Africa holds vast reserves of critical minerals, but there are concerns that ownership and control remain in foreign hands.
New mining giants for critical minerals are the new hope to sustain Africa’s mining sector and build wealth for the continent.
This was raised by former ANC treasurer-general and businessman Mathews Phosa, during his address on the first day of the two-day Critical Minerals Summit in Fourways, north of Johannesburg, yesterday.
Opportunity for new mining giants
An opportunity has opened for new local mining giants to emerge to replace the mineral giants that are gone and those preparing to leave the continent, Phosa said.
With mining slowing down, local miners should use existing and new minerals produced in the country. But there is a need for all stakeholders to cooperate for the benefit of all, he said.
Africa’s mineral wealth in numbers
Data from the United Nations Environment Programme indicates Africa is home to about 30% of the world’s mineral reserves, 8% of the world’s natural gas and 12% of the world’s oil reserves.
In most African countries, natural capital accounts for 30%-50% of total wealth, he said.
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“Within that impressive number lies some of the world’s largest developed and undeveloped deposits of iron ore, coal, potash, manganese, gold and platinum group metals, along with large deposits of green minerals, such as copper, lithium and graphite.
“Maintaining production from these mines for decades to come and unlocking the giant greenfield deposits for the future requires all stakeholders – including governments, miners, investors and local communities – to see eye to eye, with long-term agreements in place,” Phosa said.
Mining growth was being retarded by bureaucratic red tape because licensing was being delayed at state level.
Phosa, who is the chair of Jubilee Minerals Group, said the firm has embarked on a programme to teach young people how to understand marketing so that they can grow.
‘Africa must be in charge’
African Minerals Strategy Group’s Patrick Lubega, from Uganda, said this is the time to prove to the world that Africa has everything when it comes to minerals.
“Africa should not be watching from the sidelines, but must be in charge of its own mineral wealth. The opening for raw materials to go out of Africa will be closed,” Lubega said.
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Africa was endowed with critical minerals, but it was questionable whether Africans owned those minerals.
Similarly, many events were being held all over the world about African minerals but those meetings were not organised by Africans, he said.
Calls for education and African control
It was an anomaly that countries like the United Arab Emirates and other countries were top sellers of gold products, yet none of them owned a single gold mining operation on their soil, but got the mineral from Africa.
Lubega, who spoke on the role of critical minerals in geopolitical power dynamics, said it was unfair that most of the investment in Africa was by Western countries.
He called on the youth of Africa to increase their skills in various fields to save the continent’s economy. “The new education in Africa in vocational education is technology,” Lubega said.
The two-day event was attended by members of the mineral industry, government officials, investors, members of the diplomatic corps and small and medium companies involved in mining.
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