US and South Africa hold talks on mining deals after year of tensions

{"text":[[{"start":9.2,"text":"The US and South Africa have started preliminary discussions over potential resources deals including bilateral investments in mining, energy and infrastructure, in a move that could help thaw the frosty relationship between the two sides."}],[{"start":23.75,"text":"Around 25 officials from both countries met in Johannesburg on Wednesday to discuss minerals co-operation, the highest-level meeting to take place between the estranged countries this year. The talks, which are at an early stage, sought to pinpoint potential projects that could benefit from US collaboration, according to several attendees. "}],[{"start":43.75,"text":"The two countries have been at loggerheads since President Donald Trump began his second term, with the president frequently making baseless allegations of “white genocide”. "}],[{"start":52.95,"text":"The month after Trump took office, he moved to cut off all foreign aid to South Africa and announced the US would resettle “Afrikaner refugees”. South Africa’s ambassador to Washington was expelled the following month, after accusing Trump of “mobilising a supremacism”. Washington boycotted the G20 in South Africa last November. "}],[{"start":73,"text":"But the US has been pushing to sign deals across Africa as it tries to break China’s control of critical minerals production and secure its own supplies from allies. "}],[{"start":82.75,"text":"South Africa’s vast mining resources — and its need to import American gas and other energy — have created an opening for greater commercial ties, something the new US ambassador in Pretoria, Leo Brent Bozell III, is keen to promote."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":98.1,"text":"South Africa is a major producer of minerals including platinum, chromium, manganese and vanadium, and possesses extensive smelting capacity, another area currently dominated by China. "}],[{"start":109.25,"text":"Wednesday’s meeting was attended by Bozell, two South African deputy ministers, dozens of officials from both governments and around 20 mining and banking executives. "}],[{"start":120.05,"text":"One goal is to develop a list of priority projects, said an attendee. Those could include the Phalaborwa rare earths mine, according to people familiar with the discussions. The mine is owned by Rainbow Rare Earths, which counts US government-backed investor Techmet as a shareholder. "}],[{"start":136.75,"text":"The forum, which was convened by Washington-based think-tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies, met for the first time in March in the US and for the second time this week."}],[{"start":148.7,"text":"The importance of creating mineral supply chains decoupled from China was a key element of the talks, said one executive who attended, adding: “Everyone is firmly committed to getting behind this initiative.” "}],[{"start":160,"text":"American attendees included officials from the Treasury and the state, commerce, defence and energy departments, plus the US Export-Import Bank and the US Development Finance Corporation.  "}],[{"start":171.65,"text":"Potential US investment in South African logistics infrastructure, which has long been a bottleneck for the country’s industrial development, was also raised during the forum. The State Department and the South African president’s office declined to comment on the talks. "}],[{"start":186.70000000000002,"text":"Although several officials cautioned that any formal resources deal was still far away, recent statements by both sides suggest a warming of commercial ties. "}],[{"start":195.75000000000003,"text":"Last week, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said: “We remain open to constructive engagement [with South Africa] where our interests align”. "}],[{"start":204.10000000000002,"text":"In April, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country would “continue to work to develop a critical minerals framework that can ensure that we continue to be a strategic supplier of critical minerals to the US”. "}],[{"start":217.20000000000002,"text":"Gracelin Baskaran, director of the critical minerals security programme at CSIS and the convener of the forum, noted that South Africa is the dominant supplier to the US of platinum-group metals, as well as chromium and manganese. "}],[{"start":233.3,"text":"“South Africa has been supplying critical minerals to the US for over a century,” said Baskaran. “It is a longstanding commercial partnership, and even when there have been geopolitical headwinds, the economic relationship has been a priority and remains a priority.”"}],[{"start":248,"text":"Additional reporting by Monica Mark and Aime Williams"}],[{"start":258.55,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1778235931_9744.mp3"}