Business

China ahead in the rush for lithium from Africa by securing new sources of supply

China’s early move to tap new centers of lithium supply across Africa is reaping rewards, helping the top electric-vehicle battery producer navigate a tight market for the key metal.

Spurred by a flurry of investment from Chinese companies, mines across the continent are forecast to increase production of lithium raw materials more than 30-fold from last year’s volume by 2027, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. Africa will account for 12 percent of global supply by then, compared with 1percent in 2022.

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Diversifying supply sources will boost China’s efforts to defend its dominance in EV metals processing — transforming raw materials like lithium, nickel and cobalt into chemicals used in battery com-ponents — while the US ratchets up efforts to build out its own supply networks with free-trade partners and allies like Canada and Australia.

“It is a sure thing that Africa will play an important role for China, particularly as an alternative source of raw materials to Australia, currently the top supplier and where exports could be constrained as domestic refineries come online, said Peng Xu, a Beijing-based analyst for BloombergNEF. Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe could all join the ranks of top mined-lithium producers by the end of the decade, according to BNEF data.

A first shipment of lithium concentrate reached Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. last month from a Zimbabwe project, while Chengxin Lithium Group Co. said its Sabi Star lithium mine started produc-tion in the country.

Ganfeng Lithium Group Co. has invested in the Goulamina mine in Mali, while Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. has a unit that’s backed a project in the DRC. Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group Co. has a stake in a project in Ethiopia.

“Chinese investment in Africa is definitely the largest source of capital for battery material supply in recent years,” said Martin Jackson, London-based head of battery raw materials at CRU Group. “Investments in new regions are crucial for China’s supply chain to keep up with demand from its manufacturers,” he said.

China’s battery producers, led by CATL and BYD Co., topped 1 terawatt-hours of production capacity in 2022 and are continuing to expand, BNEF said last month.

The US is also examining options for raw materials supply from Africa, but so far has only a few tentative plans, including preliminary cooperation agreements with the DRC and Zambia, said Alice Yu, a metals and mining analyst at S&P Global Commodity Insights. “It will also take greater scrutiny for Africa to be included as a trade deal-friendly supplier,” she said.

Global supply of lithium raw materials is forecast to jump 35 per-cent this year, with about half that total coming from entirely new operations, BNEF said in a June 30 report. The market for lithium resources will remain tight this year and in 2024, though it’s expected to ease from 2025 as more projects are commissioned, in-cluding across Africa and in Canada.

Still, nations in Africa are likely to follow other countries in seeking to keep more revenue from lithium supplies at home by adding processing or refining plants that can raise the value of exports.

Zimbabwe and Namibia have recently introduced measures to discourage or prohibit exports of raw lithium ore.

Morocco, which has a free trade agreement with the US, is already emerging as a potential hub for EV battery production, with advantages including its proximity to Europe and an abundance of phosphate needed in lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, cells.

The nation’s government earlier this year said Chinese battery manufacturer Gotion High-Tech Co. reached a preliminary deal to build Africa’s first major EV battery factory, which would have annual capacity of 100 gigawatts and require investment of €6 billion ($6.5 billion).

Business

Almarai signs multiple agreements to localize jobs through training and recruitment programs

Almarai signed a cooperation memorandum with the Food Industries Polytechnic, the
Transport General Authority, and the Saudi Logistics Academy to localize jobs in the
food and beverages sector through training and rehabilitation programs ending in
employment. This came within the first international conference on the labor market,
organized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development on 13 – 14
December 2023 at the King Abdulaziz Convention Center in Riyadh.

‘These agreements are part of Almarai’s corporate program for the social responsibility
to achieve localization in the food industry sector, which is one of the top priorities of the
comprehensive strategic plans in Almarai, especially since the company is one of the
largest working environments in the kingdom, with more than 9,000 Saudi employees,
including more than 900 Saudi female employees.”Fahad Aldrees, Chief Human
Resources Officer of Almarai, said.

He added that the agreements signed to train and qualify young people are part of the
integrated initiatives and training and rehabilitation programs for national human
resources in Almarai. He pointed out that the company provided about half a million
employee training hours during 2022, raising its retention rate to 90% during 2022.

It is worth mentioning that Almarai is the world’s largest vertically integrated dairy
company, and the largest food and beverage producer and distributor in the Middle
East. Almarai was ranked among LinkedIn’s top 15 Saudi companies for professional
career development for 2022.

Business

SEBA Bank rebrands to AMINA Bank and continues to write its success story

a fully licensed Swiss crypto bank, announced today its new brand identity: AMINA Bank AG. The group operates
globally from its regulated hubs in Zug, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong, offering its clients traditional and crypto banking services.
SEBA Bank made history in 2019 by becoming one of the first FINMA-regulated institutions to provide crypto banking services. This rebrand marks a new chapter for the company, which has proudly been in operation for more than four years. AMINA Bank is inspired by the same trailblazing ambition to lead the way for its clients and to write its own future as a Swiss-
regulated crypto bank offering services to its traditional and crypto savvy clients around the globe. The name ‘AMINA’ stems from the term ‘transAMINAtion’, meaning transference of one compound to another. AMINA is a brand driven by perpetual change, bringing together the various ‘compounds’ of traditional, digital, and crypto banking to unlock new potential and
growth for our clients. This vision of change represents the transformation of our clients’ financial future. Franz Bergmueller, CEO of AMINA, said: “We are delighted to introduce the world to our new brand identity. While we say goodbye to the SEBA name, we remain forever proud of the achievements made by the group under the former brand. “Our brand signifies a new era in the company’s growth and strategy; we are a key player in crypto banking and are here to define the future of finance. With our client-focused approach, our years of traversing traditional and crypto finance, we offer a platform for investors to build
wealth safely and under the highest regulatory standards.” “We are grateful to be encouraged by our supportive and committed investors who have been very helpful, supporting the growth of the company. We thank our employees in all the regions
for their dedication and client focus. As we look forward to 2024, our ambition is to accelerate the growth of our strategic hubs in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi, and to continue our global expansion, building on all the successes we have laid down over the past years.” Current clients of AMINA Bank (formerly SEBA Bank) will be unaffected by the rebrand other than encountering the new name; all operations will be business as usual across the board. The branch office based in Abu Dhabi and the subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Singapore will subsequently apply for a name change to align with the head office in Zug.

Business

Uptime Appoints Mustapha Louni Chief Business Officer

Uptime Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Mustapha Louni to the position of Chief Business Officer, a role specifically created to drive strategic leadership and client success. In this new role, Mr. Louni will assume responsibility for the global Uptime sales and marketing organizations and drive overall business value for all Uptime clients. He will retain his existing responsibilities overseeing operations in the Middle East, India, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. In this elevated capacity, Mr. Louni is poised to play a pivotal role in driving Uptime’s next phase of global expansion through strategic initiatives to enhance market awareness of the dramatically expanding global service lines and delivery capabilities of Uptime that uniquely support the global data center industry in its pursuit of ever higher performance through elevated availability, resiliency, sustainability, and cyber-security of digital infrastructure. Louni’s appointment renews and expands Uptime

Institute 39;s 30-year commitment to advancing excellence in the data center sector on a global scale. “Today we are experiencing the next phase of the one-time, planetary transformation from analog to digital. This unprecedented, once-in-a-generation growth in data center demand is primarily driven by continuing cloud adoption, the new promise of AI, and the demonstrable fact
that hybrid digital infrastructure is here to stay for the foreseeable future,” said Martin McCarthy, CEO, Uptime Institute. “These complex and nuanced market demands require a visionary talent like Mustapha Louni. He is someone who cannot only deftly manage specific aspects of the business but also remain ahead of accelerating changes and trends. He continues to earn client
trust and respect by timely delivery on demanding commitments while he also inspires and energizes colleagues and clients alike. I am delighted to announce Mr. Louni’s new position and know that he will continue to expand the impact that he has already brought to Uptime since his arrival.” In 2014, Mr. Louni joined the Uptime organization in the United Arab Emirates, leveraging his extensive experience from roles at Panduit and Schneider Electric in Paris and Dubai. As the company’s first commercial resource in the Middle East and Africa region, Mr. Louni played a pivotal role in expanding Uptime’s presence. Within a year, he successfully established what became and remains Uptime’s fastest growing regional office. Under his leadership, Uptime has
extended his impressive trajectory of growth in MEA to the Asia-Pacific regions, augmenting the Uptime workforce with dedicated team members spanning more than a dozen countries across these regions. A new Uptime office has been inaugurated in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) this year, further fortifying the company’s ability to meet its commitment to sustained
growth and excellence and serve clients in critical, accelerating markets for digital infrastructure.

Uptime Institute began development of its proprietary and now globally recognized Tier Standards and its Tier Certifications 30 years ago to ensure that the mission critical computing needs of all organizations could be met with confidence and understood by executive management. Since that time, Uptime Tier Certification as well as other Uptime offerings including assessments and awards in digital infrastructure for ensuring business performance in areas of management and operations, risk and resilience, sustainability, and more recently cyber- security have gained global adoption. Uptime’s expanding success is based on delivering a
unique business service that is based upon unparalleled engineering excellence and technical mastery, while remaining vendor independent and technology agnostic.