As the UK works to secure critical minerals supply from around the world, UK Minister of State for Industry in the Department for Business and Trade Nusrat Ghani tells Engineering News & Mining Weekly that the UK-African Investment Summit, to be held in April 2024, will be a good forum for engaging critical minerals- hosting nations on the African continent.

Ghani met with representatives of the South African high commission in London at the inaugural London Indaba on June 26 and 27.

Inter-Ministerial groups to help bolster relations between the UK and countries in Africa have also been set up.

One such inter-Ministerial roundtable, in Canada, had substantial representation from African host countries.

The UK-African Investment Summit will see political and business leaders from the UK and 24 African countries, as well as international organisations, congregate to strengthen partnerships and explore opportunities.

Following the UK government's publishing in July 2022 of a Critical Minerals Strategy, which set out its approach to accelerate the sourcing and supply of minerals of high economic risk and elevated supply disruption, the country in March released an updated policy paper ‘Critical Minerals Refresh: Delivering Resilience in a Changing Global Environment’.

The updated document sets out how the UK is delivering the strategy for businesses, in light of a changing global landscape and the intensification of geopolitical competition.

Ghani confirms that the country has launched an independent Task & Finish Group on Critical Minerals Resilience to investigate the critical minerals dependencies and vulnerabilities across the country’s industrial sectors and opportunities for industry to promote resilience in its supply chains.

The group will produce a report on its findings and recommendations by the end of the year.

The group brings together independent experts to advise the government on where dependencies exist in the UK’s critical minerals supply chains, and how industry can protect its supply.

Some of the task group members include the Critical Minerals Association, the Minor Metals Trade Association, Rolls-Royce, Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Johnson Matthey.

In the meantime, the UK has been accelerating its collaboration on critical minerals with international partners, including Canada and South Africa, to not only source commodities such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, tin, gallium, rare earths and silicon, but also to collaborate on research and development and provide development assistance.

Ghani says critical minerals underpin various technologies, particularly those used to mitigate climate change.

Not only are critical minerals supply chains strained by rising global demand, but the UK strives to strengthen its domestic supply capability, as well as its supply chain farther abroad, to diversify away from the world’s predominant critical minerals producer China and markets such as Russia, which is subject to economic sanctions by Western economies, including the UK, its the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ghani says there is no quick fix to building new production and supply chains for critical minerals, as they are complex and opaque, and often concentrated in specific countries. “We cannot rely on mineral supply chains vulnerable to market shocks, geopolitical events and logistical disruptions, at a time when global demand is rising faster than ever,” she adds.

Responding to whether the UK will be averse to working with countries that may be supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ghani says the UK has sanctions against Russian entities, which shows its priorities in the matter, and that partnerships need to be equitable to both parties.