The State of Measurement & Reporting for Local Procurement in Mining in Africa

The document examines how African governments and mining companies track local procurement, noting that aggregate spending figures often mask a lack of genuine local value addition. It highlights the gap between current reporting practices and the data needed to steer effective policy, while identifying emerging industry standards and country-specific examples that could serve as models for improvement.

• Aggregate local procurement spending figures often overestimate economic benefits because they include goods imported and resold by local businesses or services provided by international firms with local offices.
• A 2014 study in Zambia revealed a significant gap between reported local spending and actual local production; while 80% of procurement for goods was reported as local, approximately 95% of those goods were actually imported, with only $87 million of $1.75 billion spent on locally manufactured goods.
• Many African local content regulations are not fit for purpose because they require the procurement of goods and services within the country but do not mandate in-country production. For example, Ghana's 2012 regulations count imported goods as compliant if resold by a Ghanaian business.
• South Africa is noted as an exception in its approach to production, with its 2018 Mining Charter requiring that at least 70% of total mining goods procurement spend (excluding non-discretionary expenditure) be on South African manufactured goods.
• Corporate reporting via the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is increasing but remains insufficient for policy steering, as companies often fail to provide site-specific data or clear definitions of 'local'.
• There is a growing trend in international sustainability and governance frameworks to demand more detailed procurement data, including the World Gold Council’s Responsible Gold Mining Principles (2019), the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance’s Standard (2018), and the Mining Local Procurement Reporting Mechanism (LPRM) launched in 2017.
• Some countries are beginning to integrate procurement data into transparency frameworks; Senegal's 2018 Reconciliation Report included a breakdown of local procurement spending and the number of local versus international suppliers.

APA

GEIPEL, J. (2020). The State of Measurement & Reporting for Local Procurement in Mining in Africa. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Policy-Insights-88-geipel.pdf

Chicago

GEIPEL, JEFF. The State of Measurement & Reporting for Local Procurement in Mining in Africa. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2020. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Policy-Insights-88-geipel.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=GEIPEL |first1=JEFF |title=The State of Measurement & Reporting for Local Procurement in Mining in Africa |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=June 2020 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Policy-Insights-88-geipel.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{geipel2020state, author = {GEIPEL, JEFF}, title = {{The State of Measurement \& Reporting for Local Procurement in Mining in Africa}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Policy-Insights-88-geipel.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }