Energy Transition Africa

Industrial mineral processing facility symbolising potential future infrastructure for value addition of critical minerals in Southern Africa.

Powering the Future: Why SADC Must Embrace Regional Value Addition of Critical Minerals

On 17 August 2025, SADC heads of state will gather in Madagascar for a summit themed “Advancing industrialisation, agricultural transformation and energy transition for a resilient SADC.” The symbolism is…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk August 15, 2025Critical Minerals in Africa, Economic Development in SADC, Renewable Energy in Africa, ValueAddition

African miner overlooks a Southern African open-pit mine at sunset.

Critical Minerals

Southern Africa: The Critical Minerals Anchor of the Global Energy Transition

When the World Economic Forum released its recent analysis on the role of Southern Africa in the global energy transition, one figure stood out: countries like Zambia, Namibia, and Zimbabwe…

Vincent Egoro August 11, 2025Africa industrialisation, community benefits, critical minerals, green hydrogen, just energy transition, mining policy, Namibia lithium, platinum, renewable energy transition, resource governance, SADC cooperation, Southern Africa, sustainable development, value addition, Zambia cobalt, Zimbabwe lithium

Artisanal miner at a cobalt pit in Kolwezi, DRC, with overlay of global energy symbols like EVs and batteries—illustrating Africa’s vital role in powering the clean energy transition.

Critical Minerals

Green Gold Rush or Resource Grab? Inside Africa’s Critical Minerals Boom

Under the midday sun in Kolwezi, in the southeastern stretch of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lucien, a 26-year-old father of three, kneels in a shallow mine pit, scraping cobalt-rich…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk August 4, 2025Africa EV minerals, Africa mining policy, artisanal miners Africa, clean energy minerals, cobalt mining DRC, critical minerals Africa, Energy transition Africa, green energy supply chain, just transition minerals, lithium Zimbabwe, mineral beneficiation Africa, mining value chains, resource nationalism Africa, sustainable mining

African miner beside a cobalt pit with an industrial plant on the horizon, representing Africa’s move from raw exports to mineral beneficiation.

Critical Minerals

Beyond Raw Minerals: Can Africa Benefit from Its Critical Mineral Wealth?

In Kolwezi, in the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the earth gives way to cobalt-rich soil. Every morning, hundreds of artisanal miners, many without helmets or boots,…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk July 30, 2025Africa, artisanal mining, cobalt, critical minerals, DRC, Ghana, green transition, lithium, resource nationalism, Sierra Leone, value addition

African officials stand near a mine site enforcing mineral export bans

Critical Minerals

Africa’s Resource Revolution: How Raw Minerals Are Becoming Gold Mines for Local Value

Africa is in the midst of a quiet revolution. One that sees nations taking a firmer hold over the minerals beneath their feet. From Mali’s dramatic seizure of Barrick’s gold…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk July 14, 2025Africa, critical minerals, economic sovereignty, just transition, mineral exports, resource nationalism, value addition

African women sitting near a railway, observing a mineral freight train passing through their village.

Community Impact Critical Minerals

Beyond the Tracks: What Africa’s Mining Corridors Really Mean for the Communities They Bypass

"The trains pass, but we are still in the dark." That was the quiet but piercing remark of Mariam, a farmer in northern Zambia, whose family was relocated to make…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk July 4, 2025Africa infrastructure, community voices, critical minerals, displacement, energy transition, just transition, land rights, mining corridors

A high-resolution photograph of an African open-pit mine with industrial machinery and processing facilities under a wide sky.

Critical Minerals

Why Africa Must Stop Exporting Wealth: The Case for Processing Our Own Minerals

“If we keep selling the raw and buying the refined, we’ll always be poorer than we are rich.” That line, from a young Ghanaian engineer at a mining expo last…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk July 2, 2025Africa mining, beneficiation, critical minerals, energy transition, green economy, industrialisation, jobs, value addition

An expansive industrial mining site in Africa with heavy machinery extracting minerals under a dusty sky.

Community Impact Critical Minerals Energy Transition

Green Minerals, Grey Realities: Can Africa Avoid Another Resource Curse?

Across the plains of Namibia, the copper belt of the DRC, and the lithium fields of Zimbabwe, a quiet race is underway. It’s not a new one, though the names…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk June 20, 2025Africa Mining Vision, AU, beneficiation, cobalt, critical minerals, DRC, green minerals, just transition, lithium, RECs, resource curse, Zimbabwe

An industrial smokestack emits haze beside stacks of mineral ore under cloudy skies in Africa.

Critical Minerals Uncategorized

Clean or Compromised? The Dirty Dilemma of Refining Africa’s Critical Minerals

Africa is home to more than 30% of the world’s critical minerals; cobalt, lithium, manganese, graphite, all essential for the global energy transition. But while the world’s richest economies are…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk June 12, 2025critical minerals, CriticalMineralsAfrica, energy transition, ESG Africa, fossil fuels, Green industrialisation, just transition, refining, ValueAddition

Railway workers in safety gear laying tracks through a rural African corridor under a cloudy sky.

Critical Minerals Governance & Transparency

The Corridor of Promise: Can Lobito Deliver a New Path for Africa’s Minerals?

From Angola’s Atlantic coastline to the copper belts of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, a rail corridor is being carved through the heart of Africa’s mineral wealth. The…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk June 9, 2025Angola, critical minerals, DRC, energy transition, EnergyTransitionAfrica, infrastructure, just transition, Lobito Corridor, mineral strategy, ValueAddition, Zambia