US looks to Africa to secure energy transition metals

Amid growing global competition for strategic minerals, the US is relying on Africa to reduce the dominance of China over resources used for electric batteries, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.

“We don’t want to be overly reliant on any one country or any one company for global supply chains for critical minerals,” Adeyemo told Reuters during a visit to a platinum mine in Marikana, South Africa, owned by Sibanye-Stillwater.

The US Inflation Reduction Act- designed to promote investments in clean energy- assigns a central place to strategic metals used in energy transition industries such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and graphite.

“Africa is going to play a huge role,” Adeyemo told the agency, adding that the US and its G7 partners are speeding up to bridge the gap with China.

Chinese companies expanded their assets in critical metals in Africa as China expands its market share in electric vehicles.

Chinese assets include cobalt mines in the DRC and Zambia as well as Lithium assets in Zimbabwe.

The African Development Bank chief has this week warned of the detrimental impact suffered by some African economies due to linking loan payment to such critical metals.