China turns to belt and road countries in race to secure tech-critical minerals
- With growing concern over the stability of supply chains, China has begun to draft agreements on minerals with countries taking part in global infrastructure strategy
- US-led curbs on technology exports have heightened need for alternative supply chains and sources for critical raw materials
As the US and China continue their stand-off over the latter’s rising technological capacity – and control over the minerals critical for tech production and development becomes a question of paramount importance – Beijing has intensified its efforts to build partnerships with countries taking part in its Belt and Road Initiative to ensure a steady, stable supply chain for these essential raw materials.
One such agreement concerned continued investment in the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, believed to have the world’s largest untapped high-quality iron ore reserve with an estimated 2.4 billion tonnes. The deal will lower China’s dependency on ore from Australia and Brazil.
China is also looking to Asian partners, especially resource-rich Indonesia and Kazakhstan, to fulfil its appetite for minerals.
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The country is investing in a nickel cobalt hydroxide wet process project, a nickel metal production line and supporting facilities with an annual output of 126,000 tonnes in Indonesia, and a tungsten mine project in Kazakhstan.