Mining in Mozambique is set to benefit from b attery technology In addition to raw mineral extraction, the sector is able to open up opportunities to suppliers across the value chain, in providing mining and refinery equipment, maintenance services and machinery and automation equipment.
Providing battery energy storage and electrification to parts of rural Mozambique without stable power, could be the expedient strategy for those companies wanting to secure their extraction security for some of the world’s most viable lithium and graphite resources. On-site beneficiation will remain challenging.
Although Zimbabwean lithium and Mozambiquan graphite are currently structured and supplied as separate products, there is a significant opportunity for regional beneficiation driven by EV assembly. The SADC community’s most industrialised economy, South Africa, has a highly developed and sophisticated automotive industry.
With its geographical diversity and resource depth, Africa has immense mineral supply potential to supply global battery material needs, although hyperlocalised conflicts and logistics infrastructure remain issues.
Mozambique – as well as Tanzania and Madagascar – holds substantial quantities of graphite, which is used in the production of lithium-ion batteries.
Chinese companies dominate the global market for large, energy-dense batteries, and Zimbabwe has increasingly become a preferred source of lithium for Chinese suppliers. Are lithium demand for electric vehicle power units and energy storage the state revenue hedge Zimbabwe desperately needs?