Decoupling Africa and Europe’s REE links

Decoupling Africa and Europe’s REE links

We’re following the European and African Rare Earth Element links from Rome, Italy.

By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine.    

Attempting to decouple Africa and Europe’s Rare Earth Element (REE) links are as complex and perplexing as the chemical process of separating these obscure 17 elements from each other.

Nevertheless, what is clear is a renewed urgency in Europe to move away from the unhealthy reliance on a fickle Chinese supply chain of critical minerals (most of all for REEs) needed in the manufacturing of new technology in the energy and defence sectors.

What is Africa’s role?

What Africa’s role might be in this search for alternative pipelines, remains an open-ended question. That Africa hosts good deposits of rare earths should not even be part of the multi-pronged answer. We all know it does. But so does a lot of other continents and regions.

What matters most is separating the elements in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.

Moreover, we should ask more questions about Light Rare Earth Elements (LREEs) and Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs) and if Africa is investing enough into exploring HREE deposits?

Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs)

Europe currently has a stronger strategic and industrial demand for HREEs. Unfortunately, China still hosts the largest deposits of HREEs and to top it off, leads the way in separating HREE elements and developing new REE processing technology.

Although LREEs are important as well, HREEs have a high unit value and is regarded as more critical for advanced technologies. Europe’s Critical Raw Materials Act and initiatives like the European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA) explicitly prioritise HREEs due to their critical importance for renewable energy, Electric Vehicles (EVs) and military technology.

According to the African Development Bank (AfDB) most carbonatite and alkaline deposits in for example South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia are LREE rich (meaning Cerum and Lanthanum make up a large fraction of the REE content).

An abundance of LREEs 

A recent AfDB document states that Africa has historically been under-explored for HREE targets compared with Asia but that increased exploration (and different techniques) is finding more HREE prospects for example in Namibia and Madagascar.

However, HREEs are technically and economically harder to separate and refine and that has discouraged discovery and development.

The good news is that Africa has an abundance of LREEs (which is also critical) and projects like Longonjo, Zankopsdrift, Songwe Hill, Kagankunde and Steenkampskraal has put Africa’s REEs on the map, and that’s a start.

I am on the ground in Rome, Italy reporting for WhyAfrica about Europe and Africa’s REE links while trying to find my way out of another cobblestoned dead end.

Image: Core samples of a REE project in South Africa. Image credit: Leon Louw for WhyAfrica

Report by Leon Louw for WhyAfrica

Decoupling Africa and Europe’s REE links