Africa , which accounts for more than 30 percent of the World’s total mineral reserves and mineral resource exploitation and trade, remains a key feature of mineral development and integration into the global mine value chain.
With the transition into green energy, and increased calls for massive utilisation of the critical mineral resources that are vital in manufacturing, African countries are re-strategizing to leverage their natural capital and mineral resources to develop their local and regional production systems and industrialise in the line the Africa Union’s (AU) Africa Green Mineral Strategy.
The African continent is blessed with abundant natural resources ranging from gold, silver, cobalt, nickel, copper, diamond, platinum, manganese and coal among many others thereby making it the second largest mineral industry in the World and a major supplier of the global manufacturing sector of finished goods.
The mining sector has continued to be the major contributor of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), revenue collection, exports earnings, foreign currency reserves and employment creation for most of the African countries, with the huge ability to drive economic growth and development of the region.
In the last 30 years, leaders from across the world, Heads of State, government leaders, investors, innovators and captains of industry from the mining sector, have been gathering annually for the Investing in African Mining Indaba, devoted to the capitalization of the development of mining interests on the continent.
The African region has continued to attract investment in its mining industry, benefiting about $83 billion in 2021 from the global Foreign Direct Investment.
The mining Indaba presents a unique and widening perspective of the region’s mining industry bringing together players in the mining value chain from across the globe.
South Africa’s oldest tourism and legislative city, situated at the tip of Africa and also complemented by Table Mountain, which sits majestically in the background, Cape town, is the meeting place for the annual Investing in African Mining Indaba, at the Cape Town Convention Centre.
The 2024 conference which was held from 5th to 8th February 2024, drew participation from Heads of State and governments, over 8,000 delegates ranging from captains of the mining industry, business executives, corporate institutions and more than 900 investors, who engaged on the future of the mining sector and explored opportunities for investments in green energy transition within the region.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa as the host was joined by Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, and President Hakainde Hichilema who delivered his keynote address virtually as a guest speaker.
President Hichilema who was making his second appearance as President having delivered his speech during the 2022 indaba as a guest speaker, explained that from the last time that Zambia attended the investing in African Mining indaba in 2022, the country has attracted significant investment to its mining sector that has resulted in increased production of copper and other minerals.
In his virtual speech during the official opening of the 2024 mining Indaba, President Hichilema confirmed governments’ dedication to revitalize the country’s mining sector and deliver jobs and economic growth for the people of Zambia.
From 2022 to date, Zambia has recorded over US$7 billion investment in the mining sector with Barrick’s Lumwana mine contributing nearly US$3 billion in taxes, royalties, and localemployment, and a further US$ 2 billion to expand Lumwana and increase its annual production to an estimated 240,000 tonnes of copper.
First Quantum Minerals (FQM) has made a US$ 100 investment in its Nickel mine , a US$ 1.25 billion to expand Kansanshi copper mine and increase its annual production to an estimated 240,000 tonnes of copper, and has created nearly 2,000 jobs.
Other newcomers include Abu Dhabi’s International Resources, who in December 2023 announced a $1.1 billion investment in Mopani Copper Mines, funding the mine’s expansion plan and increasing copper production to 200,000 tons in the next three years.
California-based Kobold Metals, which is backed by tech titans including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, is working to start producing copper and cobalt at its project in Zambia, has so far invested US $150 million to accelerate its search for high-quality metal deposits.
President Hichilema noted that progress has been recorded towards achieving the objectives, and several measures have been put in place to improve the mining sector with an ambitious goal of expanding copper production from the current 800,000 tonnes per year to around 3 million tonnes of copper by 2030.
“This year, Zambia comes to you with a new message: ‘invest with confidence: and power the future’. We reiterate our government’s commitment to making Zambia a reliable investment partner of choice on the African continent. Zambia has a stable and predictable mining, legal, regulatory, and fiscal regime; as we committed to you during the 2022 mining indaba,” said President Hichilema.
In his address to the delegates, South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, highlighted that South Africa’s mining industry had undergone major transformation over the past three decades, reiterating the potential that Africa has to become the largest global energy transition in the natural resources industry, through partnerships to leverage on each other and derive maximum benefits from the continents abundant raw materials.
“The theme of this year’s Mining Indaba is about embracing the power of positive disruption. The transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy, society and world is one of the most significant positive disruptions of our modern age, the vast majority of the minerals that are key to the global energy transition lie beneath the soil of our continent. These include manganese, iron ore, copper, cobalt, nickel and platinum group metals, Africa has the potential to be the fulcrum of the global energy transition, with mining at its core,”President Ramaphosa said.
Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo share the largest border area, and the two countries alone contribute about 70 percent to the World’s copper production, hence the two countries in 2022 with United States signed a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development of an integrated value chain for the production of Electric Vehicles (EV) batteries.
The MoU aims at developing a complete value chain around EV batteries and clean energy in the DRC and Zambia, from the extraction of minerals to the assembly line.
DRC’s Prime Minister Jean-Michel Lukonde observed that there is a need for the countries in the region to embrace value addition to most of its raw materials that are produced within the African continent if citizens are to get maximum benefits.
“DRC has a lot of minerals that are being used in the energy transition, as Africa we need to take care of our natural resources, we have a great potential to contribute significantly to ending poverty in Africa as long as we start exporting finished products from our minerals and ensuring that there is local involvement in the value chain,” said Mr Lukonde.
Zambia took advantage of the indaba to market the various opportunities and exploits that it has to the delegates and investors attending the conference. Ministers of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane and his Mines and Minerals Development counterpart Paul Kabuswe and leaders from banking and mining industries showcased Zambia’s potential during the ‘Zambia country showcase’.
KoBold Metals Africa, a pioneering exploration company, provided insights to the investors and delegates on the just discovered largest copper deposits in the history of the country’s mining at its two billion dollars Mingomba project in Chililabombwe.
Company Chief Executive Officer, Mfekyi Makayi, said “The rapid advancement of the Mingomba project aligns with the urgency to meet the global demand for critical metals, particularly copper,”
Mine Expert Sixtus Mulenga, said the discovery by Kobold which will also embrace Artificial Intelligence will make significant contributions to job creation and activities on the Copperbelt and the country at large.
At the same event Minister of Mines and Minerals Development Paul Kabuswe outlined a number of measures that the Zambian government has put in place to improve the mining investment opportunities and environment to make it a preferred investment destination.
“So from the last two we have been working on increasing mining investments by ensuring that there is economic stability, policy consistency and peace in the country, as no investors can be attracted to invest in a country that has policy inconsistency and confusion, are putting in place various mechanisms to attract more investment to the sector that will benefit both the investors and local people from the natural resources,” he said
Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane expressed optimism that recent increase in the expression of interest from both new and old mining investors to rump up copper production will bring about stability in the country’s economy and the exchange rate.
“ I can assure you that the country has in recent past attracted unprecedented interest from both new and old mining investors expressing interest to rump up copper production, the resumption of mining activities and increased copper production by Mopani Copper Mine and KCM who have doubled up their investment, and have started paying contractors and suppliers, workers. all this will bring about some activities in the economy,” declared Dr Musokotwane.
Zambia has launched a national geological mapping survey to better understand its mineral resource deposits and untapped potential, with the study intended to promote mineral exploration by quantifying resources and supporting strategic investments, with a view to capitalizing on growing global demand for critical minerals.
To promote this venture, the French government has offered 500,000 Euros support aimed at enhancing the geological survey and data management system for Zambia’s Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development.
French Inter ministerial Delegate from the office of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Gallezot, signed on behalf of France while Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development Permanent Secretary Hapenga Kabeta signed on behalf of the Zambian government.
Mr Gallezot said “This is an exciting time for us, we are happy that we have finally signed this MoU with Zambia, a country that has good policies and good environment for doing business, this is why we want to develop partnership that will bring about downstream benefits to the local people,”.
Mr Kabeta, pointed out that the Zambian government remains committed to developing strategic partnerships that will enhance the growth and promote beneficiation of people from the country’s natural resources.
“We are excited to start this journey with you by signing this MoU, as you know mining is our priority sector it is the backbone of our economy through its contribution to GDP, exports earns and job creation so we have to manage it well, that is why we want partnerships that will benefit people from exploration to exploitation and value addition’’ he stated.
Reported to be the continent’s largest investment mining event, this year’s indaba was held under the theme “Embracing the power of positive disruption:
A bold new future for African mining”. The conference aims to inspire and facilitate the changes and disruptions required to advance the African mining industry .
