Mozambique and China have agreed to map the vast, untapped deposits of critical minerals buried beneath the African nation’s resource-rich northern provinces, as Maputo seeks Chinese capital and security expertise to unlock one of the continent’s most coveted – and conflict-ridden – resource frontiers.

The announcement was made in a joint statement issued after talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Mozambican counterpart Daniel Chapo in Beijing on Tuesday.

The geological survey will target high-value deposits of graphite, lithium and rare earth elements essential for the global green energy transition.

However, these efforts face persistent security challenges from a violent Islamist insurgency in Cabo Delgado province in the north of the country. Attacks have displaced over a million people and stalled multibillion-dollar projects in which Chinese state-owned giants hold major interests.

Xi said China was willing to “explore new paths for cooperation in infrastructure and comprehensive energy and mineral development” with Mozambique, while promoting the “sustainable development of practical cooperation” between the two countries.

Mozambique has emerged as a hotspot for global natural gas production following the discovery, in the first half of the last decade, of more than 5 trillion cubic metres (180 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, off the country’s northeast coast.