SPECIAL FEATURE
elements mostly found at the bottom of the periodic table are critical to so many things including AI-related technology and defense systems. Four REEs in particular are relevant to clean energy technologies. The International Energy Agency estimates that about 60 percent of these REEs are produced in China (which boasted 95 percent in 2010). And who is the biggest consumer of all of these refined strategic minerals? That would be China itself. A vast majority of electric vehicle batteries are produced in the country and three out of four of the mega-factories producing lithium-ion batteries (used for more than just cars) can be found in China. All this boils down to a simple fact: if you have to recharge something, chances are it has “Made in China” printed somewhere on it. One reason for this dominance: there is a state-owned element to much of the Chinese investment, so they are able to absorb losses better than a purely private company is able, said Gracelin Baskaran, Research Director and Senior Fellow for the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington, DC-based think tank.
China has, which gave it that decades-long advantage.” For countries not wanting to heavily rely on China for access to those strategic minerals and the products they can create, investments will need to be made in developing extraction and processing capacities of mineral-rich areas, especially in Africa and South America. Not in “mine” back yard Expanding mining and refining capacity is easier said than done. As with most development, NIMBY-ism, or not in my backyard, is a universal phenomenon. Just as no one wants to live next to a noisy factory or power plant, the feeling also extends to mines. Yet mines are not like factories or most power plants; if a mine can’t be built in a specific spot, those minerals stay in the ground. Oftentimes a proposed mine in a developed country will meet stiff resistance. Portugal is already the European Union’s biggest lithium producer and now its lithium-rich north can help the EU in its green
Courtesy of Gracelin Baskaran
The US, EU and Australia have not historically taken the route of partnering with Africa, and China has.
Gracelin Baskaran, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Research Director and Senior Fellow, Energy Security and Climate Change Program
“China is willing to put in the infrastructure that’s needed,” Baskaran said. “So if we look at a place like the DRC, they put in the US$3 billion investment in infrastructure quite a few years, decades ago, and that infrastructure became the basis for critical minerals engagement.” It is tolerance for the risks and quirks of doing business in developing African countries that gives China such an advantage over its competitors. “That kind of combination of factors: Corruption, being
able to absorb the losses and the infrastructure are all things that have given China that advantage,” Baskaran said. “And of course, most obviously that China is willing to enter [the African mining sector]. The US, EU and Australia have not historically taken the route of partnering with Africa, and
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