Africa’s $29.5 Trillion Mineral Wealth Largely Untapped, Says AFC Study
The report finds that US$8.6 trillion worth of Africa’s mineral resources remain undeveloped, highlighting the continent’s status as one of the world’s most under-explored mining regions.
- Country:
- South Africa
Africa holds an estimated US$29.5 trillion in mine-site mineral value, accounting for nearly 20% of global mineral wealth, yet captures only a small fraction of the economic value embedded in this vast endowment, according to a new study released today by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).
The study, titled Compendium of Africa’s Strategic Minerals, was launched at Mining Indaba in Cape Town and provides one of the most comprehensive assessments to date of Africa’s mineral potential, value chains, and infrastructure gaps.
$8.6 Trillion in Minerals Remain Undeveloped
The report finds that US$8.6 trillion worth of Africa’s mineral resources remain undeveloped, highlighting the continent’s status as one of the world’s most under-explored mining regions.
According to AFC, fragmented geological data, uneven survey coverage, and limited transparency continue to elevate risk perceptions and constrain exploration investment. Improving the availability, quality, and accessibility of geological data is identified as a critical first step in de-risking projects and unlocking exploration capital.
Mine-Site Values Understate Africa’s True Mineral Potential
The Compendium stresses that mine-site valuations significantly understate Africa’s real economic potential by ignoring the far greater value created through processing and industrial use.
When minerals are converted into steel, aluminium, fertilisers, batteries, and alloys, the value of Africa’s mineral endowment expands by an order of magnitude, revealing substantial latent wealth that remains largely unrealised due to limited beneficiation and industrial capacity on the continent.
Reframing Minerals Through an African Development Lens
The AFC study reframes Africa’s mineral strategy through an African development lens, placing industrialisation, infrastructure development, and long-term regional demand at the centre of policy and investment decisions.
“Today, AFC is proud to launch the Compendium of Africa’s Strategic Minerals—an initiative to reframe the sector through an African lens and convert endowment into execution pathways for our collective prosperity,” said Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO of AFC.
He added that the Compendium maps full value chains by linking mineral reserves and production to processing capacity, power supply, transport infrastructure, and regional industrial corridors, improving transparency, lowering the cost of capital, and guiding smarter investment into mining and enabling infrastructure.
Misalignment Between Mineral Supply, Processing and African Demand
A key finding of the report is that mineral production, infrastructure, and demand rarely align at scale across Africa.
The steel value chain illustrates this disconnect. While Africa hosts world-class deposits of iron ore, manganese, chromium, and nickel, these supply chains remain commercially tied to Asian steel cycles, rather than Africa’s own development needs.
As a result, downturns in Asian demand—linked to China’s property slowdown—have transmitted economic shocks into African mineral markets:
-
DRC: Cobalt production quotas imposed amid oversupply and falling prices
-
South Africa: Primary steelmaking capacity shut down due to weak domestic demand and high costs
-
Gabon: Periodic suspensions of manganese production following softer Asian alloy demand
These disruptions persist even as Africa continues to expand transport networks, housing, power systems, and industrial capacity that require these very materials.
Infrastructure as the Backbone of Mineral Beneficiation
The Compendium places infrastructure at the core of Africa’s mineral strategy, not as a passive enabler but as the system linking extraction, processing, and demand.
Key determinants of beneficiation viability include:
-
Reliable and affordable power
-
Rail and port connectivity
-
Access to industrial land and logistics corridors
The report maps mineral deposits alongside railways, ports, power generation hubs, and transmission networks to identify where regional value chains can realistically be developed. It calls for targeted investment in shared rail corridors and cross-border power transmission, particularly in mineral-rich regions.
Infrastructure is also critical to Africa’s competitiveness in a world moving toward green industrialisation, where low-carbon, traceable supply chains are increasingly required.
Africa’s Strategic Minerals in a Fragmenting Global Economy
The report situates Africa’s mineral opportunity within a rapidly changing global economy marked by trade tensions, export controls, and industrial policy shifts.
Rather than remaining a marginal supplier of raw materials, AFC argues that Africa should pursue selective integration into strategically exposed segments of global supply chains, especially where diversification would enhance global resilience.
Priority minerals include:
-
Manganese
-
Rare earth elements
-
Graphite
-
Uranium
-
Critical alloying inputs for defence, aerospace, and clean energy
Momentum Building Across the Continent
The study highlights emerging positive developments:
-
Angola developing one of the world’s largest high-grade magnet-metal rare earth deposits
-
Mozambique emerging as a key global anchor for graphite and battery anode materials
-
Southern Africa advancing battery-grade manganese sulphate projects
-
Namibia and Malawi resuming uranium production during 2024–25
A Roadmap for Turning Endowment Into Prosperity
The Compendium of Africa’s Strategic Minerals provides a data-driven roadmap for converting Africa’s mineral wealth into industrial growth, regional integration, and shared prosperity, anchored in African demand and infrastructure-led development.
The full report is available for download here: http://apo-opa.co/4txjr5p
Google News