Benedict Peters
By Seth Onyango, chicken story company
Nigerian industrialist Benedict Peters’ Bravura Holdings will start production at a Zimbabwean lithium project in 2025, boosting Africa’s drive to retain extra income from the worldwide lithium growth, in response to Bloomberg. African Intelligence reported in March that the Nigerian billionaire had acquired an exploration licence in the important thing mining space of Kamativi.
Peters’ foray into lithium highlights alternatives for entrepreneurs to faucet Africa’s quickly increasing inexperienced minerals sector. Bravura will begin manufacturing at Zimbabwe’s Kamativi lithium tailings mission early subsequent yr, producing 30,000 tonnes of lithium-laden spodumene focus.
Gbenga Ojo, Bravura’s group basic supervisor, confirmed the corporate’s plans to fee the mission by 2025, regardless of a big decline in lithium costs, in response to Bloomberg. “We’re so assured about it,” Ojo acknowledged in Harare. “Even when it stays like this, we’ll go forward with our mission.”
The worth of lithium, a key part in batteries for electrical automobiles and renewable vitality storage, has plummeted about 80% from its peak in 2022 resulting from oversupply.
Nonetheless, Bravura is undeterred by present market circumstances. The corporate plans to supply over 30,000 tonnes of spodumene focus yearly by reprocessing waste materials from a tin mine that ceased operations three a long time in the past.
The Zimbabwean authorities, holding a 40% stake within the mission, illustrates a rising pattern of African nations securing larger stakes in mining ventures to maximise native advantages.
Traditionally, Africa’s wealthy mineral sources have usually been exploited by overseas corporations, with minimal returns to native economies.
The lithium growth presents a possibility to alter this dynamic, guaranteeing that the continent’s sources drive native growth and industrialisation.
Nonetheless, the drive to maintain extra income from the lithium growth inside Africa just isn’t with out challenges. Infrastructure deficits, regulatory hurdles, and market volatility pose important obstacles.
In Zimbabwe, the Sandawana mine has been a focus within the lithium rush, with 1000’s of artisanal miners working beneath perilous circumstances, together with studies of kid labour and fatalities from mine collapses.
However there was a shift. Zimbabwe introduced a ban on the export of unprocessed lithium in December 2022, allowing solely the transport of concentrates to encourage native processing.
This transfer, beneath the Base Mineral Export Management Act, is designed to foster home trade and retain extra worth throughout the nation.
Equally, Namibia has additionally banned the export of unprocessed inexperienced minerals, together with lithium, cobalt, and graphite, with exceptions requiring particular approval from the mining ministry.
Ghana, too, is taking important steps to manage its inexperienced mineral sources. The nation has just lately permitted a inexperienced minerals coverage, pending parliamentary approval, aimed toward guaranteeing that the exploitation of important minerals advantages native populations.
“The overarching aim of the coverage is to make sure that exploitation of those important minerals inure to the advantage of the folks of Ghana, the true homeowners of those sources,” mentioned Samuel Jinapor, Ghana’s Minister of Lands and Pure Assets.
The worldwide lithium market is at the moment dominated by Australia, Chile, and China, which collectively produced over 90% of the 130,000 tonnes in 2022.
Nonetheless, with demand projected to extend sixfold by 2035 to satisfy local weather targets, the market dynamics are poised for a big shift.
Exploration tasks are accelerating worldwide, and Africa is not any exception. Important lithium deposits have been recognized in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mali, and Ethiopia.
A number of tasks on the continent have obtained backing from main gamers within the battery and commodity trade, resembling CATL, Ganfeng Lithium, and Glencore.
Nonetheless, most African lithium tasks stay on the exploration or growth stage.
Benedict Peters, predominantly recognized for his ventures within the oil and gasoline sector by his Aiteo Group in Nigeria, is diversifying into the mining trade with this important mission.
His transfer into lithium mining underscores the broader pattern of vitality sector gamers pivoting in direction of sustainable and future-forward sources.
/ chicken story company