The Acting Chief Economist at the African Development Bank (AfDB), Professor Kevin Chika Urama, has called on African countries to establish policies that will aid the development of the continent’s minerals.
Professor Urama made the call during an interview with Television Continental (TVC) on Monday, November 21.
He noted that Africa has 90% of green minerals that are important for the global energy transition, and 60% of solar radiation potential. Developing these potentials could help the continent to become a relevant player in the global energy transition era.
According to him, if African policymakers can establish simple policies such as franchising, it could enable African countries to scale the development of their resources. And this will greatly benefit the continent.
Great potentials: In its 2022 African Economic Outlook, the AfDB pointed out that African countries have strategic presences in critical rare earth minerals used in battery manufacture that are in high global demand.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has 50% of global reserves of cobalt. South Africa and Gabon have nearly 40% of global manganese reserves. Mozambique and Tanzania, albeit at a smaller scale due to the relative size of their reserves, could play a value-chain role in graphite.
Zimbabwe could develop a niche presence in lithium, and because of cost-efficient logistics as well as cheap project development, a battery factory in that country would cost roughly one-third of one in the United States or China.
Financing needed: The Outlook also noted that with adequate policy and financial support, Africa could establish a large, lead-acid, and lithium-ion battery recycling and repurposing value chain. This can happen by organizing and formalizing existing informal capacities, linking regional battery sourcing, and standardizing battery value chains.
In case you missed it: During the 2022 Reuters Impact conference, the Chief Executive Officer of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Samaila Zubairu, said that Africa needs to become pragmatic in its approach to the energy transition in different ways. One of the ways he suggested was for Africa to expand its mining and refining capacities. He said:
- “Africa needs to expand its mining capacity, more minerals should be sourced, mined, and processed here on the continent. More investments in adaptation will increase infrastructural capacity.”