African Continent's Key Minerals: Including the Chinese company Ganfeng Lithium's lithium in Mali, and two ports in Côte d'Ivoire have found a way to transport it
¬ Kodal Minerals transports Malian lithium through the port of San Pedro
¬ San Pedro was chosen instead of Abidjan for cost-effective bulk transportation
¬ Côte d'Ivoire expands port transportation in the West African lithium boom
The UK-based Kodal Minerals announced on Monday, October 20, that it has begun transporting lithium concentrate from the Bougouni mine in southern Mali to the port of San Pedro in Côte d'Ivoire.
The company chose San Pedro over Côte d'Ivoire's economic hub, Abidjan, which will be responsible for the export of the Goulamina lithium project in Mali.
Due to Mali's landlocked position, mining companies have had to seek coastal routes, and operators have been studying various port options in recent years to shift their future lithium production.
In November 2022, Australian lithium company Leo Lithium (which previously held the Goulamina project) signed a port service agreement with Belgian SEA-invest. SEA-invest has been managing the bulk ore terminal at Abidjan since 2018. Before transferring mine control to Chinese company Ganfeng Lithium in 2024, Leo Lithium had already started negotiations with San Pedro Company in 2023 regarding potential warehousing and export cooperation.
According to Shanghai Metal Market, Ganfeng eventually chose Abidjan and began exporting lithium concentrate from Côte d'Ivoire between May and June 2025.
Kodal Minerals ultimately selected the port of San Pedro after considering other options such as Dakar Port in Senegal and Conakry Port in Guinea, but finally abandoned them due to economic factors. The London Stock Exchange-listed company revealed that its transportation department has purchased a new fleet of 50-ton dump trucks, meaning that now they can use bulk transportation instead of the originally planned semi-trailer transport of bagged cargo through Abidjan Port.
According to the company's spokesperson, the unit cost of bulk transportation using 50-ton trucks is lower, significantly improving Kodal's financial performance.
The rapid growth of the mining industry in West Africa, and Mali's rise as a future lithium exporter, has driven Côte d'Ivoire to expand its port capacity.
In Abidjan, authorities support the expansion of the ore terminal operated by SEA-invest to handle more bulk ore and improve storage and loading operations. The goal is to make the city a key transit hub for raw materials from neighboring landlocked countries.
These upgrades have made Côte d'Ivoire more competitive than other West African ports such as Dakar in Senegal and Tema in Ghana. At the same time, Tema is the export route chosen by Atlantic Lithium, which plans to build its first lithium mine in Ghana.
Sources: ecofinagency
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1846880900412423/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.