Demand for critical minerals fuels conflict but could help resource-rich nations, WTO says

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Surging global demand for critical minerals should be “a once-in-a-lifetime chance” for resource-rich countries in Africa and elsewhere to harness wealth and improve life for millions — but it has too easily triggered violence and poverty, the head of the World Trade Organization said Wednesday.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned the U.N. Security Council that “critical minerals are increasingly viewed as strategic assets, not just commodities, and a major source of interstate competition.”

Major economies are racing to get supplies of the minerals needed for technology from smartphones to fighter jets to use as leverage, she said. That means a real risk that conflicts will rise and developing economies will find themselves locked into the lowest level of production, while “the highest value jobs, technologies and profits go elsewhere,” she said.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said competition for lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earths has seen armed groups reap the benefits of illegal mining and mineral smuggling in eastern Congo — “and civilians have paid the price of ongoing conflict.”

In Sudan, he told the council, the bitter fight between government and paramilitary forces for political and territorial dominance has been fueled by the exploitation of natural resources, especially gold and gum arabic used in printing, paints, glues, cosmetics and other industries, "leading to atrocities and displacing millions.”

“The minerals beneath Africa or any developing region’s soil should never help to finance the conflicts above it,” Okonjo-Iweala said.

She said a real opportunity exists to create “a more diversified, inclusive, and win-win global economy” where mineral wealth is not just extracted and shaped abroad but is a catalyst for economic transformation.

She proposed three priorities:

1. Resource-rich developing countries should demand more local processing, refining and “value addition.”

2. The international rule of law should be strengthened.

3. Most important, resource-rich countries should work together and use the leverage they have to reverse the export of raw materials and import of finished goods as well as promote investment.

“The world cannot achieve energy security, the green transition or digital transformation without them," Okonjo-Iweala said. “Africa alone has roughly 30% of the world’s critical minerals, and less than half of its mineral reserves have been explored.”

Congo accounts for over 70% of global cobalt production, South Africa holds the world’s largest reserves of platinum and manganese, and Zambia and Congo are major copper producers, she said. Between 10 and 12 African countries have commercially exploitable reserves of lithium, and 15 to 20 have commercially exploitable deposits of rare earths.