The Battery Belt: How Chinese investment could supercharge SA’s green industrialisation
By Rachel Irvine, CEO and Founder of Irvine Partners
For decades, South Africa has been stuck in the same exhausting loop: dig something valuable out of the ground, ship it overseas, then buy back the finished product at a markup. We've done it with coal, platinum, and iron ore. We've watched the margins walk out the door while we're left with the holes in the ground and not nearly enough jobs to show for it.
But here's what's different about the energy transition: it might actually force us to break that pattern. China represents about 91% of global rare earth separation and refining production and is now tightening export licences on critical materials. Meanwhile, South Africa is sitting on some of the richest rare earth deposits outside China, particularly at Steenkampsk...