Africa’s Critical Minerals: Boosting Development Amid Geopolitical Challenges

The document examines the tension between African developmental goals for critical minerals and the geopolitical priorities of external powers, specifically the US-led G7 and China. It highlights China's early-mover advantage in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe, while noting that G7 counter-initiatives often prioritize supply chain security over African local value addition. The authors argue that African nations must develop comprehensive national and regional strategies to avoid repeating colonial extraction patterns and to leverage their resources for sustainable industrialisation.

• Geopolitical competition between the G7 and China often overshadows African developmental priorities, with external actors focusing on risk and supply chain security rather than African goals for beneficiation and economic opportunity.
• Chinese companies have established a dominant position in the DRC's copper and cobalt sectors through early investment and political navigation, with 36 of 62 producing companies in the DRC being Chinese as of 2023.
• Western efforts to reduce Chinese dominance, such as the Minerals Security Partnership and the Lobito Corridor, have struggled to translate into tangible projects due to a lack of private sector engagement and persistent structural barriers in the DRC.
• Zimbabwe has attempted to follow Indonesia's model by banning raw lithium exports in December 2022 to force local refining, leading to the launch of at least three Chinese lithium concentrators between 2023 and 2024.
• Structural barriers, particularly severe electricity deficits, hinder the ability of the DRC and Zimbabwe to achieve advanced mineral refining; the DRC mining industry faces an electricity deficit of 900MW.
• African nations are encouraged to move beyond national policies toward regional integration and pooled resources to increase leverage against external partners, as seen in the DRC-Zambia agreement for EV battery value chains.

APA

NEEMA, G., & VAN STADEN, C. (2024). Africa’s Critical Minerals: Boosting Development Amid Geopolitical Challenges. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SAIIA_PI-155_AfricaCriticalMinerals.pdf

Chicago

NEEMA, GÉRAUD, and COBUS VAN STADEN. Africa’s Critical Minerals: Boosting Development Amid Geopolitical Challenges. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2024. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SAIIA_PI-155_AfricaCriticalMinerals.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=NEEMA |first1=GÉRAUD |last2=VAN STADEN |first2=COBUS |title=Africa’s Critical Minerals: Boosting Development Amid Geopolitical Challenges |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=August 2024 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SAIIA_PI-155_AfricaCriticalMinerals.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{neema2024africas, author = {NEEMA, GÉRAUD and VAN STADEN, COBUS}, title = {{Africa’s Critical Minerals: Boosting Development Amid Geopolitical Challenges}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2024}, month = aug, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SAIIA_PI-155_AfricaCriticalMinerals.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }