Yemi Olakitan
An alliance between South Africa and the United Kingdom was declared in order to support ethical exploration, development, production, and processing of vital minerals in South Africa.
Both governments announced the start of regular ministerial and technical discussions between the Departments for Mineral Resources and Energy of South Africa and the UK and the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy.
According to the announcement, “South Africa is a leading producer of minerals including platinum, palladium, and iridium for producing hydrogen as well as vanadium and manganese for storing batteries.” “Cooperation will encourage investment in exploration, production, and beneficiation operations, securing and enhancing access to minerals that are essential for clean industrial and economic development and the global transition to clean energy,” according to the statement.
60% of the world’s manganese supply, 75% of the platinum supply, and 40% of the palladium supply come from South Africa. Additionally, it produces or has the ability to manufacture rare earth elements, vanadium, nickel, and cobalt.
Thus, the UK and South Africa intend to cooperate in order to identify and carry out joint projects aimed at developing clean energies and technologies such as battery storage, fuel cell technologies, energy efficiency, and renewable energy solutions. This is in addition to helping the mining industry in both countries.
The communiqué states that the goal of the collaborative work is to “create an enabling environment for promoting participation of private sector companies, support investment flows into the minerals mining sector, and grow new clean jobs.” It also points out that the UK is a major hub for mining finance, standards, and metals trading. In order to build and strengthen economic ties that will benefit both economies, both nations will encourage and support partnerships between UK and South African enterprises along the value chain for minerals and clean energy.
Jordan Roberts of market research firm Fast markets NewGen responded to the announcement by stating that industry observers might not be too keen on a UK-SA collaboration and would find working with countries like Canada and Australia on battery materials to be more appealing, especially when taking into account their ESG prospects.