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Focus: Western miners lag as oil powers enter race for Africa’s critical metals

Focus: Western miners lag as oil powers enter race for Africa’s critical metals

RISK aversion is likely to leave major Western miners lagging in a race to tap Africa's reserves of critical raw materials that has gathered pace now Middle Eastern oil powers have begun to emulate China's years of investment on the continent. Attracting the capital needed to advance copper, cobalt, nickel and lithium projects in Africa will be high on the agenda when executives, bankers and government officials gather in Cape Town, South Africa, for the annual African Mining Indaba beginning on Monday. For the big listed miners, the problem is convincing board members anxious to keep shareholders' onside, an issue…
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Lithium mine project hurdles will drive prices higher – Sibanye CEO

Lithium mine project hurdles will drive prices higher – Sibanye CEO

EUROPE will struggle to secure domestic supplies of vital battery mineral lithium due to permit delays and local opposition to projects, driving prices higher, Sibanye Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman said. Prices for battery-grade lithium have declined but remain at historically high levels and the market is forecast to move to mounting deficits from 2025 onwards, according to SFA Oxford analysts. Permitting problems and opposition by local groups had derailed a project in Serbia and jeopardised projects in Portugal and Spain, SFA Oxford analysts told a briefing. Diversified miner Sibanye is developing its 80% owned Keliber lithium project in Finland at an…
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Africa gears up to keep more of the profits from lithium boom

Africa gears up to keep more of the profits from lithium boom

CLARA DENINA and WENDELL ROELF LITHIUM-rich African countries, including Zimbabwe and Namibia, are trying to develop processing and refining industries to capture more of the profits of global demand for the battery material. Lithium prices and demand have soared as the auto industry shifts towards electric vehicles (EVs) - spurred by proposed bans on fossil-fuel cars beginning at the end of the decade. China, the world's top lithium refiner and a leading producer dominate the supply chain, but Western governments and international companies are trying to challenge that and see Africa's lithium reserves as an opportunity. For their part, African…
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Zimbabwe’s new mineral royalty policy comes into force

Zimbabwe’s new mineral royalty policy comes into force

ZIMBABWE has passed regulations allowing the state to collect mining royalties partly in the form of minerals, according to a government notice seen by Reuters, as the country seeks to build a reserve of precious metals. The southern African country has struggled to capitalise on its significant mineral reserves and a resource boom due to policy uncertainty, a lack of ancillary industries to support mining, currency volatility and electricity shortages. Last month, Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa said his government planned to start collecting half of royalties from gold, diamonds, platinum group metals and lithium in the form of the minerals themselves to…
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