To avoid a climate catastrophe, we need to switch our oil and gas-based economy to sustainable energy sources such as solar and wind. Copper and cobalt play an important role in the production of electric motors and batteries. Both metals are mined in Zambia’s Copperbelt.
Zambia became independent from Great Britain in 1964 under the first president Kenneth Kaunda and was split off from the former Rhodesia. The country’s development was difficult because it was surrounded by several hostile states: the apartheid regime ruled in South Africa; a civil war raged in Angola; the eccentric Mobutu was president of the Congo.
One of the few friends was China, which connected Zambia with the harbour of Dar-es-Salaam in the 1970s with the construction of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, a lifeline for Zambia that enabled the easy export of Zambian copper. Zambia was given a democratic constitution in 1991.
After an unsuccessful coup in 1997, Levy Mwanawasa became president in 2002 following controversial elections. An economic plan in 2007 made foreign investment attractive again. In 2010, China signed a co-operation agreement with Zambia on the extraction of mineral resources.
Essential for a sustainable economy – The increased emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂) is one of the main causes of global warming, which threatens the future of our planet. CO₂ is produced when oil or natural gas is burnt in engines. To keep global warming below 1.6 degrees, combustion engines must be replaced by electric motors powered by electricity from sustainable sources such as solar, wind or hydropower.
Electric motors are powered by coils made of copper wire. Large quantities of this precious metal will therefore be needed in the future. Cobalt plays an important role in the production of Li-ion batteries, which are used in electric cars. However, newer types of batteries are being developed that do not require cobalt.
China. Biggest Investor – With high economic growth rates, China has a huge demand for raw materials and began investing in the extraction of natural resources in many African countries over a decade ago. In the so-called Belt and Road Initiative – also known as the New Silk Road – China is investing heavily in the expansion of infrastructure in Africa: ports, roads and railway lines. The aim is to promote the export of African raw materials to China and the import of Chinese manufactured goods.
As China’s economy grew, so did its need for raw materials. One of the first countries in which China invested in the extraction of copper and cobalt was Zambia. In 1998, Chinese companies began buying up and operating disused copper mines in Zambia. A smelter was soon added.
It did not stop at raw materials. More and more Chinese companies invested in a wide variety of sectors: Construction companies, hotels and restaurants, supermarkets and fitness centres, chicken and fish farms. Local producers cannot compete with the cheap products from China. Since the turn of the millennium, the trade volume has grown from 10 million dollars to 3 billion. There are now estimated to be 100,000 Chinese living among Zambia’s 20 million inhabitants.
The huge investments have led to a massive debt load of Zambia. Only a small upper class has really benefited from this development. China’s influence is therefore increasingly criticised by many Zambians. The opposition party is campaigning with the slogan: Say no to China.
Western industrialised countries have missed out on investment opportunities in Zambia and in other African countries for a decade. “China controls a large part of the production of critical raw materials,” according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, while the West only controls small parts of the value chain.
Future perspectives – Zambia is one of the few stable democracies in Africa, but is still one of the poorer countries in the world (154th out of 193 in the Human Development Index). It has a relatively constant economic growth rate of 4-5% and an inflation rate of 11%. Zambia’s exports amount to around 10 billion dollars a year and are the government’s main source of income.
Copper and cobalt account for 60% of total exports; the rest are mainly agricultural products. New producers on the copper market, such as Peru, Brazil and Chile, are already now competing with Zambia and could in future replace Zambia´s position as a leading provider of these important raw materials. (Netzwerk Afrika Deutschland (NAD)
