Tanzania's Rare Earth Metals Set to Revolutionize East African Economy

WITH substantial quantities of essential elements, including neodymium, praseodymium, lanthanum and dysprosium, Tanzania will become one of the richest sources of rare earth metals in the East African economic region. These rare-earth elements are strategically significant in the global energy transition because they are essential to cutting-edge technologies, including wind turbines, electric cars, high-performance electronics and renewable energy systems. With millions of tonnes of rare-earth oxide resources that could sustain decades of production once operational, the Ngualla Rare Earth Project in the Songwe Region is notable as one of the largest and highest-grade undeveloped REE deposits globally. Tanzania’s regional significance in vital mineral resources is further enhanced by other promising sites, such as Wigu Hill, which hosts high-grade bastnaesite mineralisation. Due to its richness, Tanzania is well placed to gradually transition from exporting conventional minerals to playing a significant role in the global supply chain for rare earths, which is currently controlled by a small number of nations, most notably China. Tanzania’s rare-earth minerals, in my view, have the potential to significantly boost economic growth, industrial diversification and job creation through increased exploration activity, foreign direct investment and government initiatives to support value addition and beneficiation. Unlike other nations, the nation’s advantageous location in East Africa also presents opportunities for regional integration of mining and processing infrastructure, thereby boosting its competitiveness as a reliable source of REEs for developing high-tech markets in Africa and beyond. Why? Unprecedented technological developments have made rare-earth elements a crucial asset for producing high-tech defensive equipment and for boosting innovation-driven economic growth in the endowment countries. With a major shift from crude oil to rare-earth elements, these breakthroughs are fundamentally changing the global energy landscape. In addition to maintaining its political dominance over the Global South, China’s comparative advantage in its REE endowment has caused unrest in the Global North as it attempts to resolve bottlenecks in cutting-edge technology and green energy. China’s government restrictions on REE exports further worsen the situation. Poor governance, including weak institutions, dictatorship, political instability and corruption, is a basic issue in most Global South nations endowed with rare-earth elements. As a result, the Global North finds it easy to defend its invasions of the hydrocarbon and rare-earth-rich Global South. The world power dynamics on the political and economic fronts have been significantly altered by the adoption of lithium batteries as a primary source of portable energy storage, especially in consumer electronics, aerospace and defence equipment. ALSO READ: Senegal’s debt shock tests West Africa’s markets As part of the Global North’s economic plan, Global South nations with vast REE endowments that are not strategically allied with the North face violent conflicts, political instability and dehumanising wars. The Global North can more easily control REE resources directly through military force or simple, straightforward terms and conditions, as the REE-rich Global South typically experiences ongoing conflicts. Additionally, the Global North has generally been hesitant to share its mineral extraction technologies with the Global South. This is because REE endowments and the technology used to purify them are two interdependent regimes that demand highly specialised attention, both separately and jointly. Because REEs are integral to the chemistry of the host material, they are not found as native elemental metals in nature. As a result, their extraction requires sophisticated, complex processing techniques that may chemically break down the rocks that contain the REEs. Consequently, the majority of Global South nations with REE riches depend on the cutting-edge technology developed by the Global North. In a similar vein, as the Global North seeks to preserve its technological edge over the Global South, its reliance on REEs is growing daily. Therefore, collaboration or conflict shapes the business relationship between the technologically sophisticated Global North and the natural resource-rich Global South. A strategic rationality power interaction, intended to preserve the Global North’s political-economic hegemony by controlling the Global South’s REEs, is evident in the cacophony of conflicts and political tensions in the Middle East, Africa, Greenland and South America. In his book on Conflicts over Natural Resources in the Global South: Conceptual Approaches, the author examines a logical decision between resentment and greed as a source of contention. The author further makes the case that economic reliance on resource types and the inadequate institutions that accompany it are more likely to lead to conflict. Considering this, it is imperative to assess how Tanzania, moving forward, may best utilise REEs, prevent conflict and promote its economic expansion. Tanzania, with ongoing discovery, has historically been the focal point of the world’s geology. One of the main drivers of REE production was the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates around 50 million years ago. In addition to the rareearth metals found in the Kyerwa District, Tanzania has other regions that may be suitable for future exploration and optimal exploitation of REEs. For instance, a significant resource for any future hightech prospecting survey in the Ngualla Rare Earth in the Songwe region, the Wigu Hill Rare Earth Element located near the town of Kisaki in Morogoro and the Mwanza/ Shinyanga regions (Lake Victoria Goldfields), particularly at the Nyanzaga Gold Mine project area, which could be extracted as a by-product of gold mining operations, offers Tanzania an upper hand in the rare-earth metal race. Furthermore, avoiding REE-led war necessitates a better comprehension of how international relations are framed by power and strategic objectives. Tanzania, known for its peaceful nature, must prioritise maintaining political stability and striking a balance between institutional authority to achieve this. According to research and a zoom-in on ongoing global dynamics, governments endowed with rare-earth elements will eventually experience internal or international wars because of autocratic practices. The reason for this is that dictatorship stifles reason, which in turn undermines authority and leads to disputes. Furthermore, it would not be sustainable to strategically align a weak economy in the Global South with a strong economy in the Global North. This would not only encourage corruption and rent-seeking behaviour but also worsen inter-institutional power dynamics in the weak economy. ALSO READ: Who gets to tell Tanzania’s story in Washington — and at what cost? Nevertheless, both robust and poor economies in the Global South may be able to work together effectively to creatively export and use REEs. Considering this, strategic collaboration between nationals with a like-minded mindset on joint ventures and REE management could reduce future unnecessary hostilities. Because of new oil discoveries worldwide, the optimal point of oil production was never achieved. Developed in the middle of the 20th century, Marion Hubbert’s Peak Oil theory contended that oil production in any given region follows a bell-shaped curve and inevitably declines once roughly half of recoverable resources are extracted. Although this theory is often considered out-dated today due to new discoveries and technological advancements, Tanzania can still learn valuable lessons from it. Hubbert’s paradigm emphasises the significance of viewing fossil fuels as limited resources rather than enduring sources of income for a resource-rich but expanding economy. Tanzania can avoid becoming overly dependent on oil and gas, strategically deploy hydrocarbon revenues for infrastructure, education and industrialisation, and increase investment in renewable energy and vital minerals such as rare earths by internalising this rationale early on. Thus, long-term planning, fiscal restraint and sustainable economic diversification in Tanzania can be advantageously guided by an out-dated Peak Oil notion before resource depletion or global energy transitions impose external shocks. Amidst all this, rapid technological advances are quickly changing the requirements for future economic growth, resulting in a greater emphasis on REEs and less reliance on crude oil. Physical distances are becoming less significant due to rapid advances in high-tech areas such as artificial intelligence, improved telecommunications and quantum computing. As a result, the dynamics of energy supply and demand for physical mobility are rapidly shifting. Accordingly, the need for portable energy will rise rapidly in the future for both military modernisation and economic expansion. Tanzania’s significant endowment of rare earth elements (REEs) gives it a comparative advantage, but it needs a clever policy approach to turn this natural treasure into innovation-led economic growth by leveraging the combined knowledge of Tanzanians and true development partners.