Foreign Affairs

Uncle Sam Planning To Pour Even More Cash Into Africa As Critical Mineral Race Heats Up

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The Trump administration is looking to pour more money into African mining projects as Washington battles to break Beijing’s grip on critical minerals.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), a federal agency that helps fund businesses and projects in developing countries, plans to expand direct investments in strategically important projects, including African critical mineral operations, according to Reuters. The move would allow Washington to own a piece of certain projects rather than simply lending companies money, potentially giving the U.S. a greater financial stake in supply chains long dominated by Beijing.

“DFC’s investments in African critical minerals are an important step toward diversifying America’s mineral supply chains,” Anupam Ghildyal, chief growth officer of REalloys Inc., told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Africa has substantial mineral resources, and expanding U.S. investment can help secure access to these strategically important materials.”

China dominates the global processing of critical minerals, including rare earth elements, cobalt, lithium and tungsten, which are essential to American manufacturing, military equipment and advanced technologies. Beijing’s control over these supply chains leaves the United States vulnerable to disruptions, even when raw materials are mined outside Chinese territory, according to the International Energy Agency.

The DFC did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

The DFC has already committed more than $14 billion to investments across Africa, with over $3 billion directed toward critical minerals and related projects, Reuters reported. The agency is considering additional investments in rare earth developments and a graphite mine in Mozambique, although officials have not disclosed which projects could receive new equity financing.

Mozambique is already a major supplier of minerals used in American manufacturing, ranking among the world’s leading producers of graphite, titanium minerals and zirconium, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The DFC announced plans in March to pursue an ownership stake in Australian-owned Syrah Resources, which operates a major graphite mine in Mozambique and a battery-material processing facility in Louisiana, linking African mineral production directly to America’s domestic supply chain.

“DFC’s support for Mozambique’s Balama graphite operation, which supplies U.S. processing, is one example of these supply chain connections,” Abigail Hunter, Executive Director of SAFE’s Center for Critical Minerals Strategy told the DCNF.

The DFC is already backing a $553 million railway rehabilitation project along the Lobito Corridor, a transportation network connecting copper and cobalt mines in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Angola’s Atlantic coast.

The railway could offer an alternative to Chinese-backed transportation routes, giving mining companies another way to move raw materials to international markets, according to the DFC.

China, meanwhile, committed $1.4 billion to rehabilitate the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, a competing transportation corridor linking mineral-producing regions to the Indian Ocean, according to Zambia’s National Assembly.

The investment underscores Beijing’s efforts to expand its commercial influence across the globe through programs like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global infrastructure push launched in 2013 to expand China’s trade routes and economic influence through railways, ports and other projects.

The State Department has criticized Beijing’s BRI for its coercive lending practices, raising concerns that Chinese-backed infrastructure projects can leave developing nations burdened with debt while expanding China’s economic and political influence.

However, securing access to African mineral deposits does not necessarily mean the United States can escape its dependence on China.

Beijing controls more than 90% of global refining for several critical minerals, including graphite and rare earths, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). American-backed mines could therefore still rely on Chinese facilities to process raw materials into products manufacturers can actually use.

“If minerals extracted from African mines still have to be shipped to China for processing, America’s underlying supply chain vulnerability remains largely unchanged,” Ghildyal told the DCNF.

Washington has also supported domestic rare earth recycling efforts, including a proposed $100 million project in Missouri aimed at recovering valuable materials from discarded magnets and manufacturing waste.

DFC would continue relying primarily on loans, credit guarantees and political risk insurance, although direct ownership investments would become a larger part of its financing strategy, Jain told Reuters.

The agency recently announced plans to invest up to $155 million in African digital infrastructure provider WIOCC, its largest equity commitment to date.

“But I think as the agency continues to grow, we will do more equity investments,” DFC Regional Managing Director for Africa Vibhuti Jain told Reuters.

“The objective shouldn’t simply be to secure more minerals. It should be to build the industrial capacity to turn those minerals into products that American manufacturers and our defense industry can actually use,” Ghildyal said.