South Africa has the technical expertise and capability to derive significant industrial progress and job-creation opportunities from cobalt mined in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
That’s according to Craig Uren, Isuzu’s senior vice-president of revenue generation for Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) markets.
Speaking on the sidelines of a launch event in Modderfontein yesterday, where the brand introduced a new range of emission-curbing trucks, Uren said there was no reason why manufacturing benefits could not be unlocked through decarbonisation technology.
This was especially apparent considering that lithium batteries for refrigeration were already manufactured locally, he said.
It therefore seems only logical that downstream beneficiation is entirely possible through a stronger home-soil application of global sustainable development goals, commonly referred to as ESG – Environment, Society and Governance.
“The ESG topic has become quite important,” Uren said, having earlier outlined Isuzu’s progress in reducing carbon emissions in South Africa.
“We have the means to manufacture fridges powered by lithium batteries, so why would we want to import batteries from other parts of the world?”
It’s a big conversation though, deserving thorough examination of how opportunities from electronic vehicle (EV) manufacturing could be derived through countries like the DRC, the fourth-biggest source of EV-battery minerals in the world.
“Why should cobalt from Africa be sent somewhere else in the world when it could be locally used?
“We need to bring it in-house. It is quite inspiring what we can do through using ESG strategies to keep things here,” Uren said.
