Critical Minerals in Africa

Africa Critical Minerals 

 

Africa’s Vast Critical Minerals Endowment

 

Africa possesses significant reserves of the minerals that are essential for batteries, solar panels and other green tech that underpin the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables. The Democratic Republic of Congo is the leading producer of cobalt while South Africa is in pole position for platinum and manganese. For graphite production, Mozambique is second and Madagascar third, according to 2022 figures (China is in the top spot), while DRC is neck-and-neck with Peru for copper, as  are Guinea and China for bauxite. 

The Centre for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) think take estimates that Africa holds 85% of manganese reserves, 80% of platinum and chromium reserves, 45% of cobalt reserves and 21% of graphite reserves. Graeme Train, Head of Metals and Minerals Research at trader Trafigura, says: “Africa will account for 26% of the world’s production of hard rock lithium [a type of deposit to be distinguished from South American brines) by 2030″.

Therefore, Africa is a key source of critical minerals and rare earth elements for the global energy transition. 

There is no chance of making the energy transition without Africa. Africa is generously endowed with the critical minerals and rare earth elements which are essential for the energy transition and in combating the climate crisis and must therefore play a key role in leading the critical minerals agenda and shaping the global energy transition in order to benefit our people, countries and continent.

 

Critical Minerals Supply Security

 

The security of critical minerals supply chains is strategic for many countries due to the expected growth in demand driven by the uptake of clean energy technologies around the world. This increase is essential to meet the demand for transition minerals, which is set to more than double between now and 2030, especially since COP28 Dubai concluded in December 2023 with an unprecedented agreement aimed at a “transition away from fuels”. Africa’s vast unexplored and largely untapped mineral wealth makes the continent more critical in the race to secure the supplies needed to achieve decarbonisation and to meet the ever increasing global demand for critical minerals.

In its 2023 Global Risks Report, the World Economic Forum highlighted the risks of ineffective climate action induced by a lack of global cooperation to facilitate flexible mineral supply chains. This could potentially lead to a resource crisis, given that the demands of the energy transition require the availability of certain critical minerals to be scaled up significantly.

There is therefore an urgent need to foster international cooperation on critical minerals to ensure a sustainable, transparent and secure supply of critical minerals and rare earth elements. On its part, Africa has established the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) to facilitate international cooperation on critical minerals among member African nations and work closely with interested nations like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to harness the full potential of critical minerals for mutual benefit. The AMSG was formed on the sidelines of the Ministerial Roundtable of the third Future Minerals Forum on 9th January 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia by 16 African Governments of Nigeria, Uganda, Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Botswana, Burundi, South Sudan, Chad, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

In the past Africa has not turned its vast natural resources to greatly benefit its countries and people because these have mostly been exported as raw materials thereby missing out on job creation for our young people, industrialization and economic development. Africa’s mining industry also remains largely structured around a “pit-to-port” model that channels mineral ores elsewhere for processing. The Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) will therefore offer a dedicated platform to coordinate, advance and protect Africa’s strategic interests especially the local beneficiation (value addition) of critical minerals to boost African economies. The AMSG will also actively engage interested nations and partners to explore investment opportunities to contribute to the future economic development in the mining sector in member African countries.

The goal of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) is to promote exploration, extraction, production, local beneficiation (value addition) and commercialization to ensure a sustainable, transparent and secure supply of critical minerals, while protecting our environment and improving the quality of life of our population, to spur the socio-economic transformation and prosperity of Africa, and support the energy transition.

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