Agenda Sessions

Leveraging High Demand for Minerals to Support Responsible Mining and Scale up Development in Africa

The mineral intensity of the low carbon economy called for by the Paris Agreement on Climate change together with the ongoing multiple countries’ strategies/drives to secure resilient supplies of minerals and metals for their economic and national security needs, represent for Africa an opportunity to unleash its  potential in critical minerals and metals value chains including for its economic diversification and to secure its own needs in the future.  

Join us for an exchange on the opportunities, enablers, success drivers, and innovative approaches to potentially inform updated stakeholders agendas aimed at supporting Africa to decisively realize its minerals and metal development prospects in the foreseeable period.

Minerals and the Energy Transition: Strategies and Investment Prospects for Africa

Africa’s significant green minerals including lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and Rare Earth Elements are part of the core enablers of the transport revolution towards low-carbon economic development. The growing demand for electric vehicles and battery storage facilities is driving the demand for these minerals, especially Lithium and Cobalt. This has pushed their processed product prices to astronomical levels and could be a game changer in the economic development of countries endowed with deposits of these minerals. For example, lithium carbonate prices have increased over 10x since 2021. Also, the demand for battery and technology minerals is estimated to increase 500% by 2050 to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies.  

For Africa to seize opportunities in the battery and EV sector, this will require funding both in the backward (exploration, mining, services) and forward (e.g., battery and EV manufacturing) linkages development. And this is far beyond what public resources could provide. Private sector, particularly African private sector, investments will be essential for the continent to climb up the ladder in these important value chains.

This side event seeks to identify and analyse the key success factors that will enable Africa strategise to attract investment into the BEV sector towards optimising benefits from the value chain.

Panel Discussion: Transparency, Framework Development and Cross-Border Collaboration

- How are governments and institutions preparing for cross-border collaboration?

- Linking between minerals, climate action and green recovery to Agenda 2063, AfCFTA and the African Mining Vision  

- What steps have been taken to establish a system for public-private cooperation to harness and strengthen productive capacity?

Battery Metals Focus on: Lithium & Nickel - Part of Spotlight Discussion & Onstage Q&A

Security of Supply and Resource Nationalism – how can Africa boost her economies and evolve self-empowerment in the Battery Metals Rush?