The World Economic Forum (WEF), in collaboration with the Development Bank of Southern Africa and McKinsey & Company, has released a report highlighting Southern Africa’s vast potential to supply critical minerals essential for the clean energy transition. Despite being home to nearly 30 percent of the world’s reserves, the region attracts less than 10 percent of global exploration spending due to underdeveloped infrastructure, financing gaps and policy uncertainty.
Mineral wealth and global significance
The Southern African Region (SAR), which includes Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, hosts 50 percent of global cobalt reserves, 20 percent of global graphite reserves and 10 percent of global copper reserves.
These minerals are vital for low-carbon technologies such as EVs, batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, and hydrogen systems. SAR’s higher reserves-to-production ratios compared to global peers mean the region can sustain production for longer.
Eight challenges hindering growth
The report identifies eight barriers preventing the region from reaching its potential. Policy uncertainty and complex regulations, limited access to early-stage financing, high capital intensity of mining projects, unreliable energy supplies and reliance on fossil fuels, weak transport infrastructure (ports, rail, roads), lagging innovation adoption, skills shortages and weak training systems, and price volatility in global markets.
Pathways to unlock investment
To overcome these barriers, WEF proposes eight solution tracks, supported by real-world case studies:
- Policy reforms: e.g., Zambia’s new mining law for transparency
- Innovative financing: Rawbank’s $400 million syndicated loan for the DRC’s Kamoa-Kakula copper project
- Green energy strategies: Namibia’s Oshivela solar-powered green iron facility
- Transport corridors: Lobito Corridor Railway linking Angola, DRC, and Zambia
- Technology adoption: hydraulic dewatered stacking to improve efficiency and sustainability
- Local beneficiation: South Africa’s Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone
- Skills development: Mandela Mining Precinct as a hub for R&D and training
- Long-term demand contracts: POSCO’s offtake deal with Black Rock Mining in Tanzania
These are consequently highlighted as a way to build transparency and investor trust, de-risk investments, strengthen transportation infrastructure, improve environmental and operational performance, promote local beneficiation and provide greater certainty for producers.
Outlook: risks and opportunities
The report concludes that the global supply-demand gap for critical minerals may quadruple by 2040, posing risks to the energy transition but offering opportunities for resource-rich regions like Southern Africa. Unlocking this potential requires clear regulations, robust infrastructure, innovation, skills development, and stronger value chains to secure the region’s role in the low-carbon economy of the future.