US President Joe Biden has embarked on the first—and only—sub-Saharan African visit of his presidential term.
With President Biden set to leave office in several weeks, the timing might suggest that the visit and associated objectives are low on the totem pole of US national interests. That could not be further from the truth.
Angola is a significant oil producer and exporter, but President Biden’s trip is laser focused not on what minerals Angola has to offer, but rather what Angola grants access to: Congolese cobalt.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the largest global producer of cobalt, a critical component in lithium battery cathodes. Cobalt plays an essential role in preventing thermal runaway—a failure that can lead to batteries overheating or exploding. To over-simplify this, cobalt helps make rechargeable batteries safer and more reliable.
The DRC is wealthy in cobalt and copper and a potential raft of other minerals, but is utterly lacking in meaningful infrastructure. The cobalt deposits in the country’s southern Katanga province are essentially landlocked, but they do border Angola and Zambia. Zambia is landlocked; Angola is not. Furthermore, Angola’s position along the Atlantic coast places future cobalt shipments on an easy route to US and other western consumers.
Biden’s trip is set to lay the groundwork for foreign investment in port and rail infrastructure aimed at providing not only better access and development of the DRC’s cobalt, but a more assertive US foreign policy vis-à-vis securing critical minerals. China has long dominated this arena in respect to many minerals, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. But that was as much a product of a lack of direct US competition, more so than preternatural Chinese skill (or luck—bribes notwithstanding). Even with the upcoming change in administration, we should expect the thrust of US policy toward critical minerals to continue on a similar trajectory.
