(Ecofin Agency) – Billionaires Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos or fund managers Cinctive and BlackRock are all American players who are devoting more and more funding to companies exploring the African mining sector. They support Washington in the quest for critical minerals.
$537 million. This is the amount that KoBold Metals’ latest round of funding raised, a sum that will allow this American company to continue copper exploration in Zambia. The announcement made at the start of the year by KoBold Metals, supported in particular by billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, illustrates the renewed interest of American investors in the African mining sector in recent years.
As KoBold Metals now reaches a valuation of $2.96 billion and seeks to build a copper mine in Zambia by 2030, other US-owned companies are also mobilizing on the continent. This is the case of Lifezone Metals, listed on the New York Stock Exchange and which counts American fund managers Cinctive and BlackRock among its shareholders. Lifezone is piloting the Kabanga nickel project in Tanzania, which is expected to deliver battery-grade nickel to the US market by 2026.
The supply of critical metals is in fact the reason which pushes American investors, encouraged by Washington, to take a new interest in the continent. During the 2010s, the United States had in fact abandoned its last positions in the African mining sector for the benefit of China, a retreat symbolized by the sale of the important Kisanfu copper-cobalt project (DRC) by the American Freeport-McMoRan to Chinese CMOC (formerly China Molybdenum).
As the United States now seeks to reduce its dependence on China for minerals needed for the digital and energy transition, the government and investors are supporting the development of mining projects on the continent. In addition to those already mentioned, let us cite the support provided by Washington for the development of the Lobito corridor, to streamline copper exports from the DRC, or the loans or subsidies granted to graphite projects in Uganda and Mozambique.
It must be emphasized that the American offensive nevertheless intervenes in areas where the main deposits of critical minerals in Africa are already controlled by Chinese entities or linked by trade agreements to China. Washington’s efforts are mainly focused on new projects whose development may take several more years. Note also that the American presence still mainly concerns extraction, where more and more African states want to develop local mineral processing capacities.
-Emiliano Tossou
Also read:
04/03/2024 – The China-USA rivalry offers Africa a unique chance to transform its minerals on site (report)
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