As African leaders convene in Beijing for the China-Africa co-operation summit, a word of caution: the state of the Chinese economy is precarious. Focusing on building up one source of foreign direct investment and one buyer of African natural resources exposes countries to significant risk....

On August 14, China announced export restrictions on antimony in the country’s latest move to restrict critical mineral shipments globally in the name of national security. Antimony is a critical inputfor the defense industry, particularly for armor-piercing ammunition, night vision goggles, infrared sensors, bullets, and precision optics, and the electronics industry, including semiconductors, cables, and batteries. This is the latest restriction after a series of export controlsin 2023 on graphite, germanium, gallium, and rare earth processing technologies, raising alarms in the semiconductor, electric vehicle, and defense industries that rely on these materials....

I was sitting at Washington’s Dulles Airport on Sunday night when the news flashed across the screen: Joe Biden had dropped out of the US presidential race, less than a week after former president Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt. Quite a time to be living in Washington....

Indonesia is the world’s largest nickel producer and produces significant quantities of copper, cobalt, tin, and gold. In 2023, mining contributed to 11.9 percent of Indonesia’s gross domestic product. Over the last 15 years, Indonesia has imposed—and at times loosened—bans on raw resource exports and local ownership requirements. While the raw nickel export ban has proved effective in stimulating Chinese investment to build a robust downstream industry, history shows that a one-size-fits-all form of resource nationalism has not always been beneficial to Indonesia’s mining sector....

Even at the height of sanctions, the US and allies did not stop importing uranium; in fact, Russian uranium production expanded significantly...

The automotive industry is a key part of SA’s economy. It is a relatively labour-intensive sector that is one of the country’s biggest exporters and is a source of both foreign investment and revenue....

Price volatility for minerals and metals required for the clean energy transition—including cobalt, nickel, and lithium—has become a significant deterrent to private sector mining investment. In March 2024, the S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Pipeline Activity Index—a single score that gauges the activity level in the commodity supply chain, factoring in drill results, initial resource announcements, financing, and positive project development milestones—dropped 30 percent, from 88 to 61—the lowest since the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic four years ago....

In 2021, Zambia became the first country to default on its external debt after the Covid-19 pandemic. The mining sector is a bedrock of the country’s economy. Since 2010, mining has played an increasingly significant role in Zambia’s GDP. However, the country has struggled to attract or retain investment owing to significant policy instability. In 2018, Zambia raised its royalty rate for the 10th time in 16 years, withheld value-added tax refunds, imposed double taxation as mineral royalties were no longer tax deductible, adopted a resource nationalism approach by implementing a 5 percent import duty on copper concentrates, and created an environment with uncertainty of tenure. Production dropped despite strong copper prices. According to the Zambian Chamber of Mines, in 2019 companies withheld over $650 million in investments....

Middle Eastern countries are competing with China in making investments in Africa...

The country’s platinum production should not be dropping at a time of shrinking deficits...

Despite facing significant macroeconomic challenges, Argentina remains one of the most attractive mining jurisdictions in the world, given both its mineral potential and the stability of its investor-friendly mining policies. Exploration expenditures in Argentina increased by 77.1 percent between 2021 and 2023, from $241 million to $427 million. Argentina was the third-largest recipient of lithium exploration expenditures, receiving $139.9 million worth of expenditures, and the eighth-largest recipient of copper exploration expenditures, receiving $103.4 million worth of expenditures....

On May 14, 2024, the White House announced increased tariffs on Chinese imports “across strategic sectors such as steel and aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles, batteries, critical minerals, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes, and medical products.” Many of these sectors are key to the Biden administration’s plans to reshore manufacturing to increase supply chain resilience and improve the political economy of the energy transition....