US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo
US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo used a five-day trip to South Africa to advertise his country’s ambitions of securing supplies of the metals needed for the global energy transition – materials that abound in Africa.
Adeyemo, in a speech to US businesses active in the country, stressed that South Africa needs to put in place the right incentives to boost the mining industry. He also visited a mine owned by Sibanye-Stillwater, the South African precious and battery-metals miner that’s invested in a palladium operation in the US state of Montana.
In a later interview with Bloomberg, he took a veiled swipe at China, which has tied up much of Africa’s production of the metals needed for batteries for electric vehicles and renewable power plants.
The infrastructure needed to export minerals is often “built by the people who want to offtake those minerals for their sole benefit,” he said.