Cape Town, South Africa, February 9, 2026 — Africa holds mineral resources estimated at US$29.5 trillion, or approximately 20% of global mineral wealth, but captures only a fraction of the economic value inherent in these assets, according to a new study published today by Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).
Of this total, US$8.6 trillion remains undeveloped, reflecting an underexplored continent where fragmented geological data, uneven coverage and limited transparency continue to increase perceived risks and constrain investment. The report argues that improving the availability and quality of geological data is a necessary first step toward reducing project risks and unlocking exploration capital.
The study also stresses that mine-site value significantly understates Africa’s true potential, because it excludes the much greater value created when minerals are transformed into steel, aluminum, fertilizers, batteries and alloys. Measured at the point of industrial use, Africa’s mineral wealth increases by an order of magnitude, revealing substantial latent value.
Launched at Mining Indaba in Cape Town, the African Strategic Minerals Compendium reframes the sector through an African development lens, placing industrialization, infrastructure and long-term regional demand at the center of mining strategy.
“Today, AFC is proud to launch the African Strategic Minerals Compendium, an initiative to redefine the sector from an African perspective and convert resources into pathways for delivering our collective prosperity,” said Samaila Zubairu, AFC President and CEO. “The Compendium maps entire value chains and connects reserves and production with processing capacity, energy and transport infrastructure, and regional industrial corridors, improving data transparency to reduce exploration risks, lower the cost of capital and guide smarter investment into mining and the infrastructure needed for beneficiation and regional value-chain integration.”
Mining development anchored in African demand
The Compendium finds that mineral production, enabling infrastructure and demand are rarely co-located or aligned at scale, and calls for stronger regional planning anchored in the fundamentals of Africa’s long-term demand.
The steel value chain illustrates this mismatch. Africa has world-class resources in ferroalloys such as manganese, chromium and nickel, while iron ore supply is entering a new growth cycle. Yet these supply chains remain commercially tied to Asian steel cycles rather than Africa’s own development trajectory.
This exposure is economically costly and is already apparent. Slowing Asian steel demand, linked to China’s property downturn and reduced construction activity, has affected African mining markets. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, cobalt production quotas have been imposed to manage oversupply and collapsing prices. In South Africa, primary steelmaking capacity has been reduced because of weak domestic demand, high costs and fragmented procurement. In Gabon, major manganese operations have periodically suspended production in response to declining alloy demand from Asia.
These outcomes occur even as Africa continues to develop the transport networks, power systems, housing and industrial capacity that require these materials. The constraint is not a lack of demand but a lack of demand anchoring: the failure to align mineral production, processing capacity and infrastructure investment with Africa’s long-term material needs.
Infrastructure connects minerals, processing and demand
The Compendium places infrastructure at the center of mining strategy, not as a passive enabler but as the system connecting raw materials, processing capacity and demand. Electricity costs and reliability, transport connectivity and access to industrial land ultimately determine the viability of beneficiation.
To this end, the report maps mineral deposits and production assets alongside railways, ports, power generation hubs and transmission networks to identify where regional value chains can realistically be developed. It advocates targeted interventions in shared rail corridors and cross-border electricity transmission, particularly in mineral-rich regions where coordinated infrastructure could deliver economies of scale, reduce delivered costs and support regional industrial hubs.
Infrastructure is also critical to Africa’s competitiveness in a world shaped by green industrialization. Clean energy, efficient logistics and integrated corridors such as Lobito can reduce carbon intensity and improve access to markets that increasingly demand traceable, low-carbon supply chains.
African minerals in a fragmenting global economy
The Compendium situates Africa’s mining strategy within a rapidly changing geoeconomic landscape shaped by trade tensions, export controls, industrial policy and efforts to reduce concentration risk. These shifts reinforce the strategic importance of Africa’s mineral resources, but only when the continent can offer reliable, high-value alternatives.
Rather than positioning Africa as a marginal raw-material supplier, the report advocates selective integration into strategically exposed segments of global supply chains where diversification would significantly strengthen resilience, particularly for minerals with highly concentrated processing markets. These include manganese, rare earths, graphite, uranium and alloys essential to defense technologies, aerospace and clean energy.
Encouragingly, momentum is building:
- Angola is developing one of the world’s largest and highest-grade magnetic rare-earth deposits;
- Mozambique has become a key supplier of graphite and anode materials;
- Projects producing battery-grade manganese sulfate are advancing in Southern Africa; and
- Uranium production resumed in Namibia and Malawi in 2024–2025.
About AFC
AFC was established in 2007 to serve as a catalyst for pragmatic infrastructure and industrial investment across Africa. AFC’s approach combines specialized industry expertise with a focus on financial and technical advisory services, project structuring, project development and risk capital to address Africa’s infrastructure development needs and drive sustainable economic growth.
Eighteen years later, AFC has established itself as Africa’s partner of choice for investing in and delivering essential, high-quality infrastructure that provides critical services in the key infrastructure sectors of power, natural resources, heavy industry, transport and telecommunications. AFC has 48 member countries and has invested more than US$18.5 billion across 36 African countries since its inception.
Media contact: Yewande Thorpe, Communications, Africa Finance Corporation, Mobile: +234 1 279 9654, Email: yewande.thorpe@africafc.org
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