Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on the fierce battle for resources vital to green transition:

The battle for natural resources crucial to the green energy transition is in the spotlight again with the biggest offer for a mining company in years and a new warning over China’s dominance of a critical mineral. BHP’s proposed £31bn takeover of Anglo American would make it the world’s biggest producer of copper, a barometer of global economic health, given its use in everything from electric batteries to power lines.

Anglo has rejected the proposal, which provoked a backlash from the South African government and shareholders, raising the prospect of a bitter hostile takeover battle, possibly drawing in industry rivals such as Glencore and Rio Tinto.

Traders have been betting on a tighter market for the red metal as supplies get squeezed, although the recent discovery of a vast copper deposit in Zambia by a mining start-up backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos could help Mingomba, in the north of the country, become one of the world’s top three high-grade copper mines.

Another crucial battery material, graphite, is at the centre of a warning from South Korea, the leading supplier for electric vehicle batteries in the US. 

President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act seeks to cut out “foreign entities of concern” from EV supply chains, but with Chinese companies controlling more than 99 per of the global market for battery-grade graphite and 69 per cent of the market for synthetic graphite used in battery anodes, this makes it nearly impossible for any EV maker to qualify for US subsidies, South Korea says.

Apple, meanwhile, is under fire from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which accuses the iPhone maker of using illegally exported minerals from the war-torn east of the country. Apple’s sourcing of the “3T” materials — tin, tungsten and tantalum, critical in the manufacturing of smartphones — has long been under scrutiny.

Lithium, another important component for EV batteries, has also been in the spotlight as India rushes to catch up with rivals including China in the race to build next-generation energy supply chains. New Delhi is pushing state-owned mining groups to pursue mineral reserves in South America and Africa as well as inviting bids to develop domestic production. 

Magnesium, crucial for making lightweight aluminium alloys used in cars and packaging, is another metal dominated by China, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of EU supplies. The bloc is now restarting mining for the first time in more than a decade with a venture in Romania.

China also accounts for about 70 per cent of mining and 90 per cent of processing of rare earths, a set of 17 elements used in a variety of products critical to the energy transition. That gives Beijing a near-monopoly on permanent magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines and fighter jets.

The US and Australia are spearheading pushes to reduce this dependency but the task is not without difficulties: China in December banned exports of technologies for processing rare earths as it fought back against curbs on computer chip sales to Chinese companies.