DIRECTOR of Industry in the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Musokotwane Sichizuwe says as the world transitions towards green energy, Zambia is set to play a significant role as a major source of critical minerals.
Mr Sichizuwe says Zambia wants to position itself not only as a supplier of raw materials in the green energy transition but also as promoter of more enhanced in-country processing of critical minerals.
He noted that the global green energy transition presents Africa and Zambia with a great opportunity to effectively harness its strategic battery minerals and therefore break the chain of dependence on the export of raw critical minerals.
Mr Sichizuwe was speaking on the first day of the two-day stakeholder’s engagement meeting on fostering environmentally and Socially Responsible, Decarbonised, Inclusive and Transformative Value Chains for Energy Transition Minerals in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region, organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Monday.
“We need to acknowledge that Africa holds the significant reserves of the strategic minerals that are required for green energy transition, these include cobalt, manganese, lithium, graphite, nickel and copper and these would assist the continent to be able to take a more active role in the electric vehicle battery value chain and the electric vehicle value chain in general,” said Mr Sichizuwe.
He further said for this to be achieved, there is need to be deliberate in terms of promoting local value addition, by leveraging on Zambia’s and Africa’s mineral resources and promoting the production of battery grade materials, electric vehicle battery precursors and electric vehicle batteries in the long term.
“As you may know, Zambia and the Democratic republic of Congo (DRC) are currently working on a joint initiative to develop and promote the production of Electric Vehicle Batteries and this is basically premised on the fact that the two countries possess almost all the critical minerals that are required in the production of electric vehicle batteries and battery precursors,” he added.
Mr Sichizuwe disclosed that the two countries have already earmarked special economic zones that will be used for the production of electrical vehicle batteries and battery precursors, saying the aim is to move up in the value chain because that is where the value is.
“Here, you drive greater mineral beneficiation, job creation, greater revenue for governments and creation of economic linkages and generally contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” he added.
Mr Sichizuwe however said, in as much as Zambia is pushing for value addition in the electric vehicle space, this is a new area for the country and there are still a few challenges that need to be addressed which include the lack of skills or low skills in this area, need for research and development as well as need for newer technologies.
Speaking at the same event, Director for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Sub Regional Office for Southern Africa Eunice Kamwendo in a speech read on her behalf by UNECA Chief of Inclusive Industrialization Olayinka Bandele, said the project on “Fostering Environmentally and Socially Responsible, Decarbonized, Inclusive and Transformative Value Chains for Energy Transition Minerals in the SADC Region,” is being implemented by six consortium members including UNECA and WWF.
“The project, funded by the German International Climate Initiative (IKI), primarily covers six countries in the SADC region: DRC, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe,” said Ms Kamwendo.
Ms Kamwendo explained that the objective of the project is to ensure that the extraction and processing of energy transition minerals in the SADC is undertaken through low carbon, environmentally and socially responsible mining and manufacturing methods, further serving the country’s climate goals and the region’s ambition for broad-based sustainable development and inclusive structural transformation.
Meanwhile, WWF Country Director Nalucha Ziba said the green energy transition will spur the demand for electric vehicles and investment in the battery-powered storage systems, which is expanding the development of solar and wind energy.
Ms Ziba pointed out that the key priority for African countries, policy makers, mining communities and citizens is that this boom serves the continent’s aspirations for inclusive and sustainable growth and transformation.
