UK committed to fresh value-adding mining approach, says Southern African envoy

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - The UK government is promising Africa a fresh in-Africa value-adding approach to the mining and minerals development it will be going all out to partner and promote. This promise was spelt out firmly this week by UK trade envoy for Southern Africa Calvin Bailey, MP. In a zealous keynote address at the London Indaba, Bailey pointed out that many of the crucial minerals vital to key green technologies are particularly present in Southern Africa, his area of interest. The panel discussion in which Bailey took part was moderated by Herbert Smith Freehills Africa chairperson, South Africa's Peter Leon, and took place at this week's London Indaba, which is organised by South Africa's Resouces4Africa and chaired by mining luminary Bernard Swanepoel. "Here in the UK, our government is setting out its plans for economic growth to make Britain a clean energy superpower," Bailey revealed. The industrial strategy, published this week, aims to grow UK sectors such as advanced manufacturing, defence, clean energy and digital technology industries, which rely on critical mineral supplies. "This is also a central part of the UK's Strategic Defence Review. A secure supply of critical minerals is a key enabler for these visions and strategies. "This is why this summer, the Department of Business and Trade, will publish its new industrial strategy and critical minerals strategy that will drive forward the green industries of the future and help secure our supply chains for the long term. "The new critical minerals strategy will refine the UK's approach to its domestic production of critical minerals, including developing our own strengths in midstream processing and recycling. "It will also support the aims of the UK's new circular economy strategy, driving ambitious reforms to promote recycling and retention of critical minerals," Bailey told attendees at the event covered by Mining Weekly. He emphasised the UK government's seriousness about optimising its own domestic critical minerals capabilities, "producing more and better in the UK". This, he said, was why, through the National Wealth Fund, the UK had invested £28-million in the South Crofty tin project, which being developed by Cornish Minerals, and £24-million in the Cornish Lithium Travelamore project to mine and refine better grade lithium in the UK. "However, the UK cannot achieve its critical minerals goals alone," Bailey pointed out. Strategic international collaboration would, he said, be essential to meet the supply needs of UK growth businesses and to promote the global resilience of responsible and sustainable supply chains. "The new strategy will set out our plans to build targeted growth partnerships with key allies, including resource-rich nations across the Africa continent. "The strategy will also cement our commitment to multilateral cooperation on critical minerals through fora like the G20 and the Mineral Security Partnership (MSP) forum," Bailey explained. The promising G20 summit that South Africa is hosting in Johannesburg on November 22 and 23, will be attended by Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Through the multilateral G20 and the bilateral MSP engagements, the UK would, Bailey said, seek to deploy UK export finance for overseas projects that supplied critical minerals, as well as for products that contained critical minerals to the UK, fuelling the UK's net-zero energy transition. The strategy would, Bailey added, also set out how international partners could benefit from the UK strengths, ranging from the City of London as a global centre for mining finance and commodities training, to Britain's research and development academia and the know-how of the Camborne School of Mines, the British Geological Survey, and a network of universities that developed c...