China tightens grip on Mali, Zimbabwe and Ghana’s lithium as U.S.-linked miner exits Africa’s critical minerals race

China is expanding its control of lithium assets across Mali, Zimbabwe and Ghana, further strengthening Beijing’s lead over the United States in the global battery supply chain race.

• China is expanding its control over lithium assets in Mali, Zimbabwe, and Ghana, strengthening its lead in the global battery supply chain.
• Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt is acquiring full control and funding of Ghana's Ewoyaa lithium project, offering $210 million to buy Atlantic Lithium.
• China's integrated financing and acquisition strategy in Africa's mining sector is proving more effective than Western approaches, giving Huayou potential control over 87% of the Ewoyaa project.
• The deal builds on Huayou's $422 million purchase of Zimbabwe's Arcadia Lithium Project and follows other Chinese firms securing lithium stakes in Mali.

Chinese battery materials giant Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt is tightening its grip on Africa’s critical minerals sector after moving to secure financing control and a proposed takeover of Ghana’s Ewoyaa lithium project.

The company has agreed to assume the remaining development funding obligations for the Ewoyaa project while pursuing a proposed $210 million acquisition of Atlantic Lithium, the project’s developer.

Huayou Expands African Lithium Footprint

Atlantic Lithium last week announced that Huayou intends to acquire all issued shares in the company for $0.25 a share in cash, valuing the miner at about $210 million.

If approved, the transaction would further expand Huayou’s African lithium footprint after its $422 million acquisition of Zimbabwe’s Arcadia Lithium Project in 2022, where trial lithium sulphate production reportedly began earlier this year.

Beyond Ghana and Zimbabwe, Chinese companies have also expanded aggressively into West Africa’s lithium sector, particularly in Mali, where firms including Ganfeng Lithium and Hainan Mining have secured major stakes in strategic lithium projects.

Ganfeng now fully controls Mali’s Goulamina lithium project after increasing its ownership through Mali Lithium, the special purpose vehicle managing the asset.

According to Mysteel analysis, Mali’s Goulamina lithium project expanded its resource estimate to 267 million tonnes in 2024, equivalent to about 9.11 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, with total investment estimated at $644 million.

Meanwhile, Hainan Mining holds a 51% stake in Mali’s Bougouni lithium mine, which shipped its first vessel of lithium ore in December 2025 after receiving export approval from the Malian government. Total investment in the project is estimated at about $118 million.

U.S.-Linked Elevra Exits Ghana Project

In Ghana, the Ewoyaa lithium project had previously been backed by U.S.-linked lithium producer Elevra Lithium, formerly known as Piedmont Lithium, which held rights to a 22.5% stake in the project alongside rights to at least 50% of the spodumene concentrate offtake.

However, relations between Atlantic Lithium and Elevra weakened in recent months after Atlantic disclosed that Elevra had downgraded Ewoyaa within its capital allocation priorities and sought changes to the structure of the joint venture.

According to Mining Weekly, the latest agreement will see Elevra transfer all its rights and obligations linked to the Ewoyaa project and Atlantic Lithium’s wider Ghana portfolio to Huayou, including rights to the spodumene concentrate offtake.

Elevra expects to receive approximately $71 million in cash from Huayou, proceeds it says will strengthen its balance sheet and support its North American expansion strategy.

“The sale of our interest in the Ewoyaa project improves financial flexibility and allows us to sharpen our strategic focus on our North American assets. Importantly, it removes onerous development funding obligations and simplifies our portfolio by eliminating the structural complexities associated with Ewoyaa's ownership structure,” Elevra Chief Executive Officer Lucas Dow said.

China’s Financing Strategy Gains Ground

Huayou’s entry also removes a major funding uncertainty surrounding the Ewoyaa project.

The Chinese company agreed that the “development costs conditions precedent” under the earlier project agreement are either satisfied or waived, allowing it to proceed with funding obligations without renegotiating previous milestones.

The development reflects China’s increasingly dominant financing strategy across Africa’s mining sector, where Chinese companies combine acquisitions, infrastructure financing, processing capacity and guaranteed offtake agreements into integrated long-term deals that many Western competitors have struggled to replicate.

If both transactions secure approvals, including Ghanaian regulatory clearances, Huayou said it could indirectly control about 87% of the Ewoyaa Lithium Project, with the remaining 13% representing Ghana’s free carried state interest.