Lead legacy: research shows that lead, a base metal used for making car batteries, still contaminates Zambian towns years after mines are closed down. Photo: Human Rights Watch
The United States leap-frogged competitors in the scramble for African minerals required to power the global energy transition when it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in late 2022 for the development of a regional value chain in the electric vehicle battery sector.
The MoU challenged the dominance of China, South…
