Is Africa ready to establish its critical minerals industry soon?

The African Mining Indaba, to be held in February, 2025 may throw up some answers. But, being an emerging industry, the critical minerals sector may need much more than investments, like downstream development, community involvement, geology, technology, geology, technology and so on.

However, Mosa Mabuza, CEO Council for Geoscience feels that the African continent needs a clear geological understanding before it goes into mining the mineral. Emphasising that a clear understanding of what minerals Africa possesses is crucial for developing downstream industries and attracting investment. He further noted the need for Africa to define critical minerals based on its own needs and priorities, rather than simply adopting definitions from other regions.

South Africa’s IDC is always ready to step and support of African exploration, like it did in partnership with South Africa’s Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) and launched the Junior Mining Exploration Fund recently, as per a report in Mining Weekly.

According to event facilitator Lauren Nicholson too felt there was a balance to be struck between supplying global demand for critical minerals to power the energy transition. And, he opined that a step can be taken to retain some of the continent’s mineral wealth to develop its local downstream potential.

Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane said policy had a huge role to play in how the continent develops its critical minerals. African countries must  develop policy frameworks that would link economic development to the mining of Africa’s critical minerals. This would make it as easy as possible for new exploration businesses to prospect, and then establish mines.

GM Sudipto Moitra of MTN Business information and Communication Technology Slutions said technology would be critical to ensuring Africa had a prosperous future as a producer of critical minerals.

Noting that in terms of industry relationships, the mining industry was now far closer to manufacturing than it had been previously. Already automotive OEMs in the EV space, looking upstream for security of supply. This is leading to stronger partnerships with mining businesses and the mining sector as a whole.

But, a fundamental question to the entire debate was which minerals were in fact ‘critical minerals’ to Africa? Decisions should be made based on various information …what may be critical for Europe may not necessarily be critical for South Africa. Based on such vital information, Africa could relate to the topic.”

Moitra noted that with mines becoming more connected, there were opportunities to expand the technology dividend to benefit youth and entrepreneurs in surrounding communities be similarly connected and empowered by modern technology.

There is also room for investments in private networks on mines and their surrounding communities. The inclusion of youth, and different community segments in the ecosystem is pivotal to commercialising the sector.