JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Malawi has concluded $12-billion worth of Chinese mining and infrastructure transactions, which are positioning the landlocked country in south-eastern Africa for the supply of critical minerals, APAnews reports.

The first $7-billion transaction is with China’s Hunan Sunwalk for the development of titanium mining and processing facilities in Salima, and the second is a $5-billion arrangement for the establishment of a special economic zone.

Included is commitment to skills development, technology transfer, agri-industrial and community investment.

The special economic zone is to be located in Chipoka amid global demand for rare earths, uranium, titanium and graphite attracting general international attention.

The Kangankunde rare earths project, involving Australia’s Lindian Resources, has attracted a proposed $120-million in funding from Ecobank, the European Investment Bank and Gerald Group, APA adds.

In the uranium sector, Lotus Resources has reportedly secured $38.5-million from South African banks to advance the Kayelekera uranium project, targeting first production in the third quarter of 2025.

Sovereign Metals has raised $40-million to develop the Kasiya rutile/graphite project, home to the world’s largest known rutile deposit and second-largest graphite reserve.

The site is expected to produce 245 000 t/y of rutile and 288 000 t/y of graphite for 25 years.

With mineral exports projected to reach $30-billion between 2026 and 2040, Malawi is emerging as a strategic supplier in the global critical minerals value chain.

It is reported that the projected growth being experienced by Malawi mining, headed by Malawi Mines Minister Ken Zikhale Reeves Ng’oma, could increase the sector's contribution to GDP from less than 1% to 10% by 2030.

Whether Malawi’s mineral exports could reach $30-billion between 2026 and 2040 may be revealed by Ng’oma during the Ministerial Forum and the China-Africa Cooperation on Critical Minerals Roundtable at African Mining Week, which will be held alongside African Energy Week Cape Town from October 1-3.

Mining luminary Mark Cutifani singled out Malawi at the recent London Indaba for opening its geological survey data to the world.

Delivering the opening keynote address covered by Mining Weekly, Cutifani said: “I would ask, and this is a plea to every country in Africa, if you want investment, opensource your geological survey data, allow it to be transparent and demand value for access to your resources, and make it an open conversation.”

Also at the London Indaba, Sydney University Associate Professor Dr Lauren Johnston spelt out the massive developmental strides that China is making in its Hunan province, which is a huge new source of trade growth amid China embracing Africa as its prime long-run growth collaborator to offset US trade loss, Johnston pointed out.

The province of Hunan is the home of the green revolution, a sort of Nile basin of China, and it has a lot of minerals of its own.

Hunan is the home of Sany, which provides heavy industry equipment including from its considerable South African base. It’s also the home of BYD, which provides electrified vehicle mobility, as well as being the home of China's green railway industry.

“The Hunan model is now this amazing model where China is focused on every aspect of how they can develop China-Africa ties.

“There's this huge ‘going out’ model into Africa, which is totally perfectly primed to tap into Africa’s resource nationalism,” Johnston outlined during a panel discussion covered by Mining Weekly.