African Critical Minerals: Sierra Leone Invites Russia to Assess Its Rare Earth Mineral Reserves, Where China's Ganfeng Lithium Mines for Lithium
Julius Maite, the Minister of Mineral Resources of Sierra Leone, told Sputnik News that the country needs Russia's help to assess the reserves of rare minerals such as rare earth minerals.
Maite said, "As for the issue of rare minerals, we need to conduct exploration and assess the resources. We speculate that Sierra Leone has significant mineral reserves, rare earth minerals, cobalt, and nickel. We need more exploration to assess the reserves accordingly, and many drilling operations are needed. Therefore, we hope to cooperate with Russia and hope that Russia can help us in this regard."
He also pointed out that after large-scale exploration, Sierra Leone discovered lithium.
Maite emphasized, "Currently, we have only issued a mining permit to one Chinese company, which is a subsidiary of Ganfeng Lithium. The company's employees are currently developing the deposit and hope to start mining by the end of 2026 or early 2027. Other lithium deposits were also found during the exploration phase. We believe that Sierra Leone has other lithium deposits, but further exploration is needed. That is why we hope that Rosgeologia Group from Russia will come and guide us."
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1837305391710220/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.