A worker produces chips for mobile phones, cars, and LED lighting at a workshop in Huai, a city in Jiangsu province, China, 29 April 2024. (Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
- China cut off supplies of germanium in 2023, in a war with the West about microchips and the minerals used to make them.
- The West just scored a victory in the DRC, which is now due to start shipping germanium concentrates later this year.
- Over time, the US hopes, the DRC can help break China’s hold on the metal, as its biggest supplier by far.
The United
States, European Union, and Japan are celebrating an African victory in an
ongoing war with China around minerals critical in high-tech applications.
In a new
deal, Belgian company Umicore has partnered with Democratic Republic of
Congo company Gecamines to recover germanium, a rare metal used in
semiconductor manufacturing and some high-tech military gear.
Under a
long-term agreement with Gecamines subsidiary La Société pour le
Traitement du Terril de Lubumbashi (STL), the European company will be involved
in recovering germanium from the Big Hill tailings site in
Lubumbashi.
The deal
falls under the banner of the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), a
collaboration of 14 countries and the European Union that is chaired by the
USA.
The US
Department of State said in a statement that the partnership was a “powerful demonstration of the MSP’s capacity to secure and diversify
critical mineral supply chains, which bring economic benefits to local
communities and source countries like the DRC.”
Big Hill is
a 10 million-tonne dump rich in zinc, silver, cobalt, and copper,
according to Umicore, but germanium may be the most important prize.
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Last
year, China halted overseas shipments of germanium without
special export licences. That came as the USA sought to limit
China’s access to advanced microchips manufactured in the West – often using
minerals from China, which accounts for 68% of the world’s supply of
germanium, according to the US Geological Survey.
Several
African countries may hold the key to breaking a Chinese stranglehold on
various rare earth minerals, which are critical in high-tech and renewable
power products. These minerals are similar to germanium.
The
germanium from Lubumbashi is now due to be part-processed on site,
creating germanium concentrates. The first exports under the new
partnership are expected in the second half of the year.
Over time,
the MSP hopes, the DRC could account for 30% of the global supply of germanium
– enough to “bolster supply chains to US European, and Japanese
markets,” the US State Department said.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.