CCP’s influence.

At the U.S.–Africa Business Forum in December of 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden announced over $15 billion in two-way trade and investment commitments, deals, and partnerships that advance key priorities, including sustainable energy, health systems, agribusiness, digital connectivity, infrastructure, and finance.

According to a White House fact sheet (pdf), since 2021, the U.S. government has helped close more than 800 two-way trade and investment deals across 47 African countries, for a total estimated value of over $18 billion, and the U.S. private sector has closed investment deals in Africa valued at $8.6 billion. In 2021, U.S. goods and services traded with Africa totaled $83.6 billion.

Further, during her visit to Africa in late March, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced U.S. plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the continent.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (L) and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema are seen at the State House in Lusaka after a press conference on March 31, 2023. Salim Dawood/AFP via Getty Images

In key mining areas, companies from the United States and its allies are also taking action.

In December of 2022, KoBold Metals, a business start-up backed by billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, announced that it would invest $150 million for a controlling stake in a large, undeveloped copper mine in Zambia. The deal was seen as a new push by the U.S. government to secure critical minerals in Africa. The announcement was made at the U.S.–Africa Leaders Summit in Washington.

In March, Marula Mining, a British mining and development company, announced that it would establish a Zimbabwean subsidiary, Muchai Mining, to focus on the development of key minerals such as lithium for electric vehicle batteries.

In 2021, Australian mining company Piedmont Lithium acquired an equity interest in Atlantic Lithium, also Australia based, with the ability to earn a 50 percent ownership interest in the latter’s Ghanian portfolio, including its flagship Ewoyaa Project. Scheduled to begin production in late 2024, the project will deliver spodumene (a lithium ore) concentrate to Piedmont’s plant in Tennessee for conversion to lithium hydroxide.

Primitive Conditions, Chaotic Business Environment

Senior Chinese industry figures, speaking at the third annual Global Lithium Conference in late March, addressed the issues facing Chinese companies in Africa, where spodumene deposits—along with those in North America—are growth drivers for the global lithium supply.

The lithium-rich continent presents opportunities because the competitive landscape is still in its infancy compared with Europe and North America, where investment patterns are relatively fixed. However, it is not easy for Chinese companies to develop lithium due to the limited conditions and chaotic political and business environment there.

Processing lithium-bearing minerals is complicated, and the recovery rate is low, Fu Xiaofang, a senior engineer at the Sichuan Provincial Geological Survey Institute, said at the conference.

A lithium mine owned by Australian mining company AVZ, in the Manono region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images

Africa’s lithium deposits are dispersed, with a large proportion of small mines. Working conditions in Africa’s many small “chicken coop mines” are often primitive, with workers even using tools like crowbars and hammers. Moreover, the extraction and processing of the minerals have significant environmental effects, involving toxic chemicals that can cause contamination and pollution.

In the mining industry overall, lax regulation and policing have also made Africa fertile land for speculators. Small miners and traders are fueling a thriving black market, and mineral smuggling has cost countries such as Zimbabwe a great deal of money.

Even in Nigeria, which is said to be friendly to China, attacks on Chinese citizens “have become regular occurrences in recent years amid the country’s many conflicts,” according to an April 15 article in British newspaper The Times, noting that Chinese firms must constantly negotiate with terrorists and bandits.

Further, mining conflicts are rampant. More than 5,000 people have been killed in Nigeria’s Zamfara state in the past five years due to mining conflicts, in which local military, gangs, and other forces are intertwined.