Africa is entering a significant new phase in its economic development. For decades, the continent has supplied the world with raw materials while much of the processing, refining and manufacturing took place elsewhere. That model is increasingly being challenged as African countries seek to capture more value from the critical minerals driving the global energy transition.
Africa is estimated to hold about 30 per cent of the world’s critical mineral resources, giving the continent an important position in the rapidly expanding clean-energy economy. The opportunity, however, lies not simply in extracting these resources, but in building the industries capable of processing them locally and turning mineral wealth into jobs, investment and long-term economic value.
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The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for example, remains central to the global cobalt market, while lithium resources are attracting growing investment across countries including Zimbabwe and Namibia. Yet mineral wealth alone does not guarantee industrial development. Much of Africa’s critical-mineral processing capacity remains outside the continent, leaving African producers with a smaller share of the value generated further along the supply chain.
That gap is creating pressure for a new approach.
Across the continent, governments are increasingly exploring policies that encourage local processing rather than the export of unprocessed ores. Zimbabwe and Namibia have introduced measures restricting exports of certain unprocessed minerals, while the DRC and Zambia are seeking to strengthen domestic processing and beneficiation.
The shift is also being supported by major infrastructure investments. The Lobito Corridor is emerging as an important trade route linking mineral-producing areas of the DRC and Zambia with Angola’s Atlantic coast. The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has committed up to $553 million to upgrade and rehabilitate about 1,300 kilometres of railway and the Lobito mineral port. Together with financing from the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the investment is expected to increase transport capacity significantly and reduce the cost of moving critical minerals by up to 30 per cent.
Better transport is only one part of the equation. Processing minerals requires reliable electricity, modern industrial facilities, skilled workers and predictable regulations. Without these foundations, Africa risks improving the movement of raw materials without fundamentally changing where value is created.
Energy is therefore becoming inseparable from Africa’s mineral-industrialisation ambitions. The African Development Bank recently announced $20 million in reimbursable grants for four green-hydrogen and derivatives projects in Egypt, Morocco, Namibia and South Africa. The projects span sustainable fuels and low-carbon iron, with the four initiatives representing an estimated $23 billion in investment and significant planned renewable-energy and storage capacity.
Green hydrogen could become particularly important for mineral processing because it offers a pathway towards lower-carbon industrial production. For a continent seeking to expand manufacturing while responding to global climate requirements, this creates an opportunity to connect renewable energy, mineral beneficiation and new export industries.
Infrastructure development must therefore happen alongside industrial policy. Railways can reduce transport costs, renewable energy can support processing facilities, and technical training can provide the workforce required to operate increasingly sophisticated industries.
The opportunity is considerable. Global demand for minerals used in electric vehicles, renewable-energy systems, batteries and other technologies is creating new markets, while Africa possesses many of the resources required to supply them. But the ultimate measure of success will not be how much mineral Africa exports. It will be how much economic value the continent retains.
Africa can use its critical-mineral wealth to deepen manufacturing, strengthen regional trade and attract investment into new industrial sectors. Achieving that transformation will require coordinated action from governments, financial institutions and the private sector, supported by infrastructure, reliable energy, skills development and clear investment frameworks.
The continent has already begun moving from extraction towards beneficiation. The next step is to build the industrial ecosystems that can turn Africa’s mineral advantage into lasting prosperity.
The opportunity is here. The challenge is ensuring that Africa does not simply supply the materials for the green economy, but becomes one of the places where that economy is built.
