Chinese investment in African commodities expands.
In February last year, Chinese mining company Shenghe Resources Holding acquired a 19.9 percent stake in Peak Rare Earths, which aims to mine rare earths in Tanzania. Shenghe’s investment now appears to be paying off, as it announced Wednesday (PDF) that the group, which also has a stake in U.S.-based MP Materials, has secured all of the rare earth concentrate for seven years, as well as at least 50 percent of the intermediate and final products from the project. Construction work on site is scheduled to start by the end of May 2024 and be completed by early 2026, the company added.
A non-binding memorandum of understanding was also signed that could optimize the financing and construction of the project. The Ngualla project in the south of the country is one of the largest and highest-quality deposits of neodymium and praseodymium, according to Peak.
Just in April 2023, the Tanzanian government reached an agreement with Peak on the framework (PDF) for resource extraction, agreeing to establish two joint ventures that will control mining and processing. The government has a 16 percent stake in both, while Peak has an 84 percent stake.
Photo: iStock/Sunshine Seeds
