European Union: 46 strategic projects to secure battery metals
The European Commission has selected 46 projects in 16 member states to strengthen critical raw material extraction, processing and recycling.
The European Commission has selected 46 projects in 16 member states to strengthen critical raw material extraction, processing and recycling.
In Hanoi, Vietnamese and Norwegian officials linked the new Vietnam–EFTA trade agreement to the Green Strategic Partnership signed in April. Projects remain to be delivered, particularly in renewables and the maritime economy.
Senegal wants to increase renewables’ share of its installed electricity capacity to 40% by 2030. Reiterated in Kolda on October 16 at a meeting devoted to the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), this ambition brings a practical question to the fore: how can a national target become reliable, accessible electricity that benefits the areas still least well served?
The French state’s decision to increase its Eramet stake places the mining group at the center of a debate extending beyond Paris. Through Compagnie minière de l’Ogooué (Comilog), the group operates Gabon’s Moanda manganese deposit, among the world’s largest. For workers and observers in Libreville, the question is what a group-level ownership change means for the Gabonese company, its operations and local benefits.
Mohamed Ould Abdel Vetah’s appointment to Mauritania’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum comes as cooperation with Senegal remains closely tied to the Grand Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) gas project. The new minister took office on October 12, 2026. Four days later, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye received him in Dakar. This sequence signals political continuity between the two capitals, but no new operational decision on GTA was announced following the meeting.
Ghana wants to end raw mineral exports by 2030. President John Dramani Mahama set this horizon at the Mining in Motion conference in Accra on October 19. The policy would cover bauxite, manganese, iron ore, lithium and diamonds, with gradual implementation and requirements tailored to each industry.
The United States and Nigeria have announced a cooperation framework intended to deepen US investment in Nigeria’s mining sector. Presented on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September, the arrangement covers exploration, geological data, deposit development, processing, infrastructure and technical capabilities. It forms part of closer ties between Washington and Abuja and the global competition to secure critical minerals.
Lithium Africa has received two non-binding proposals to finance development of Springbok, its lithium project in South Africa’s Northern Cape. One combines prepayment with purchasing all spodumene concentrate produced during the first three years. The other envisages a $60 million investment by a lithium processing group backed by a Fortune Global 500 company, in exchange for 55% of Lithium Africa’s interest in the project.
Transforming Africa’s mineral resources requires five connected areas of work: energy and infrastructure access, subsurface knowledge, predictable governance, community protection and more balanced international partnerships. This was the direction presented by Liberia’s Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung at the opening of the African Mining Policy Forum–Mining in Motion (AMPF–MiM), held in Accra on October 19–21, 2026.
Namibia wants to change the relationship between mining investors and national resources. President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is calling on foreign companies to build processing and manufacturing facilities in the country, so minerals are no longer exported raw before being bought back as processed products. The direction is clear: access to subsurface resources must contribute more to industrialization, employment and local skills.
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