00:00Africa in history has always mined, but the processing has moved to other countries.
00:08So we are going to initially put in a project of about 25-odd million dollars
00:14where we're going to do primary processing of graphite, where we'll get about 94% purity.
00:21And then the second medium-term plan is to invest a quarter of a billion dollars
00:25to refine that into 99.5% creates spherical graphite for cathodes.
00:36Then we can market directly, and this is the value that Africa should look for.
00:41Graphite is largely dominated by China at this point in time, both synthetic and pure.
00:47What is the value play that you see, especially if you have a China that is dominating this market?
00:54I think that's a very brilliant question.
00:56As a matter of fact, not only that China is dominating, all the technology of that pure graphite is only
01:05in China.
01:06And 90% of this is processed in China.
01:09But as we can see, there's a little bit of a rift in the West.
01:14The Europeans, the Americans are getting a little bit nervous around China.
01:19And I see this as a great opportunity for Africa to step up and to have a supply that is
01:28out of China,
01:28which brings a lot of comfort to the West.
01:32To that extent, I was in France, and I met some very senior people.
01:39And they have this export credit finance structures,
01:41where generally ECAs are meant for you to buy countries' technology and bring it to your country,
01:50and they finance that because it supports the whole industrial base.
01:55But today, Europeans are open for me to buy Chinese technology on an export finance of a European country
02:04as long as I give them offtake.
02:06So I'm stepping into a gap between China and Europe and the West.
02:15So you already have partners then in the West that you've spoken to,
02:18investors who are buying into, would buy into?
02:21Yes, on offtake purposes.
02:22On offtake.
02:22But this will be principally METL Group's total investment plan.
02:26What is that, what's the timeline for this?
02:29So the first timeline, the first process, I think we have already quantified reserves of the graphene.
02:38Within 18 months, the primary processing will be set up.
02:42And then I believe from there, in the next 24 months,
02:47the quarter of a billion dollar investment will come in.
02:50From?
02:51From METL?
02:52From METL Group, yes.
02:53Into the mining sector.
02:56Then do you expand out to other minerals or do you focus in on graphite for the moment?
03:01Right now, I'm concentrating on graphite because, you see, when you talk about mining,
03:06you can do copper and gold.
03:07And Tanzania has got a lot of gold.
03:09But those are a little bit of speculative businesses
03:12because the Barrick golds of this world have got enough concessions
03:18and they are big enough to try and miss.
03:21See, I have gold concessions.
03:23But the question is, yes, there is gold.
03:25How deep is the gold?
03:27One, what is the purity of the gold?
03:29Two, what is the economics to extract that gold?
03:33So I haven't reached that stage.
03:35So first, I'm focusing on graphene and graphite.
03:41That was Mohamed Douji, president and CEO of the METL Group,
03:46speaking to our own Africa correspondent, Jennifer Sapisadja.
03:50And Jen joins us now from Cape Town, not Johannesburg, this morning.
03:55Jen, great interview.
03:56Good to have you on.
03:57Let's talk a little bit more about it.
03:59What is Mohamed's timeline for the rollout of these investments?
04:04Well, I think what's key, Abir,
04:06is that this is quite a significant shift for the METL Group.
04:10For decades, they've been focused on manufacturing consumer goods.
04:14And this is the industry they have really zeroed in on
04:18over the past few decades.
04:19But he clearly, as you were just hearing there,
04:21sees an opportunity to tap into some of the demand for minerals,
04:26especially when you think about some of the diversifying
04:30that we're seeing some major countries do
04:33in terms of their partnerships.
04:36And so as far as his timeline goes,
04:38he's really targeting what he told me was 50,000 tons per annum
04:42as it pertains to graphite in particular.
04:46And he does hope that some of these partners
04:49that he has been speaking with in Europe
04:51and also in Asia, we should point out,
04:54will be the partners that he sees moving forward
04:58with some of these mining opportunities.
05:01But, you know, I know you heard there a bit about
05:04some of his discussions with the West and with the U.S.
05:07He still potentially sees down the road
05:09there could be some opportunities,
05:11especially when you think about the demand for graphite right now.
05:15It is dominated by China as far as the mining goes
05:19and also the processing.
05:20And so he also has a rollout for what that looks like
05:24in terms of being able to purify the graphite over time
05:27and how that might change then who he's ultimately selling to.
05:33And, Jen, if this is a successful feat,
05:36how would it impact the Tanzanian economy?
05:41This is, it's key for Mohamed Duji
05:44when he thinks about the long-term success
05:48and really the growth of the Tanzanian economy,
05:51especially when you look at some of the numbers
05:53and what we have seen over the past few years with the economy.
05:57The government is quite ambitious
05:58as far as what they're seeing GDP
06:01and economic growth to look like.
06:03They're targeting growth of over 6% for this year
06:06and potentially it going even higher.
06:09And a lot of that is supported by investment into sectors
06:12like mining, like agriculture, like construction.
06:16And so Mo sees this potentially fitting into some of those plans
06:21that the government is already in the process of working on.
06:25We should also note that we've been reporting quite a bit
06:28about Aliko Dangote, which is, of course,
06:30Africa's richest person, in discussions with the government
06:33to also invest in some of those infrastructure projects.
06:37So potentially this is a boon to what we are seeing,
06:41but the Tanzanian economy still is undergoing
06:45quite a bit of a tight monetary policy situation.
06:48We're seeing stagnating foreign direct investment
06:51coming in to the government.
06:54And so there's still quite a bit of a gap
06:56that needs to be made in terms of private investors
06:59like Mo, like Aliko Dangote and others
07:03to potentially catch up the economy
07:06to where the IMF sees it going.
Comments