The Telegraph published on 12 February 2026 an article titled "'Mine, Baby Mine': Trump Races to Catch Up to China in New Scramble for Africa's Minerals" by Ben Farmer.
Washington is trying to overturn more than 20 years of Chinese dominance in which Beijing has taken control of mining and refining of critical minerals. This competition is playing out this week at a major mining meeting in South Africa.
The Lagos-based African Finance Corporation recently posted its "Compendium of Africa's Strategic Minerals 2026."
This is a major study of Africa's critical minerals, industrial minerals, uranium, and rare earths. It also noted that China controls about 90 percent of global manganese refining, approximately 90 percent of rare earth separation and refining, and dominates battery-grade graphite processing.
The Africa Center for Strategic Studies published on 9 December 2025 a paper titled "China's Critical Minerals Strategy in Africa" by Paul Nantulya.
China controls over half of global critical minerals production and an estimated 87 percent of its processing and refining capacity. It also produces nearly 70 percent of rare earth minerals.
China's strategy for dominance in critical minerals includes a tolerance for high-risk projects, generous government support to Chinese companies, diversified access to minerals, financial support of African infrastructure linked to mineral extraction, financing the development of African mineral projects, and strategic stockpiling of critical minerals in China.
Fox News posted on 26 October 2025 an article titled "Trump Administration Works to Break China's Rare Earth Stranglehold on Africa" by Paul Tilsley.
Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, and South Africa expect to open rare earth mines by 2029. The United States now imports 70 percent of its rare earth elements from China but hopes to secure new sources in Africa.
If you can't access the article in the above link, try doing so here.
Courthouse News Service published on 9 October 2025 an article titled "EU Woos Mineral-rich Africa as China Tightens Resource Grip" by Yuval Molina Obedman.
The European Union pledged $440 Billion through 2027 in infrastructure investment in Africa as it competes for influence with China. The EU program emphasizes private sector investment and blended finance using grants, loans, and guarantees.
The Conversation published on 12 October 2025 a commentary titled "China and the US Are in a Race for Critical Minerals. African Countries Need to Make the Rules" by James Boafo, Rochelle Spencer, and Senyo Dotsey.
Africa holds about 30 percent of the world's critical minerals sought by the United States and China. The analysis urges African countries to determine for themselves how to benefit from this global competition.
The Stimson Center published on 28 February 2025 an analysis titled "Competing for Africa's Resources: How the US and China Invest in Critical Minerals" by Sydney Tucker.
China's approach to Africa's critical minerals is characterized by state-backed investments and a focus on securing long-term access to resources. The US prioritizes private sector involvement and supply chain diversification to reduce reliance on China while pursuing clean energy, national security, and economic goals.
The Atlantic Council published on 26 November 2024 a commentary titled "The US Won't Gain a Lead in the Competition for Africa's Critical Minerals Without Innovation" by Chris Moorman.
In order to compete successfully with China for Africa's critical minerals, it needs to form partnerships with African countries that are economically feasible, environmentally sustainable, and ethical. The only way to do that is by driving innovation along the critical minerals supply chain, specifically in processing and refining.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published on 15 August 2024 an analysis titled "Maximizing the Benefits of the Renewed Global Interest in Africa's Strategic Minerals" by Folashade Soule.
China is far ahead in building supply chains for Africa's cobalt, rare earth minerals, lithium, and several other metals and minerals. Chinese companies are willing to take greater risks than their Western counterparts and adapt quickly to low environmental standards.
Tanzania's The Guardian published on 29 July 2024 an article titled "Chinese Firm to Invest $63m on Tanzania's Mining Project."
Chinese mining company Shenghe Resources has signed a non-binding term sheet with Tanzania's Peak Rare Earths to develop a rare earth operation.
Reuters published on 24 October 2023 an article titled "Namibia Orders Police to Stop Chinese Firm's Lithium Exports" by Nyasha Nyaungwa.
Namibia recently banned the export of unprocessed lithium and other critical minerals as it seeks to encourage local processing. The Namibian government ordered its police to stop a Chinese company from transporting and exporting lithium ore, accusing it of violating the ban.
The Atlantic Council published on 12 October 2023 an analysis titled "How the US Can Build Better Strategic Partnerships in Africa to Secure Critical Minerals" by Nii Simmonds and Shirley Martey Hargis.
China currently dominates 90 percent of the global market for critical minerals, including imports from Africa, which has the minerals that will power the modern world. The US should incentivize and strengthen private sector partnerships with African countries to secure supply chains. More urgent action is needed to counter China's dominance of the continent's critical minerals.
The Voice of America published on 10 February 2023 an article titled "US, China Compete for Africa's Rare Earth Minerals" by Kate Bartlett.
The article looks at the growing interest of China and the United States to obtain access to key minerals such as cobalt, lithium, and rare earths.
Brookings published on 29 December 2022 a paper titled "Could Africa Replace China as the World's Source of Rare Earth Elements?" by Gracelin Baskaran.
China now has 60 percent of global production and 85 percent of processing capacity of rare earth elements. Africa's potential in rare earths is largely untapped given low levels of exploration. Scaling up exploration of rare earth elements could put it in a position to compete with China.
The African Climate Foundation published on 23 September 2022 a report titled "Geopolitics of Critical Minerals in Renewable Energy Supply Chains" by Antonio Andreoni, SOAS University of London, and Simon Roberts, University of Johannesburg.
In 2019, China was the top producing country of graphite and rare earth elements and third highest producer of copper and lithium. It had the highest share of any country of processing volume for copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements.
China's corporate control over total African mine production in 2018 was a modest 6.7 percent. The British international mining company, Anglo American, exercised the most control at 14.9 percent. Nevertheless, in 2021, China Molybdenum controlled more than one-tenth of the world's cobalt and Chinese companies strengthened their grip over rare earth elements.
The National Interest published on 27 July 2022 a commentary titled "America Can Still Out-Compete China in Africa" by Daniel Haile, US Army Officer.
The author argues that Washington needs to be a reliable African partner, not pre-impose its political ideology, and adopt a laissez-faire approach to the continent. It also needs to stop relying on autocratic leaders to secure its geopolitical interests to slow the rise of Chinese influence.
The Economic Times published on 20 July 2022 an article titled "China Eyes Military Base in Indian Ocean Region in Madagascar" by Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury.
China is increasing its military cooperation with Madagascar and reportedly eyeing the possibility of a military base there. China posted its first defense attache to Madagascar in 2021.
The Council on Foreign Relations blog posted on 22 April 2022 an analysis titled "How Russia's Invasion of Ukraine Will Impact Africa's Energy Transition" by Katie Auth and Todd Moss, both at the Energy for Growth Hub.
The authors reached 7 conclusions:
(1) African leaders will increasingly frame energy poverty as an energy security issue deserving the same urgency.
(2) The rush to boost LNG supply to Europe will stoke further African frustration with climate hypocrisy--unless development finance follows through.
(3) Rising oil and gas prices will hurt African electricity markets.
(4) But rising interest rates will also create headwinds for renewable projects.
(5) The need to diversify away from Russia will reinvigorate interest in African oil and gas production for export.
(6) As the urgency behind decarbonization intensifies, demand for critical minerals will spur investment in African mining.
(7) Russian actions (and Western financial sanctions) could give countries pause about betting on Russian nuclear technology.
The New York Times published on 20 November 2021 an in depth story titled "A Power Struggle Over Cobalt Rattles the Clean Energy Revolution" by Dionne Searcey, Michael Forsythe, and Eric Lipton.
More than two-thirds of the world's cobalt production comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Cobalt is a key component of batteries for electric vehicles. China and the US are competing for control of the market with China winning for the time being. China's goal is to control the global supply chain from the metals in the ground to the batteries themselves, no matter where they are made.
