The Sahara and the Sahel Enter the Strategic Dispute Over “Rare Earth Elements”

By Pedro Canales.

In the global geostrategic map for the next half-century, “rare earth elements” occupy a privileged position. Essential for the arms industry, cutting-edge technology, renewable energy, space crafts, and all kinds of communication devices, these elements have suddenly become highly relevant, perhaps due to their low concentrations in nature and their indispensable nature.

The world’s reserves of rare earth elements are estimated at around 130 million tons, of which China holds 44 million, followed by Russia with 25 million tons, and Vietnam and Brazil with more than 21 million tons. Last year, in 2023, China produced 240,000 tons, far ahead of its competitor, the United States, which produced 44,000 tons. The paradox lies in the fact that the United States is by far the largest consumer of these natural elements, making its domestic production insufficient, and forcing it to import almost 80% of its needs. Other importing countries include France, Germany, and Japan.

It should be noted that the Sahara Desert, located in the Algeria-Morocco-Mauritania triangle, as well as the Sahel, a land corridor of about 4 million square kilometers stretching from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, encompassing southern Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, northern Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea, are rich in rare earth elements.

To the terrestrial deposits of these precious elements, one must add the underwater deposits where polymetallic nodules are found, with exceptional cases like Mount Tropic, located south of the Canary Islands and outside the Exclusive Economic Zones of Spain and Morocco, which could become a subject of dispute between the two countries due to the requests made to the UN by Madrid and Rabat to expand their EEZs. Mount Tropic hosts the largest known deposit of tellurium, one of the 17 rare earth elements, widely used in the electronics industry for its hyper-conductivity.

The conflicts that continue in the Sahara and the Sahel are not unrelated to disputes over the control of these rare materials. The increased presence of the United States in the region; Israel’s interest (a major consumer of rare earth elements); the “military colonization” of Niger and Mali by France, interested not only in Azelik’s uranium but also in the oil and rare earth elements of the Ténéré; the military coups in Mali and Niger; Russia’s entry into the regional equation with its Africa Corps units dependent on the Kremlin’s Ministry of Defense; China’s arrival in the Sahara-Sahel region; all these factors are related to the ongoing strategic reorganization, in which the control, production, and use of rare earth elements are a growing issue.

In the Sahara, southern provinces for Rabat and territory pending decolonization for Algiers and the Polisario, these chemical elements are abundant. For a quarter of a century, the Moroccan National Office of Mines and Hydrocarbons, led by Amina Benkhadra, has quantified significant amounts of rare earth elements in the region, particularly niobium, tantalum, and thorium, as well as the existence of “a significant uranium anomaly.” The conflict in the Sahara has an underlying connection to these elements.

In northern Mali and northwestern Niger, there are significant reserves of these future-critical materials. Practically none of the main actors in global geostrategy, whether the United States, China, Russia, or the European Union, consider that the inhabitants of Azawad, the Tuareg people, and the local populations, as well as their most representative organizations, have anything to say or claim regarding their ancestral lands. The “principle of self-determination” of peoples does not count when it comes to the control of strategic raw materials.

It is at least curious that the popular American TV series “House of Cards” has as one of its main themes the shady Sino-American dealings to produce rare earth elements destined for the North American market, dependent on Chinese production. The United States seeks to diversify its suppliers and is forging alliances with the countries and regions in Africa that possess these resources.