South African company Q Global Commodities (QGC) has agreed to invest $1 billion in mines producing green metals in partnership with ABU Dhabi's F9 Capital Management, Bloomberg reports.
QGC, owned and operated by South African coal investor Quinton Van der Burgh, mines coal in South Africa.
The joint venture plans to develop deposits of metals such as lithium, copper and nickel in southern and eastern Africa, the companies said in a statement.
The Energy Transition Fund, run by F9, will hold a 30% stake in the asset.
"We want to make sure our reserves and our projects are exactly in line with their needs so we can move on to the next phase," Van der Burgh said in an interview on Friday. "Pulling the trigger means investing in plants, infrastructure and developing our back office."
QGC and F9 will join the race to develop metals used in renewable energy and electric vehicle batteries.
QGC has stakes in South Africa as well as metal deposits in Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Namibia.
The availability and price of key battery materials, including lithium, nickel and cobalt, has been a key issue for automakers trying to build electric vehicle lineups for years.
These issues have taken on added urgency in recent months as competition for supply deals has grown, raw material costs have fluctuated wildly and the US government has pushed companies to reduce their reliance on key minerals from China.
Simon Fentham-Fletcher, founder and chief investment officer of F9, said the $1 billion had already been "secured" from institutional investors. But the identities of those investors have not been disclosed.
Van der Burgh said the aim is to get the mines operational and then eventually listed on stock exchanges in the UAE or Canada.
