Well, the Chinese are welcome to all that is Africa.
Talk about a no-win.
In March of 63 I got out of Air Force, bought a small cycle in California and rode in home to Indiana.
I passed thru a ghost town in Nevada - Silver Peak. I don't know what had been mined there, but it was no longer economical. The town swimming pool was full of tumbleweeds and the paved road ended there. And I foolishly pressed on, aiming to hit the next paved road; about 22 miles south; as the crow flies.
Well; since then; someone discovered that the lithium underground in the area could be gotten out by dissolving it in water and pumping it up to dry in the desert sun. "Silver" Peak has come back to life!