Perspectives et défis pour l'exportation de terres rares d'Afrique subsaharienne vers l'UE

Kohnert, Dirk (2024): Perspectives et défis pour l'exportation de terres rares d'Afrique subsaharienne vers l'UE.

Abstract

The African continent is increasingly becoming a battleground in the race between superpowers for access to critical minerals needed for the 'Green Revolution', such as rare earth minerals (REE). Companies from China, the USA and Russia play a major role. In most cases, critical minerals are mined by international mining companies supported by their governments and organizing complex global value chains. So far, China has dominated supply chains and has secured mining contracts across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Currently, China produces 58% of all REEs worldwide. It is the main importer of minerals from Africa, with mineral exports from sub-Saharan Africa to China totalling USD 10 bn in 2019. Its dominance of the global rare earths market is rooted in politics, not geography. Rare earths are neither that rare nor that concentrated in China. Beijing has adopted a strategy of imports, dumping and control of rare earths that is hardly consistent with WTO rules. Therefore, in June 2022, a newly founded 'Minerals Security Partnership', consisting of the USA, the EU, Great Britain and other Western industrialized countries, invited mineral-rich African countries to counter Chinese dominance. These included resource-rich countries such as South Africa, Botswana, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The West's push became even more urgent after Beijing imposed export controls on the strategic metals gallium and germanium in July 2023, sparking global fears that China could be next to block exports of rare earth or processing technology. Because African markets are small, they are forced to rely on foreign financing. However, so far, foreign direct investment in rare earth production has confirmed the 'pollution haven' hypothesis about the environmentally harmful effects of FDI flowing into the affected countries. Although the full potential of rare earths in SSA has remained largely untapped due to low exploration, the dark side of the energy transition is becoming increasingly visible. These include pollution of soil, air and water as well as inadequate disposal of toxic residues and intensive water and energy use, occupational and environmental risks, child labour and sexual abuse as well as corruption and armed conflicts. In August 2023, Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, suspended certain illegal Chinese mining activities within its borders, including the activities of Ruitai Mining Company due to its involvement in illegal titanium ore mining. Namibia and the DR Congo followed suit.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• English Title: Prospects and challenges for the export of rare earths from Sub-Saharan Africa to the EU
• Language: French
• Keywords: terres rares; transition énergétique; réchauffement climatique; pollution; marchés émergents; Afrique subsaharienne; UE; Minerals Security Partnership; Afrique du Sud; Nigeria; RD Congo; études africaines
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D2 - Production and Organizations > D24 - Production ; Cost ; Capital ; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity ; Capacity; D - Microeconomics > D4 - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design > D43 - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection; D - Microeconomics > D5 - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium > D52 - Incomplete Markets; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy > E23 - Production; F - International Economics > F1 - Trade > F18 - Trade and Environment; F - International Economics > F2 - International Factor Movements and International Business > F23 - Multinational Firms ; International Business; F - International Economics > F5 - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy > F51 - International Conflicts ; Negotiations ; Sanctions; F - International Economics > F6 - Economic Impacts of Globalization > F63 - Economic Development; F - International Economics > F6 - Economic Impacts of Globalization > F64 - Environment; L - Industrial Organization > L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance > L13 - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets; L - Industrial Organization > L6 - Industry Studies: Manufacturing > L61 - Metals and Metal Products ; Cement ; Glass ; Ceramics; L - Industrial Organization > L6 - Industry Studies: Manufacturing > L63 - Microelectronics ; Computers ; Communications Equipment; L - Industrial Organization > L7 - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction > L72 - Mining, Extraction, and Refining: Other Nonrenewable Resources; N - Economic History > N1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics ; Industrial Structure ; Growth ; Fluctuations > N17 - Africa ; Oceania; N - Economic History > N5 - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries > N57 - Africa ; Oceania; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q3 - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation > Q33 - Resource Booms; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q53 - Air Pollution ; Water Pollution ; Noise ; Hazardous Waste ; Solid Waste ; Recycling; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology ; Social and Economic Stratification

References

Abramova, I.O. & A.Y. Sharova (2023): Geostrategic risks in the transition to green energies (using the example of Africa). Geology of Ore Deposits,vol. 65 pp. 449–462

AfricanMining (2019): REEs on a growth path. African REE projects. 19 March 2019

Ajaja, Tunde (2021): Illegal gold mining: Foreigners steal Nigeria’s wealth amid dwindling revenue, mounting debts. Punch, 30 October 2021

Akinyemi, Segun A. et al. (2021) : Rare earth elements study of Cretaceous coals from Benue Trough basin, Nigeria: Modes of occurrence for greater sustainability of mining. Fuel, vol. 304, 121468, pp. 1-13

Andreoni, Antonio & Simon Roberts (2022): Geopolitics of critical minerals in renewable energy supply chains: assessing conditionalities on the use of technology, market capture and the implications for Africa. The African Climate Foundation (Cape Town), pp. 1-21

Baskaran, Gracelin (2022): Could Africa replace China as the world’s source of rare earth elements? Brookings, 29 December 2022 (online, n.p.)

Baskaran, Gracelin (2023): A window of opportunity to build critical mineral security in Africa. Washington D.C.: Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), 10 October 2023 (online, n.p.)

Baskaran, Gracelin & Aloysius Uche Ordu (2023): Africa's global opportunity in rare earth elements. Brookings, Commentary, 1 March 2023 .

Bekoe, Dorina A. & Stephanie M. Burchard & Sydney N. Deatherage &Erin L. Sindle (2022): Rare Earth Elements in Namibia and South Africa: Considerations for US Investment. Institute for Defense Analyses (IDS), IDA Document NS D-33189, pp. 1-23

Belkaïd, Akram (2020): La face honteuse du « métal bleu ». Le Monde Diplomatique, July 2020

Bowden, P. & J.N. Bennett & J.E. Whitley & A.B. Moyes (1979): Rare earths in Nigerian mesozoic granites and related rocks. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, vol. 11, pp. 479-491

Dempsey, Harry (2023): Artisanal mining: the struggle to clean up a murky industry. Financial Times, 6 July 2023

Editor (2023): Les États-Unis veulent concurrencer la mainmise chinoise sur les minerais africains. Courrier international / The Economist, 28 March 2023

Edom, Stan (2023): How to export Monazite Sand from Nigeria & Africa: Complete Guide. 20 September 2023

Ericsson, Magnus & Olof Löf & Anton Löf (2020): Chinese control over African and global mining—past, present and future. Mineral Economics, vol. 33 (1-2), pp. 153-181

Evenett, Simon & Johannes Fritz (2023): Revisiting the China–Japan rare earths dispute of 2010. CEPR, 19 July 2023

Expert Speak (2022): China’s scramble for Africa’s rare earth elements. Delhi: Observer Research Foundation (ORF), 1 September 2022

Ferreira, Gustavo & Jamie Critelli & Wayne Johnson (2020): The future of rare earth elements in Africa in the midst of a debt crisis. Civil Affairs Association (Columbia, U.S.), Eunomia Journal, 15 August 2020

Fontanel, Jacques (2021): Les «terres rares», au coeur des conflits économico-politiques de demain. HAL open science, pp. 1-20

Foroohar, Rana (2023) : The rare earths race entails difficult choices. London: Financial Times, 13 March 2023

FP Staff (2023): African nations resist China's predatory practices in rare earth mineral sector. Mumbai: Firstpost, 18 September 2023

Galeazzi, Clara & Jevgenijs Steinbuks & James Cust (2020): Africa’s Resource Export Opportunities and the Global Energy Transition. live wire, World Bank, pp. 1-12

Gao, Yirui et al (2023): Can financing technological development programs mitigate mineral resource consumption-related environmental problems faced by Sub-Saharan African nations? Resources Policy, vol. 87, Part A

Garbarino, Danielle M. (2021): Management of Africas’s rare earth mining sectors. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, thesis, DM Garbarino, 85 p.

Gibson, Pandwe Aletha (2023): Making the case for Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the global rare earth element supply leaders. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 11:1167778, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, (DOE), United States, pp. 1-6

Harmer, Robin & Paul A. M. Nex (2016): Rare earth deposits of Africa. Episodes, vol. 39(2), pp. 381- 406

IEA (2022): The role of critical minerals in clean energy transitions. Paris: International Energy Agency, revised version of March 2022, 287 p.

IndexBox (2024): ECOWAS: Market for compounds of rare-earth metals, of Yttrium or of Scandium or mixtures of these metals 2023. IndexBox, Inc., Covina California, USA

Isaac, Nkechi (2023): Nigeria’s deposits worth $700 billion can meet global demand for critical minerals. 20 September 2023

Kasay, G.M. et al. (2022): Rare earth element deposits and their prospects in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, vol. 39, pp. 625–642

Klare, Michael T. (2021): Lithium, cobalt et terres rares : la course aux ressources de l’après-pétrole. Quebec : Presse Gauche, 1 June 2021

Kohnert, Dirk (2018): Tariffs, trade and Trump: Donald Trump’s impact on Africa. ROAPE-blog, Review of African Political Economy , 12 July 2018

Kohnert, Dirk (2022): The impact of the energy-induced EU recession on Sub-Saharan Africa. MPRA WP No. 114051, SSRN, 4183511WPS

Kohnert, Dirk (2023): ECOWAS, once an assertive power in West Africa, reduced to a paper tiger? MPRA WP118192; SSRN WP

Mitchell, Charlie (2022): China’s rare earth metal mining in Africa is challenged by the West. London: The Times, 26 September 2022

Ngom, Abdoulaye (2022) : Les terres rares d’Afrique, un potentiel recours pour l’Union européenne dans le respect du droit international. Revue internationale de droit économique, vol. 36 (1), pp. 5-27

Niarchos, Nicolas (2021): The dark side of Congo’s cobalt rush. The New Yorker, 24 May 2021

oec-world (2023): Rare-earth metal compound in Nigeria. Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC)

Oladipo H. J., et al. (2023): Global environmental health impacts of rare earth metals: Insights for research and policy making in Africa. Challenges. Vol. 14(2), pp. 1-13

Ouma, Kennedy O. & Agabu Shane & Stephen Syampungani (2022): Aquatic Ecological Risk of Heavy-Metal Pollution Associated with Degraded Mining Landscapes of the Southern Africa River Basins: A Review. Minerals, vol. 12 (2), 225, pp. 1-41

Parker, Darren (2023): Rare earths: Steenkampskraal Monazite Mine CEO lays out development plan to 2027. 23 October 2023

Pedrick, Alexis & Elisabeth Berry Drago et al. (2019): Rare earths: The hidden cost to their magic. Science History Institute, 25 June 2019 (audio)

PWC (2023): Nigerian mining – Progress, but still a long way to go. PricewaterhouseCoopers Intern. Ltd, July 2023

Raimondi, Pier Paolo (2021) : The scramble for Africa’s rare earths: China is not alone. Milan: Italian Institute for International Studies (ISPI), 4 Jun 2021

Riofrancos, Thea (2023): The security–sustainability nexus: Lithium onshoring in the Global North. Global Environmental Politics, vol. 23 (1), pp. 20–41

Scheyder, Ernest & Eric Onstad (2023): Insight: World battles to loosen China's grip on vital rare earths for clean energy transition. Reuters, August 2, 2023

Shiquan, Dou & Xu Deyi (2022): The security of critical mineral supply chains. Mineral Economics, vol. 36, pp. 401–412

Stein, Tracy & Carl Bruch & Jordan Dieni (2023): Addressing the ‘Green Resource Curse’ in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington D.C., Environmental Law Institute, Environmental Law Reporter, vol. 53, pp. 1-27

Staff Writer (2023): Undersupply of magnet rare earths to hit 60,000 tonnes by 2030. Mining.com, 5 May 2023 (online, n.p.)

Temga, Jean Pierre et al. (2021) : Rare earth elements in tropical soils, Cameroon soils (Central Africa). Geoderma Regional, vol. 25, pp. 1-25

Thomas, André (2020) : Pour nos batteries de smartphones ou voitures, des enfants creusent en Afrique. Ouest France, 12 September 2020

U.S. Dept. of State (2023): Minerals security partnership - Governments engage with African countries and issue a statement on principles for environmental, social, and governance standards. Media Note, 7 February 2023

Vekasi, Kristin (2021): The geoeconomics of critical rare earth minerals. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, vol. 22 (2), pp. 271-279

Xinhua (2019): Chinese-built industrial parks drive Ethiopia's ambition in manufacturing sector, job creation. Xinhua-net, 30 August 2019

Zacharie, Arnaud (2023): Le siècle des métaux stratégiques. CNCD, 4 July 2023 (online, n.p.)