Critical green minerals in Africa hold the key to unlocking both the transition to renewable energy and the continent’s aspiration for an inclusive prosperity. Indeed, Africa accounts for a third of the world’s reserves of these minerals, including cobalt, copper, graphite, lithium, manganese, and rare earths.

Mining Indaba 2026 comes in a crucial moment: when global industries are re-assessing value chains for resilience, sustainability, and shared prosperity; and when Africa is becoming bold in its quest for growth, equity, and justice. Africa’s minerals narrative has transformed from being merely about extraction to being about shaping a new economic and social contract grounded in value creation, inclusion, and innovation.

The notion of minerals as an engine of sustainable industrialization, has been at the forefront in Africa as the continent has adopted frameworks such as the Africa Mining Vision (AMV), the African Green Minerals Strategy (AGMS), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which offer a coherent blueprint for this transformation by anchoring value addition, regional value chains, and green industrialization as the foundation of a new growth paradigm. These frameworks are anchored on developing industries that refine, process, and manufacture within Africa, thus creating millions of decent jobs for our youth and women, while positioning Africa as a strategic player in global clean-energy value chains.

Investment and innovation will be the defining forces of this next chapter. The long-term value of minerals can be unlocked through innovative financing models, including blended finance and other sources of capital. Green and digital technologies are driving the restructuring of productivity, responsibility, and environmental stewardship, thus de-risking investments, strengthening competitiveness, and ensuring that Africa’s mineral wealth is harnessed responsibly and equitably.

People and communities are at the heart of this transformation. The empowerment of women and youth across the mineral value chain, including in mining, processing, entrepreneurship, and green technology, is essential for transforming lives. Investing in future skills such as digital mining, sustainability analysis, engineering, including battery mineral processing, environmental management, the circular economy, and digital innovation, among others, will build a workforce ready to lead Africa’s green industrial revolution. Equally, community participation, benefit-sharing, and environmental stewardship must remain central to ensuring that mineral-driven growth translates into tangible, lasting development outcomes.

Looking ahead, Mining Indaba 2026 will serve as a catalyst for Africa’s next investment-led transformation. As the theme “Stronger Together highlights, it will convene policymakers, investors, innovators, and thought leaders, as well as local communities, women, youth, and artisanal and small-scale miners, to forge new partnerships aligned with the AMV, the AGMS, the AfCFTA, and the SDGs, and Africa’s climate and industrialization strategies. It is time for Africa to seize this moment to change the paradigm of its mineral wealth as a springboard for sustainable energy, shared prosperity, and generational wealth creation.

Mining Indaba 2026 is not just an event; it is the heartbeat of a continent on the move, defining the future of global mining through an African lens.

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