Energy Monitor - August 21, 2023

Chinese companies are set to double their ownership of overseas mines containing critical minerals needed for the energy transition.

Chinese overseas investment in metals and mining via the Belt and Road Initiative is set to reach a record high this year, finds new research from the Green Finance and Development Center (GFDC), a research centre based at Fudan University in Shanghai…According to the report, the value of Chinese investments and new contracts in the metals and mining sector has already exceeded $10bn during the first half of 2023 - a 131% growth rate when compared with the same period last year…The report, which tracks the growth of China's Belt and Road Initiative, highlights the metals and mining sector as a "growth area of strategic importance" to the country, given this area is "particularly relevant to the green transition"…And yet, as highlighted in Energy Monitor's Critical Minerals Tracker, one of the biggest challenges the mineral sector will face in the coming years is the gap between future production and rising demand. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that critical minerals deposits are concentrated in a few countries that either have rich natural resources, or an outsized influence on supply chains…China, for example, is by far the dominant global player when it comes to refining critical minerals, refining 68% of nickel, 40% of copper, 59% of lithium and 73% of cobalt. Through the Belt and Road Initiative, China has staked its claim to critical minerals in a number of countries throughout South America, Asia and Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo's mining sector, for example, is now 70% dominated by Chinese investors…Data from Energy Monitor's parent company, GlobalData, shows this is just the start, with the number of planned mines (under development or exploration) outside of China, whose primary equity owner is a Chinese company, and which contains critical minerals (defined as chromium, cobalt, copper, graphite, iron ore, lead, lithium, manganese, vanadium and zinc), set to double, from 40 currently in operation to 89 planned.

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Fortune Minerals Limited published this content on 21 August 2023 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 21 August 2023 18:32:03 UTC.