New spaces for change at the resource frontier?: The case of manganese mining in Africa

Abstract

Like many of the critical minerals associated with the just green energy transition, manganese has multiple end uses that pre-date its critical role in EV battery production. Indeed, currently the vast majority of consumption is associated with steel and aluminum production with just 2-3% ending up in batteries. However, in tandem with the exponential increase in demand for electric vehicles, this consumption is predicted to grow eight fold over the next decade. The global strategic competition for this resource has increased the developmental space for exporting countries, providing an opportunity for the resurgence of resource nationalism. However, the degree of success in the three packets of policy options associated with resource nationalism identified in the Introduction (Figure 1) varies considerably.
This chapter begins with a discussion of what resource nationalism means in the context of manganese mining. It then examines the efforts of some of the main exporting countries in Africa with regard to policies promoting resource nationalism and the effectiveness with regard to implementation. It argues that the industry is still marked by the dominance of foreign companies in the upstream extractive process and some of the basic value added processes. As a result, governments have tended to focus on three elements of the policies identified at the beginning of this book. First, governments have tended to increase revenues through rents. Second, they have focused more on policy reform to increase the benefits accruing to society from these activities through CDAs and environmental protections through ESG initiatives. The chapter then moves on to the third element: contemporary efforts to capture a greater share of the value chain. It argues that there is huge potential to develop forward linkages through battery production due to the organic complementarity of minerals extracted in the region. However, success will depend upon a high degree of policy coherence and coordinated infrastructural investment which is emergent yet still embryonic.

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ORCID for John Glenn: orcid.org/0000-0001-9694-8282

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