Leveraging critical minerals beneficiation for a Just Energy Transition
Zimasa Vazi
With the Africa Mining Indaba behind us, the discussions on the importance of beneficiation of critical minerals have once again remerged. As the world navigates the global action in addressing climate change, the transition away from fossil fuels as primary sources of energy generation is having a major impact on the mining industry.
However, rapidly shifting to renewable energy requires a substantial amount of critical minerals. How we extract these minerals will define environmental and social impacts, but importantly, it will determine whether the energy transition is just – and not present new, but not unique challenges as in the fossilised energy economy.
The resurgence and prioritisation of the debate on these minerals such as cobalt, nickel, lithium, platinum, copper, manganese, vanadium, rare earth elements, is as a result of the increased in demand over the years and will continue to do so to even greater heights. This is primarily because these minerals sometimes referred to as “green minerals” are critical for the manufacturing of various components used in renewable energy generation, distribution and storage , electric mobility.
According to the UN Secretary-General's Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals, Demand for critical minerals is set to almost triple by 2030 as the world transitions from fossil fuels to renewable energy in order to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050. World leaders have on every global platform and through every pledge agreed to transition away from fossil fuels, a necessity to avoid a climate crisis.
As minerals extraction accelerates to match the needs of the energy transition, it is crucial to ensure that the countries and local communities endowed with these resources are the ones to benefit the most.
According to the World Economic Forum, and our own local data, the current growth in renewables has not yet reduced fossil consumption or increased exponentially new market for critical minerals; it has simply covered the growing energy demand. These critical minerals are mostly turned into manufactured products in highly industrialised countries primarily China and Europe dominating renewable energy value chains.
Despite this wealth, most African countries remain mere suppliers of raw materials while value addition and beneficiation mostly take place outside the continent. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents an opportunity to change this paradigm by fostering regional cooperation to boost beneficiation and ensure a just transition that promotes economic inclusion, environmental sustainability, and social equity in Africa.
Africa has the potential to build integrated critical mineral value chains across countries that enhance beneficiation across the continent while ensuring that workers and communities benefit equitably from the transition. A key feature of AfCFTA primary benefits is the creation of a regional market, enabling countries to better collaborate in optimising the benefits from the critical minerals value chains.
African countries must collectively move quickly to increase their participation in key areas of the critical minerals value where there are opportunities. Unfortunately, there are already parts of the value chain where the continent is already not competitive, instead we must focus on areas where we are competitive or have the potential to be competitive.
A significant barrier to regional beneficiation is policy misalignment amongst African countries. To ensure improved collaboration, African countries must harmonise policies on local content requirements, ensuring mining companies use African suppliers for processing and manufacturing.
Efficient transportation networks and reliable energy supply are critical for minerals beneficiation. Regional investment in transport corridors, rail networks, and improved port efficiency will reduce logistical bottlenecks, enabling improved movement of minerals across borders for further refining in Africa. Joint investments in infrastructure, also including the private sector can further enhance the competitiveness of African industries.
Furthermore, many African countries face challenges such as limited and/ or poor infrastructure, policy misalignment, fragmented markets and lack of economies of scale in resource availability. What is required is capital, expertise, infrastructure, and policy revision. Africa has the potential to build integrated critical mineral value chains across countries that enhance beneficiation across the continent while ensuring that workers and communities benefit equitably from the transition.
We must reimagine existing approaches to sourcing minerals — doing so will also unlock promising new investment opportunities arising from the just energy transition. The energy mix of the future will be completely different than the last half century — and the implications for our future development ambitions and the survival of our planet — will require a complete paradigm shift, which requires decision-makers must prepare for these rapid shifts
Therefore, it is imperative that stewardship and beneficiation of these resources should maximise development outcomes derived from their extraction. To this end, our mining industry should support and prepare governments in communities that depend heavily on critical mineral extraction and in doing so, sow the seeds of an enabling environment that ensure successful participation in a net-zero economy.
Zimasa Vazi is a senior manager, stakeholder engagements and partnerships at the Presidential Climate Commission.
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