Management of Africa's Rare Earth Mining Sectors
Abstract
Africa's rare earth mining sectors are growing rapidly due to the international strategic significance of these minerals. Whether or not countries privatize or nationalize their rare earth sectors has important strategic implications for U.S. access to these minerals. At present, most African countries have adopted privatized models of rare earth mining. What motivations have prompted African countries not to nationalize their rare earth industries? This thesis examines five potential drivers of Africa's rare earth management: international pressures, economic viability, weak state capacity, political/public pressures, and environmental concerns, and investigates these hypotheses using two case studies from South Africa and Zambia. In both countries, economic viability is the most important guiding factor, while political pressures have also influenced Zambia's resource management model. The remaining three factors exhibited weak explanatory evidence. In order to diversify U.S. rare earth supply outside of China, the strength of the economic viability hypothesis suggests the U.S. must implement programs that support private investment in Africa's rare earth projects to ensure sustainable production and supply of these strategic minerals. U.S. policy objectives should promote privatization by incentivizing investment in Africa's rare earth industries to ensure operations remain economically viable for the host nation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1164917
Entities
People
- Danielle M Garbarino
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School