The Tumultuous Path Toward EU-China-Africa Trilateral Cooperation on Critical Raw Materials in Africa

The document analyzes the interdependencies between the EU, China, and Africa regarding critical raw materials (CRMs). While the EU seeks to reduce its reliance on China through initiatives like the Critical Raw Materials Act and the Global Gateway, the paper argues that complete decoupling is unfeasible due to China's dominance in midstream processing and the high costs of establishing independent European supply chains. It highlights that African nations, particularly the DRC and Zimbabwe, are increasingly pushing for local value addition and processing rather than mere extraction. The author proposes a trilateral cooperation model, using a hypothetical cobalt project in the DRC, where the EU provides technical training and financing, China provides refining technology and market access, and the DRC ensures resource ownership and local industrial development.

• The EU is heavily dependent on China for the processing and refining of critical raw materials (CRMs), dominating 24 minerals in processing, including 85% of light rare earth elements and 100% of heavy rare earth elements.
• EU efforts to decouple from China are facing significant hurdles, with market intelligence from Benchmark Minerals suggesting the EU is unlikely to meet its 2030 goals for domestic processing (40%) and recycling (25%).
• African producing countries are shifting away from purely extractive models toward local value addition, implementing measures such as Zimbabwe's December 2022 ban on raw lithium exports to force the construction of local processing plants.
• The risk of direct confrontation between the EU and China over African CRMs is low because their strategic interests in Africa have minimal overlap; for example, China is largely absent from the production of coltan in the DRC, manganese in South Africa, and phosphate rock in Morocco.
• The paper proposes a trilateral model for the DRC's cobalt sector where the EU provides technical training and financial support for energy infrastructure, China provides refining technology via joint ventures, and the DRC state-owned enterprise Gécamines maintains a 50% stake to ensure ownership.
• Economic disparities make a regional approach necessary for African CRM value chains, as no single country can currently provide the full ecosystem of scale, energy, and expertise required for advanced battery production.

APA

Byamungu, C. G. N. (2025). The Tumultuous Path Toward EU-China-Africa Trilateral Cooperation on Critical Raw Materials in Africa. Africa Policy Research Institute. https://afripoli.org/the-tumultuous-path-toward-eu-china-africa-trilateral-cooperation-on-critical-raw-materials-in-africa

Chicago

Byamungu, Christian Géraud Neema. The Tumultuous Path Toward EU-China-Africa Trilateral Cooperation on Critical Raw Materials in Africa. Africa Policy Research Institute, 2025. https://afripoli.org/the-tumultuous-path-toward-eu-china-africa-trilateral-cooperation-on-critical-raw-materials-in-africa.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Byamungu |first1=Christian Géraud Neema |title=The Tumultuous Path Toward EU-China-Africa Trilateral Cooperation on Critical Raw Materials in Africa |publisher=Africa Policy Research Institute |date=20 May 2025 |url=https://afripoli.org/the-tumultuous-path-toward-eu-china-africa-trilateral-cooperation-on-critical-raw-materials-in-africa |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{byamungu2025tumultuous, author = {Byamungu, Christian Géraud Neema}, title = {{The Tumultuous Path Toward EU-China-Africa Trilateral Cooperation on Critical Raw Materials in Africa}}, institution = {Africa Policy Research Institute}, year = {2025}, month = may, url = {https://afripoli.org/the-tumultuous-path-toward-eu-china-africa-trilateral-cooperation-on-critical-raw-materials-in-africa}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }