China's Zijin Mining has received a license to explore and develop the northeast of the Manono Lithium Mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which was one of the largest lithium deposits in the world.

Once exploration and feasibility studies develop well, it might potentially become the first production lithium project for Zijin in Africa and the DRC.

Zijin kept investing in lithium assets in recent years, both domestic mines and sites in Argentina, to produce the metal applied in electric vehicle batteries.