Gwede Mantashe, South Africa’s Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources
By Washington Chikombingo in Capetown, South Africa
The 31st edition of the Invest in African Mining Indaba commenced on Monday, drawing significant enthusiasm from attendees.
The event, themed “Future-Proofing African Mining, Today!”, coincides with the 70th anniversary of South Africa’s Freedom Charter, which declared that “the people shall share in the country’s wealth.”
In his address, South Africa’s Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, called on African nations to take charge of their vast mining resources.
“Furthermore, there is evidence that the African continent hosts significant reserves of industrially important minerals such as manganese, copper, coal, nickel, cobalt, titanium, vanadium, lithium, and rare earth minerals. With the growing demand for these minerals, Africa needs to assert its advantage and take charge of the growing demand,” Mantashe said.
He emphasized that Africa must not allow developed nations to dictate the conversation around its mineral wealth.
“We cannot continue to debate these minerals based on the dictates of some developed nations as if we have no aspirations to accelerate Africa’s industrialisation and close the development deficit,” he stated.
Mantashe stressed that the time for Africa to take control of its development is now.
“There is no other point in time that will be more opportune for Africa to take control of its development while still pursuing our strategic partnerships with the rest of the world. We must, therefore, avoid the race to the bottom,” he said.
Despite being home to vast mineral wealth, Mantashe lamented that Africa remains poor, a situation that he said must change.
“The truth of the matter is that Africa is the world’s richest mining jurisdiction, possessing at least 90 percent of the world’s chromium and platinum, 40 percent of the world’s gold, and the largest reserves of the world’s cobalt, vanadium, manganese, and uranium. Despite having these abundant mineral resources, Africa remains poor, and this must change,” he underscored.
He also addressed the issue of defining critical minerals, highlighting the lack of global consensus.
“In the main, these nations have defined these minerals according to their importance in the energy transition; hence the emphasis on ‘green minerals’ and thereby ignoring all other value chains, such as the mobility sector, medical applications, and digital economy,” he noted.
Mantashe called for a broader approach to mineral classification.
“Instead of using a narrow definition and classification system for these minerals, Mintek has adopted a methodology that is based on assessing the criticality of minerals across five primary criteria: export significance, local economic significance, industrial importance, employment, and global market demand,” he said.
The Mining Indaba serves as a key platform for discussions on Africa’s vast mineral wealth and how the continent can benefit from it.
