Africa sits on $29.5tn mineral wealth – AFC Report

A new study released by the Africa Finance Corporation has indicated that the continent holds an estimated $29.5tn in mine-site mineral value, representing about 20 per cent of global mineral wealth, yet captures only a fraction of the economic value embedded in this endowment.

In a statement on Monday, the AFC, which supports infrastructural and industry investments on the continent, said that the report reframes the mineral sector through an African development lens, placing industrialisation, infrastructure, and long-term regional demand at the centre of mineral strategy.

The PUNCH reports that the report, launched at Mining Indaba in Cape Town and titled Compendium of Africa’s Strategic Minerals, estimates that $8.6tn of the continent’s mineral wealth remains undeveloped, which is attributed to fragmented geological data, uneven coverage, and limited transparency, which continue to elevate risk perception and constrain investment.

According to the study, improving the availability and quality of geological data is a necessary first step to de-risk projects and unlock exploration capital. The AFC argued that mine site valuations significantly understate Africa’s true mineral potential because they exclude the value created when raw materials are processed into steel, aluminium, fertilisers, batteries and alloys. When measured at the point of industrial use, the report states, Africa’s mineral endowment expands by an order of magnitude, revealing substantial latent value.

Launching the report, AFC President/Chief Executive Officer, Samaila Zubairu, said, “Today, AFC is proud to launch the Compendium of Africa’s Strategic Minerals, an initiative to reframe the sector through an African lens and convert endowment into execution pathways for our collective prosperity. The Compendium maps full value chains and links reserves and production to processing capacity, power and transport infrastructure, and regional industrial corridors, improving data transparency to de-risk exploration, lower the cost of capital, and guide smarter investment into mining and the enabling infrastructure needed for beneficiation and integrated regional value chains.”

The Compendium found that mineral production, enabling infrastructure, and demand rarely co-locate or align at scale and calls for stronger regional planning anchored in Africa’s long-term demand fundamentals. An example is in the steel value chain, where Africa hosts world-class endowments of ferroalloys such as manganese, chromium and nickel, and the iron ore supply is entering a new growth cycle. Yet these supply chains remain commercially tethered to Asian steel cycles rather than Africa’s own development trajectory.