Central Africa calls for battery value chain creation

Government leaders from central Africa's copper-cobalt belt today called for co-operation and external investment to create a battery supply chain in the continent.

Ministers and special advisers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is responsible for 74pc of global cobalt supply, and its neighbour Zambia called on the cobalt industry outside of Africa to invest in the countries' resources, at the Cobalt Institute conference in Zurich today.

DRC plans to build battery precursor production capacity as research shows the country can provide low-cost precursor production, DRC industry minister Julien Paluku Kahongya said.

"Cobalt is at the very heart of electric batteries. 5,000t of cobalt metal are available in the country each year, which is why the DRC is important to these discussions," he told delegates. "In recent years, we have been providing these resources to the world without profiting from them ourselves. The DRC is available and at your disposal for collaboration to develop a supply chain for what the world needs."

Kahongya also outlined an investment plan, totalling $54bn, in the country's infrastructure to support industrialisation, calling for external investments. This plan included investing $21bn in roads, $2.5bn for ports around the Congo river and $22bn for electrical infrastructure, such as hydropower dams.

Zambia aims to re-open Chambishi refinery

Delegates from the Zambian government announced plans to re-open the Chambishi refinery, the only cobalt metal refinery in sub-Saharan Africa, and called for collaboration with neighboring African countries to create a battery supply chain in the region.

"As a new government, we are determined to re-open the Chambishi refinery and very soon we will be announcing a huge investment in that processing plant, so that Zambia cannot be left out of the high demand for cobalt," Zambia mines and minerals development minister Paul Kabuswe said.

Chambishi produced 1,400 t/yr of cobalt metal before it was placed on care and maintenance in January 2020. Kabuswe also called for a renewed spirit of pan-African co-operation to exploit its mineral wealth and aid in a "just transition" to renewable technology.

"You can see why we are collaborating with the DRC, because we know we are going to be a global power as we collaborate… It's time to actualise the potential, we have done enough talking. It is time to act and Africa is acting, that's why you see this collaboration."

By Thomas Kavanagh