Hot weather around lithium deposits in Congo. In the background there is a struggle between the great powers

This concerns the lithium deposit in the city of Manono, where Zijin will cooperate with the state-owned company Cominiere and explore a new area where a mining permit has been issued. In this situation, the Australian company AVZ Minerals Ltd announced its opposition, claiming that the area covered by the new permit belongs to it.

According to the official website of AVZ Minerals, Manono contains lithium pegmatite with a length of more than 13 km.

Lithium is called “white gold”. It is an essential raw material for the production of electric car batteries. Therefore, Congo wants to use lithium and cobalt resources to develop “electricity”. Bloomberg confirms that the United States supports this African country’s plan because in this way Beijing’s control over the lithium market can be partially limited.

AVZ responded to Bloomberg that arbitration on the matter is ongoing at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. On October 19, the Chinese Zijin-Cominiere project, Manono Lithium SAS, appeared on the list of projects that received mining permits.

What is the controversy about? The Chinese believe they are able to operate in the northeastern part of the area that formerly belonged to the AVZ. Australians believe they take care of the entire region.