Keypoints:
- Africa seeks control of mineral value chains
- Energy and trade gaps block full beneficiation
- COP30 to focus on green transition fairness
AS global demand for critical minerals accelerates, African nations are striving to transform their vast reserves into engines of growth and employment. Yet analysts warn that success depends on solving persistent problems — from unreliable power supply to weak industrial capacity and trade barriers.
Africa holds about 30 percent of the world’s known mineral reserves, including cobalt, lithium and nickel — vital components in batteries and renewable energy technologies. The International Energy Agency forecasts that global lithium demand will rise fivefold by 2040, while demand for graphite and nickel will double.
‘This is an unprecedented opportunity for Africa to get on the value-chain bandwagon,’ said Hany Besada, senior fellow at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at the London School of Economics and associate professor at the Wits School of Governance.
From extraction to transformation
Besada argues that African countries must ‘build local value chains that integrate mining with refining, manufacturing and innovation’, linking natural wealth to the continent’s green transformation.
Zimbabwe — Africa’s leading lithium producer — is among the first movers, pressing mining firms to process minerals domestically to create jobs. ‘We are creating new jobs not only in the mining sector, but also in the value addition of our minerals,’ said Evelyn Ndlovu, Zimbabwe’s environment, climate and wildlife minister, as quoted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Chinese company Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt recently announced that its $400 million plant in Zimbabwe will begin producing lithium sulphate in early 2026, highlighting the growing response from investors to beneficiation policies.
Continental ambitions and COP30
At the United Nations COP30 climate summit in Brazil this November, African governments plan to push for global backing — particularly from the Global South — to ensure mineral demand translates into sustainable jobs and shared prosperity.
‘Africa wants to be a meaningful participant and beneficiary of the green economy,’ said Ibrahima Aidara, deputy Africa director at the Natural Resource Governance Institute. ‘That means an industrial policy that creates jobs, protects rights and enables countries to climb the value chain.’
Barriers to beneficiation
Still, major challenges persist. The Democratic Republic of Congo, which supplies 70 percent of the world’s cobalt, continues to wrestle with child labour, displacement and conflict in its mining regions.
Across Africa, the lack of electricity, inadequate transport infrastructure, high intra-African tariffs and complex customs systems have slowed progress on mineral processing.
‘Addressing barriers to trade is critical,’ Besada said. ‘Otherwise, efforts towards beneficiation and industrialisation will remain aspirational.’
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) — launched in 2021 to unite 1.4 bn people across more than 50 nations — offers a potential remedy. Some analysts believe geopolitical shifts, including US President Donald Trump’s renewed tariff policies, could accelerate trade within Africa under the AfCFTA framework.
The African Union’s Green Minerals Strategy and infrastructure projects such as the Lobito Corridor rail link between Zambia’s copper belt and Angola’s Atlantic port are further steps towards turning Africa into more than just a supplier of raw materials.
Resource nationalism resurges
In West Africa, a wave of resource nationalism is reshaping mining policy. Military-led governments, including in bauxite-rich Guinea, are demanding that foreign companies process minerals locally before export.
But Aidara cautioned that unilateral moves may not yield lasting community benefits. ‘The problem is bigger than individual countries,’ he said. ‘We need well-defined, evidence-based strategies to leverage minerals for sustainable industrialisation.’
Voices of a restless generation
Public pressure for reform is mounting. Youth-led protests from Kenya to Madagascar have decried corruption, unemployment and poor infrastructure — with demonstrations in Madagascar leading to the president’s resignation in October.
‘Civil society groups and large populations, including the young, hunger for change,’ said Besada. ‘With digital proliferation, they see how things have changed in neighbouring countries.’
The continent’s growing middle class is also pushing governments for accountability and transparency in managing natural resources. ‘They pay taxes, they have more of an interest in how economies are shaped and run. They have more to lose if things go badly, and governments understand this,’ Besada added.
Avoiding old mistakes
As COP30 approaches, civil-society groups are urging that transition minerals — and the communities affected by mining — take centre stage in global climate discussions.
Over 100 organisations, including Amnesty International, have called on the UN to ensure the green transition does not perpetuate exploitation.
‘Without a drastic shift, the transition will entrench unjust practices and repeat the mistakes of the past,’ they wrote in an open letter.
Africa’s mineral wealth could fuel an era of prosperity — or repeat a cycle of extraction and inequality. The outcome will depend on whether the continent can ride this critical minerals wave towards inclusive and sustainable growth.
