China's state-owned aluminium giant secured the Opuwo cobalt project in north-west Namibia, adding to Beijing's accelerating battery-metals sweep across southern Africa as the Iran war reshapes EV supply-chain risk calculus
Critical industrial metal: China controls 57% of global smelting capacity, Guinea's bauxite dominance and Russia's Rusal sanctions keep aluminium supply chains under active geopolitical pressure in 2026.