Africa is at the center of a growing geopolitical competition for critical minerals as both Western countries and China seek to secure supplies of copper, cobalt, and other resources essential to the energy transition and technology, reports Clyde Russell of Reuters. Western‑backed infrastructure projects like the $6 billion Lobito Corridor aim to boost exports from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Atlantic ports, while China continues to invest heavily in African mining and rail networks to link resources to Indian Ocean outlets.
The US and EU are offering investment incentives and trade diplomacy to attract African partners, but governance challenges and fragmented policies mean African nations must carefully balance interests to ensure sustainable benefits such as jobs, revenue, and infrastructure rather than repeating past patterns of extraction. Russell writes:
Two multi-billion dollar rail projects in Africa. One headed west, the other east. One backed by Western countries, the other by China. Both aiming to ship vast quantities of critical minerals. […]
The Lobito rail corridor will cost up to $6 billion by the time it’s planned to be finished by 2030, with around 1,700 kilometres (1,050 miles) of track taking mainly copper and cobalt from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Zambia west to the Angolan port of Lobito.
Much of the funding is coming from the United States and Europe and aims to upgrade the existing railway and build new lines in order to boost the annual capacity to 4.6 million metric tons per year. […]
