Browsing: Cobalt

• DRC, Indonesia, Chile in talks to form ‘critical minerals OPEC’.
• DRC cobalt export ban rises prices significantly.
• DRC to leverage its dominant market position through ban.

The DRC move to ban cobalt exports has not only sparked price increase of the critical mineral market, but, it has also set off talks of the set up of a ‘critical minerals OPEC.’ Reports show that the DRC, Indonesia, and Chile are key players in the global critical minerals landscape.

DownToEarth, a resource review agency notes in a recent report Critical minerals, development and agency: Are resource-rich countries in control of their mineral wealth? that other critical minerals that may fall under the control of the tripartite include lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, and rare earth elements.

“These minerals are essential for the transition to clean energy technologies, including electric vehicles, renewable energy, and energy storage,” it stated in part.

Global demand for …

• DRC cobalt ban is steadily spiking prices for the critical mineral.
• DRC, Indonesia, Chile in talks to form a ‘critical minerals OPEC’.
• To counter the blow, US starts domestic refining.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has banned the export of cobalt in a move designed to push prices up. And, it is working: “There’s been a significant jump,” said Thomas Kavanagh, editor of battery metals at Argus Media, a market intelligence firm.

According to the market expert, after the export ban was instituted in February, “…the price of a key cobalt compound rose by more than 80 per cent. And it could be just the start,” he warns.

According to the expert, “the DRC’s export ban created immediate ripples throughout global commodity markets, triggering significant price volatility and prompting reassessment of supply chain stability for battery manufacturers and other end users.”

In his review, cobalt prices surged …

• Rwanda is fighting accusations of backing M23 rebel attacks in Goma, the most strategic city within the mineral-rich eastern DRC. 
• Already, the UN and other humanitarian agencies have pulled out non-essential personnel out of Goma.
• Early this week protestors in Kinshasa attacked US, Rwanda, Kenya, Belgian and French embassies, demanding decisive counter against M23 rebels.

The war in Goma has sucked in Rwanda with authorities in Kigali increasingly fighting an avalanche of accusations that the country’s military is invading the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in concert with the M23 rebels. According to reports from both local and international media, “The Rwandan army is lining up at the [DRC] border, ready to invade,” an anonymous source privy to official on the ground told media.

“Large numbers of troops from Rwanda have been pouring across the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help rebels seize the regional capital …

• For a country so crucial to the global energy transition, the world awaits DR Congo’s political transition.
• Congo’s political transition will be a massive factor in the significance of its massive natural resources in global energy transition needs.
• President Felix Tshisekedi, seeking a fresh mandate from the people, refers to Congo as the ‘solution country’ for the global climate crisis.

The Democratic Republic of Congo goes to the polls today to elect a president whose role will be vital in the global fight against climate change over the next five years. The Central African nation’s minerals, forests, and rivers are crucial to the future of green transition globally. Congo’s political transition will be a massive factor in the significance of these resources in global energy needs.

President Felix Tshisekedi, seeking a fresh mandate from the people, refers to Congo as the ‘solution country’ for the global climate crisis. However, he …

• The strategic manoeuvrings of the United States in the DRC’s cobalt mines serve as an international yardstick for how well it can balance economic aspirations with ethical imperatives.
• The DRC has become embroiled in a complicated geopolitical chess game, and it is no longer merely a national asset but a worldwide commodity.
• The strategic importance of cobalt from the Congo to the United States exemplifies the necessity for a multifaceted solution that upholds human dignity in the workplace, safeguards natural resources, and encourages economic resilience.

Conspicuously rising to critical importance on a global scale, cobalt has been overshadowed by the world’s precious metals. Although it is sometimes overlooked in resource talks in favour of its more glamorous cousins, gold and oil, this silvery-blue element—a byproduct of copper and nickel mining—is an essential component of modern technology.

Nevertheless, it is a mineral of the future because it powers electronic devices such …

• Lithium battery industry to grow over 30 percent annually from 2022 to 2030
• Market value for lithium batteries to exceed US$400 billion by 2030
• DRC, Zambia and Tanzania looking to refine cobalt, manufacture lithium batteries

The sale of Electric Vehicles (EVs) is booming in the transport industry of the developed world, and now Africa wants in.

Rather than continue to supply raw materials for the making of the electric vehicle, countries like DRC, Zambia, and Tanzania, want to refine the ores and even manufacture the final product, lithium batteries.

Their ambitions are well placed because the lithium battery industry is booming and will only keep growing. A 2022 analysis by the McKinsey Battery Insights team projected that the entire lithium-ion battery chain, from mining through recycling, could grow by over 30 percent annually by 2030 when it would reach a value of more than US$400 billion.

“Batteries for mobility applications, …

• US Vice President Kamala Harris pledges increased US trade with Tanzania
• This visit by VP Harris is expected to encourage US investment in Tanzania through trade, which already the office of the Vice President has pledged to do.
• US Lifezone Metals to set up second cobalt, nickel refinery plant in Tanzania

The trip to Tanzania by US Vice President Kamala Harris is already bearing fruit with the US announcing plans to increase trade with the country.

Air Force 2 landed in Tanzania late Wednesday where the US second in command was received in a colourful ceremony at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in the commercial port city of Dar es Salaam.

Her host, Tanzania president Samia Suluhu Hassan who was herself Vice President less than two years ago, hosted Vice President Harris at the State House fondly known in Swahili as Ikulu. Vice President Kamala Harris is in Tanzania …

Elon Musk applied for licensing to provide Tanzania with satellite Internet services; that was last year. This year, the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA), has said, Musk’s Starlink, the company that provides the satellite internet services, needs only to complete the required procedure to set up shop in the country.

This response by Tanzania to Elon Musk’s application has stirred up controversy on Twitter with executives from both sides raising allegations and counter-allegations.

On Elon Musk’s side, you have allegations of foul play by existing telecom giants in Tanzania lobbying to keep his Starlink from entering the market.

Also Read: Nickel: Africa’s new opportunity as Russia-Ukraine crisis rages on

On Tanzania’s side, you have authorities playing it safe with a clean-cut statement saying Elon Musk’s Starlink needs only to comply with the country’s regulation requirements, otherwise, Starlink is more than welcome to enter the market.

If the Twitter exchange is …

• Elon Musk Starlink satellite internet in Tanzania expected as early as first quarter of 2023
• Tesla to access nickel and cobalt from Tanzania’s Kabanga mines by 2025
• Tanzania, Kabanga form Tembo Nickel Corporation at 16% and 84% shares respectively

Elon Musk in Tanzania: Did you know, there are over 3250 satellites hovering in the Lower Earth Orbit over you? The number is not shocking, what is impressive is the entire satellite constellation is owned by a single company, Elon Musk’s Starlink.

In his ambitious effort to offer faster internet coverage globally, the world’s richest man actually plans to have as many as 42,000 satellites in the Lower Earth Orbit (LEO).

As we enter the New Year 2023, Tanzania is set to become the fourth African country to allow internet service provision from Starlink’s LEO satellites.

Even though Tanzania has already laid down some 7,910Km of fibre optic cable that …