🎬White gold rush

THE BIG IDEA
Nigeria’s push to become a clean energy player

Nigeria’s ambition to build a value-added supply chain for critical minerals including lithium is getting a significant boost from an unlikely source: an e-marketplace startup.

Sabi, an e-commerce company focused on the informal economy, has quietly built expertise as a middleman for miners seeking to export. Recently, it’s inked separate deals with two companies — Italy’s Snowball Holdings, and Transition Resources from the US — that plan to set up lithium processing plants in the country over the coming year. “The US will be the primary export destination for now but Italy and Germany could be accessible in the future”, said the CEO of the company, Anu Andasolum.

Zooming out: There is a big push by African countries determined that the transition to clean energy does not leave them at the bottom of the chain as mere raw materials suppliers. Lithium’s use in cleantech is expected to see demand rise 13-fold by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency. Basic processing of lithium in-country could double the value of exports, according to experts.

Other countries are starting to make bank. In September, Chile’s SQM — one of the world’s largest lithium mining companies — signed its first-ever Africa deal with South Africa-based Andrada Mining to co-develop the Lithium Ridge in Namibia’s lithium-rich Erongo region that also contains tin and tantalum. The joint venture could see SQM pay Andrada Mining $40 million over time, depending on milestones. -GN

TRENDING
Work spouses: Till retirement do us part

72%: The proportion of office workers that reported having a “work wife” or “work husband,” AKA a colleague one shares a close bond with, according to a recent survey of 2k people by Health Assured, a UK workplace mental health service provider.

These relationships often extended beyond the water cooler, with ~20% of respondents saying they know everything about their work spouse, and 23% saying they’d rather share their emotional woes with them than their actual partner. Just when we thought everyone wanted to work from home.

SHOWER THOUGHTS

NEWS
Round the continent

• After weeks of scrutiny and election violence, Daniel Chapo was announced yesterday as the winner of Mozambique’s presidential elections.

• Inside Algeria’s unique push to go cashless.

• DR Congo’s President, Felix Tshisekedi says the country needs a new constitution. His opposition has claimed it’s just a ploy to stay in power.

• Zimbabwe has ranked third scariest country to drive in. The country has rarely gotten praise for maintaining its road networks.