South Korea is targeting potential investment opportunities in the refining of rare earth metals in Namibia, rather than mining.
South Korea’s Special Presidential Envoy, Yoon Sang Jick, who is leading a business delegation to Namibia, said on Monday the country’s investments will be structured on partnerships related to refining to ensure the value addition of minerals in Namibia, but this will be determined by the investment environment and stability of the country.
“We are looking at fostering relationships with countries that host mineral resources that we need. Hence, we are in Namibia to see how we can increase the value of the mineral resources depending on the investment opportunities available,” said Jick.
“Our focus is on refining, and not exploration as we intend on adding value in producing finished products,” he reiterated.
Jick said South Korea was seeking to secure agreements for critical rare metals, which by 2030 the rechargeable battery industry will reach a value of U$450 billion and also considering that 54% of non-China markets end up in South Korea.
Namibia hosts a number of critical earth minerals such as lithium, cobalt, graphite, tin and tantalum, among many others.
The Korean delegation has visited Tanzania, South Africa, and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Jick said South Korea will in June 2024 host an Africa-Korea business forum to further explore investment opportunities.
South Korea’s perceived involvement in the high-value chain in Namibia’s minerals is well in line with the government directive to ban the export of raw minerals while pressing for local investment in the value chain.
“Namibia wants to become an industrialised country, and we have the right ingredients needed. But this can only be possible if we enter into a win-win working agreement with investors, whose investments are aimed at creating processing industries,” Minister of Mines and Energy Tom Alweendo said as part of his address to the visiting delegation.
“There is a history of how African countries’ resources are exploited but going forward we have made a decision to never allow such exploitation yielding less benefits. We would like to rise to the status of the developed nations whose economic boom was a result of our resources. So those willing to invest in Namibia should heed to our call of collaboration,” Alweendo said.
He also highlighted opportunities readily available in the renewable sector of green hydrogen, wind and solar, including the recent oil and gas discoveries.
This comes as Namibia inked an agreement with the EU in November of the previous year, ensuring the trade bloc’s access to the country’s rare earth metals, essential for the global transition to green energy.
Additionally, in April, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged assistance to Namibia, along with other nations boasting extensive lithium reserves, to establish local lithium processing.
Research firm, Simonis Storm, forecasts lithium will contribute N$4.6 billion in revenue to the government in the extreme case and N$1.7 billion in the conservative case.
In a Lithium Industry in Namibia report, the firm notes that the local lithium sector’s revenue to the government would be the largest compared to all other commodity mining operations in Namibia.
