The need for ecological transition of our economic activities has never been more critical.i The 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report concluded that it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land, and that human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe.ii

Enter lithium, making up around 0.0007% of the earth's crust, the ultra-light metal was discovered in 1817 by the Brazillian Johnann August Arfvedson on the Swedish Island of Utö. Over the following 200 years, the element would become an important ingredient in many of the goods we rely on.  It is used to make certain glass and ceramics and can be alloyed with other metals for aircraft manufacture. The element is also used in some medicines to treat manic depression, according to the IEA.

Lithium’s bespoke applications mean the element was previously little consumed by global industries. Since demand for clean energy technologies has begun to grow, so too has demand for lithium, largely because of its current role in batteries for electric vehicles, consumer electronics and energy storage systems. Demand for lithium is growing faster than any other mineral.1

Manono has long been known for its subsoil. Manono city was established by Belgian settlers in the 1940s. Its tin ores, in particular cassiterite, have been mined in the region since start of the 20th century. Any Congolese secondary school pupil knows of the territory and its abundant tin riches. During our visit to Manono in May the local people told us the territorial capital, takes its name from a hill called Kaulu-minono (the sharp stone in Kiluba).
We spent three weeks in Manono in May 2022. Locals explained that during the colonial epoch the Belgian colonist’s mining company, Geomine, improved the region’s social and economic situation. They (SP - how many people?) described how Geomine’s employees were entitled to free health care and a food ration at weekends. Those in charge through that time planted mango trees throughout Manono town and constructed public buildings, including a cathedral. After colonisation, the Geomines changed its name to Zaire Etain before becoming Congo Etain under Laurent Désiré Kabila and the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre (AFDL).

With the war of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD), known as the war of aggression, industrial mining activities stopped and the RDC movement’s rebels exported the coltan that was stockpiled during the exploitation of cassiterite. Industrial mining ground to a halt and was replaced by artisanal mining. Mainly conducted by people from Kivu according to..?. Today, Monono’s entire local economy is dependant on artisanal extraction, according to the observations made over nearly one month of field research.

Over the last 15 years, new private sector companies have arrived in Manono, acquiring mining titles via joint-ventures with state-owned companies or contracts with the Congolese state. In Manono, Congo Etain, a state-owned company, became the Congolaise de l'exploitation minière (COMINIERE), a commercial company created on 12 April 2010 in which the Congolese state is the main shareholder.

Lithium is most often found in two forms here on earth, as a brine (lithium-enriched groundwater) or within hard-rock pegmatites that contain a lithium-bearing mineral known as spodumene. The Manono deposit in DR Congo is a hard rock spodumene lithium resource.2  

If electric vehicles and other battery technologies continue on their current trajectory, demand for lithium is expected to rise in the medium term.3 Geologists and mining experts we interviewed described the lithium “rush” globally, to develop new mines in order to extract enough lithium resources, and of good enough quality, to meet this demand.4 One mining expert noted that in his 60-year career as a mine planner and evaluator, he has never seen a mineral rush like this one, which he felt was akin to the 1800s gold rush in the American west.

As countries rush to secure supply chains and their access to lithium resources, market and growth-driven narratives on how to transition away from fossil fuels prevail. The transition poses real dangers of exaggerating existing inequalities and bringing in a new wave of environmental destruction to create vast amounts of ‘green’ infrastructure and consumables. 
There is a growing movement of people who are calling for an environmentally conscious redistribution of resources, circular economies and reduced consumption. This research is a contribution towards that thinking.

1 IEA, The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions, May 2021 and revised Mar 2022, available at https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/ffd2a83b-8c30-4e9d-980a-52b6d9a86fdc/TheRoleofCriticalMineralsinCleanEnergyTransitions.pdf, 140

2 Interview, geologists from KU Leuven and British Geological Survey. See also AVZ literature available at https://avzminerals.com.au/

3 Fastmarkets, Supply-demand dynamics and key trends in the lithium market with Corinne Blanchard, Deutsche Bank, August 2022, available at https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/supply-demand-dynamics-key-trends-lithium-market; IEA, The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions, May 2021 and revised Mar 2022, available at https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/ffd2a83b-8c30-4e9d-980a-52b6d9a86fdc/TheRoleofCriticalMineralsinCleanEnergyTransitions.pdf, 139

4 Interviews with a US and a UK based geologist with lithium expertise, a lithium mining inspector and an academic writing on lithium extraction in South America (remove as anonymous: BGS, Steve, Donald, Theo).

i Guillaume Pitron, The Rare Metals War: the dark side of clean energy and digital technologies, p. xi Foreword by Hubert Védrine.
ii Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 9 August 2021, Sixth Assessment Report, Headline Statements from the Summary for Policymakers, available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Headline_Statements.pdf

Simultaneously, Manono’s lithium is raising the communities hopes and expectations. You can listen to a local radio programme covering the hopes and fears of the local people, here. People We spoke with are still very nostalgic about the past when the industrial mining drove the economic and social development of Manono. 

The time has come for Monono’s citizens to be informed in a clear and unambiguous way. Manonoais must be given truthful and legible information so that they can have an unequivocal understanding of the project and its impacts into the future. Only then can they, in our opinion, ground their expectations and formalise the demands and circumstances underwhich Manono’s lithium can or cannot be extracted.  
The actors hoping to profit from Manono’s lithium must meet and preferably go beyond, the social and environmental responsibility inshrined in Congolese law. This should begin by making the environmental and social impact study undertaken by AVZ open to the general public. A legal requirement, a small step towards fostering and improving relations between all stakeholders and a moral duty to the local populations of Manono whos lives and environments are at stake.

It is our fervent hope that this project will contribute to the development of the communities affected by the project, taking into account their demands, priorities and wellbeing. It is our view that the first beneficiaries of lithium extraction in Manono should be the people living around and affected by the project, the people of Manono, and the DRC.

A local said to us during our time in Manono, "the foreigner has big eyes but does not see". They were implying that the companies can rush to exploit and export lithium from Manono. But, if they do not respond to the needs of the communities, they will not enter their hearts and one day they may wake up faced with their anger and not know where to go.