OPINION | SADC’s critical minerals can power Africa’s transformation
By Claver Gatete Africa is once again at the centre of a global resource race.
As the world shifts to clean energy, demand for critical energy transition minerals is surging, and Africa holds a significant share of them.
For generations, the continent has supplied the world with raw and semi-finished commodities while receiving a disproportionately small share of the massive wealth created from the sector.
But endowment is neither a strategy nor a destiny.
Unless the continent changes course, this new boom risks repeating an old narrative of exporting raw materials while importing prosperity, with countries and mining communities left with degraded landscapes, limited services, a few lasting economic opportunities and very little to show from the harnessing of their mineral resource wealth.
As Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders gather in Durban for the 46th Ordinary Summit at a moment when the region’s own agenda places industrialisation, infrastructure and critical minerals transformation at the centre of its future, there is a window of opportunity for concerted action to move beyond being a source of wealth for other economies.
Furthermore, SADC can offer lessons for the rest of the Continent on how extraordinary mineral endowment can drive value addition, regional integration and inclusive development.
The continent holds about 30% of the global reserves of critical energy transition minerals, including cobalt, copper, graphite, lithium, manganese, nickel, platinum group metals and rare earth elements.
Africa produces more than 77% of the world’s cobalt, 21% of natural graphite, 1% of lithium, 65% of manganese, 5.6% of nickel and 83% of platinum group metals.
SADC sits at the heart of this endowment.
From the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s dominance in cobalt to Zimbabwe’s lithium, South Africa’s platinum and manganese, and Zambia’s copper, the region is indispensable to global supply chains.
The International Energy Agency projects that demand for these minerals could more than triple by 2030 under net-zero scenarios.
Major economies are already repositioning supply chains in the name of energy security.
This is a narrow window of opportunity.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.sabcnews.com — the content belongs to SABC News.
