Photo by: Bloomberg
While South Africa continues to dilly-dally in putting in the policies and infrastructure required for its mining sector to conduct the exploration needed to ensure it can supply the minerals needed for the energy transition, others are pushing ahead. China’s efforts to ramp up lithium extraction, for instance, could see it accounting for nearly a third of the world’s supply by the middle of the decade, according to UBS. The race to secure transition minerals is playing out at the highest levels, with nations including the US prioritising access to the materials necessary for making batteries as the world turns away from fossil fuels. Photograph: Bloomberg