Africa Critically Needs a Critical Minerals Strategy!

Africa holds about 30% of the world’s mineral reserves, many of them are critical minerals. To cite just a few examples, the Democratic Republic of Congo produces 70% of the world’s cobalt, Gabon is the world’s 2ⁿᵈ largest producer of manganese, south Africa produces 90% of global platinum group metal reserves and Mozambique is the world’s 3ʳᵈ largest producer of graphite.

Critical minerals are at the center of the global power competition. China has overtaken the US and Europe in almost all critical mineral value chains as it is not only one of the world’s largest producers, but also transforms many of the critical minerals produced in Africa. For example 80% of the cobalt from DRC is produced by 2 Chinese companies who export it to China for processing then sell to battery makers around the world.