Marcus speaks with Brian Menell, CEO of TechMet, a privately owned company that is investing in projects that mine and process metals that are critical for the production of electric vehicles, energy storage and renewable energy. Brian shares his views on the richness of Africa’s resource base and sheds light on how the Coronavirus pandemic will accelerate demand for clean energy and technology metals.
Brian has owned, developed and operated natural resource and mining projects across 18 sub-Saharan countries, the CIS, and Canada over 25 years. The Menell family company, Anglovaal Group, has been an important player in the African mining and industrial scene for 80 years
“China now commands over 90% of global rare earth supply and in excess of 50% of global lithium supply and processing. It’s this backdrop which has triggered the proliferation of companies like TechMet, who are investing in the pipeline of supplies and materials’’. -Brian Menell, CEO, TechMet.
“Across all of these technology metals, Africa has a very important role to play in building additional supply to meet this exponential growth and demand that we are starting to see.” -Brian Menell, CEO, TechMet.
“This present crisis [Coronavirus pandemic] has certainly catalysed an acceleration of focus on green technologies and that will prove to be very beneficial for our industry in terms of drivers of demand for our metals in the medium term. In the medium term we will get an acceleration of adoption of electric vehicles, renewable energy systems and other clean technologies.” -Brian Menell, CEO, TechMet.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or position of Africa Practice and its management.
