Exploring the Critical Minerals Ecosystem in SADC Country Barriers and Enablers

The report examines the SADC region's role in the global energy transition, focusing on critical minerals like copper, lithium, cobalt, graphite, manganese, nickel, and rare earth elements. It highlights the risk of SADC countries remaining raw material suppliers unless they implement robust governance and strategic value-addition policies. The analysis covers the geostrategic influence of China, the US, and the EU, while providing country-specific case studies and recommendations for regional value chain development.

• Global demand for minerals essential to green energy technologies is projected to increase fourfold by 2040, with the World Bank forecasting a potential 500% surge in the production of graphite, lithium, and cobalt by 2050.
• SADC policymakers face a critical lack of governance and policy measures to move the region beyond being mere suppliers of raw minerals, which risks leaving the majority of value capture in external manufacturing centres.
• China maintains a dominant position in global critical mineral supply chains, particularly in refining and processing, which allows it to exert a quasi-monopoly and exposes other nations to supply disruptions.
• The US and EU are actively pursuing strategies to reduce dependence on China through initiatives like the US Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and the EU's European Battery Alliance (EBA).
• Mining for transition minerals in Africa carries significant governance risks, including potential for increased corruption, environmental degradation, and human rights abuses, particularly in fragile states.
• Local content policies in the region have seen mixed results; while intended to promote inclusive growth, they have often failed to increase the participation of local firms in natural resource supply chains.
• The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia hold 6% of global copper reserves (52 million tons), and the DRC specifically provides roughly 70% of the world's cobalt.
• Zimbabwe possesses Africa's most extensive lithium resources, but currently exports most of the ore raw due to limited domestic processing capacity and governance issues.
• Mozambique, Madagascar, and Tanzania together hold over one-fifth of global graphite reserves, with Mozambique's Balama Graphite Project cited as the world's largest deposit.
• South Africa is the world's leading producer of manganese and holds significant reserves of platinum (91%), yttrium (46%), and chromium (35%).
• The extraction and refining of rare earth elements (REEs) are highly complex and environmentally harmful, making regional coordination within SADC essential to avoid continued raw ore exports.

APA

CLOETE, D., JENTEL, L., WOLF, N., MZINYATHI, L., BENKENSTEIN, A., & JOSEPH, A. (2023). Exploring the Critical Minerals Ecosystem in SADC Country Barriers and Enablers. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/SAIIA_Futures_SR_CMsEcosystemCountryBarriers.pdf

Chicago

CLOETE, DEON, LETITIA JENTEL, NDEAPO WOLF, LITHA MZINYATHI, ALEX BENKENSTEIN, and ADRIAN JOSEPH. Exploring the Critical Minerals Ecosystem in SADC Country Barriers and Enablers. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2023. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/SAIIA_Futures_SR_CMsEcosystemCountryBarriers.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=CLOETE |first1=DEON |last2=JENTEL |first2=LETITIA |last3=WOLF |first3=NDEAPO |last4=MZINYATHI |first4=LITHA |last5=BENKENSTEIN |first5=ALEX |last6=JOSEPH |first6=ADRIAN |title=Exploring the Critical Minerals Ecosystem in SADC Country Barriers and Enablers |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=September 2023 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/SAIIA_Futures_SR_CMsEcosystemCountryBarriers.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cloete2023exploring, author = {CLOETE, DEON and JENTEL, LETITIA and WOLF, NDEAPO and MZINYATHI, LITHA and BENKENSTEIN, ALEX and JOSEPH, ADRIAN}, title = {{Exploring the Critical Minerals Ecosystem in SADC Country Barriers and Enablers}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2023}, month = sep, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/SAIIA_Futures_SR_CMsEcosystemCountryBarriers.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }