Financial TimesFinancial Times

How China is winning the race for Africa’s lithium

By Harry Dempsey and Joseph Cotterill

03 Apr 2023 · 9 min read

As the global demand for lithium soars, an intense race between Western and Chinese companies to secure Africa's vast resources is under way. FT examines this high-stakes mineral cold war.

Curated by informed

The settlement of Uis in a remote part of Namibia seems an unlikely hotspot for a mineral cold war over the future of electric vehicles.

Uis lies in the arid hills of Erongo, a large and sparsely populated province of the west African country. For decades the only signs of its mineral wealth were the gemstones sold to tourists by artisanal miners, who scrabbled a living in the shadow of a disused tin mine.

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