While critical minerals offer potential opportunities, there are also latent risks for countries such as Tanzania. These risks range from policy gaps, supply chain governance risks, geopolitics of consumer nations, investment and revenue management risks

By Moses Kulaba, Governance Analysis Centre

Critical Minerals and Energy Transition: Tanzania’s potential

Globally, the zeal to mitigate climate change and keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius by reducing net carbon emissions from fossils by 2030 and transition clean energy by 2050, has picked momentum. According to scoping study report by the Natural Resources Governance Institute (NRGI)[1] , based on data from various geological surveys and government reports show that Tanzania has a wide variety of critical or transition minerals deposits relevant to the future technological transition to clean energy.  Critical mineral deposits found in Tanzania include Graphite, Rare Earth, Cobalt, Copper, Iron, Nobium, Lead, Lithium, Manganese, Diamond, Nickel, Titanium, Uranium, Vanadium, Tungstein, Lead, Bauxite and other gaseous minerals such as helium. Over 18 million tons of graphite reserves (estimated to be the 5th largest reserve in the world) are present in mostly in Lindi, Morogoro and Tanga Regions. An estimated 1.52 million tons of nickel deposits have been discovered in Kagera region and about 138 billion cubic feet of helium is present at Lake Rukwa Basin. This is said to be the second largest helium deposit in the world.

The discussion on energy transition and its implications to the Country has not picked momentum within Tanzania. The potential contribution that these minerals could make to Tanzania’s economic development in the context of energy transition may be known in some circles but not widely discussed.

There has not yet been a specific categorisation of these minerals as critical or strategic. To date minerals in Tanzania are still largely classified as metallic minerals, industrial minerals, and energy minerals. Perhaps, this is due to the limited public understanding of the strategic and critical nature and role some of these minerals will play in defining the global future.

Energy Transition Opportunities for Critical Minerals

Globally, there is a surge in interest in critical or transitional minerals as a pathway to meeting Net zero targets The World Bank estimates that overall demand for at least some critical minerals vital for industrial energy transition will increase significantly over the next 30 years (by 2050).  For instance, copper and aluminum are cornerstone minerals for all electricity-related technologies, since electrical equipment such as motors, transformers and cables use copper to conduct electricity and heat.  Copper, nickel, lithium and cobalt are key elements for batteries used in many of the new technologies. An electric vehicle, for instance, typically contains lithium-ion batteries, which requires lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt-bearing minerals. Solar panels and wind turbines are made with nickel, graphite and copper. Telecommunication devices we use, such as phones and laptops, require a wealth of minerals, including tantalite, wolframite, graphite, bauxite, etc.

World economic powers and foreign companies have already picked interest and acquired stakes in Tanzania’s Critical Minerals, significantly highlighting what may potentially be a race to control the supply chain into future. So far companies from Australia, China, Canada, Europe and US are known to have interests in Tanzania’s critical minerals. This provides Tanzania with a potential opportunity to leverage its extractive sector (particularly critical Minerals) to benefit from the forthcoming energy transition. With deposits of critical minerals, such as graphite and Helium, Tanzania’s critical minerals subsector could be a game changer.

Energy transition risks in critical minerals

While critical minerals offer potential opportunities, there are also latent risks for countries such as Tanzania. These risks range from policy gaps, supply chain governance risks, geopolitics of consumer nations, investment and revenue management risks

The future of Foreign Direct Investment in mining risks

The investment boom in critical minerals will affect the future of foreign direct investment in Tanzania’ s other major mineral resources such as gold and gemstones. This is already felt in the type of mineral licenses that are being granted. According to NRGI critical mineral scoping study report, 90% of the total exploration licenses in 2005 were granted for gold. By 2020, 70% of exploration licenses granted were for critical minerals. Clearly, investors’ interest for critical minerals is currently surpassing that for gold and other major minerals.

Tax and revenue risks

 Over the past years Tanzania has tried to increase its domestic revenue mobilisation efforts from the mining sector. Tanzania’s DRM efforts, among others, focused on tax reforms to curb tax evasion and maximising benefits from the minerals sector through value addition.  Currently, the mining sector contributes 547 trillion[2] to the total government revenue collections. Between 2018/19 mining companies contributed around 421 trillion TZS (183 billion U.S. dollars) to the revenue collected by the government, while oil and gas companies contributed approximately 177 trillion TZS (77 billion U.S. dollars)[3].

However, the NRGI scoping study found there are gaps in the current Tanzania Development Strategies and Mineral Policies. An independent or separate policy on critical or strategic minerals may not be necessary but aligning the current framework to tap in the energy transition opportunities is essential. Government can benefit more from encouraging/investing in processing of the critical minerals at home, thus capturing and retaining high values from the resource extraction of the value chain. Where the local volumes cannot economic viably support, Tanzania can explore partnering with other Countries in the region. The potential revenue contribution from the critical mineral’s subsector is largely unknown. Critical Minerals are just minerals. If the government doesn’t strategize, the windfall benefits from the energy transition could be missed. There are also significant governance (corruption) risks in critical minerals supply chain which could undermine government’s efforts to maximise revenues[4].

To realize the opportunities offered by this resource wealth, Tanzania needs to take a deeper look at its policy and legal frameworks to ensure proper governance of the sector and a clear identification of its position through a well-tailored strategy on critical minerals. If not well managed, the interest in controlling the critical mineral’s supply chain could benefit more the developed (user) Countries than the supplier countries such as Tanzania.  The new search for critical minerals could also mean more new marginal lands opened up for exploration and mining (large scale and artisanal), sparking off a new wave of land-based conflicts. The boom could also be short lived new alternatives to critical minerals emerge to support clean energy technologies emerge.

 

[1] NRGI: Critical Minerals and Energy Transition: Findings from Tanzania’s Scoping Study of Critical Minerals Potential and implications for Tanzania, 2021

[2] https://allafrica.com/stories/202104300627.html

[3] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1272116/contribution-of-mining-oil-and-gas-to-government-revenue-in-tanzania/

[4] https://eiti.org/events/critical-raw-materials-times-uncertainty-why-good-governance-matters-energy-security