Mining’s Hidden Toll: Women, Children, and the True Cost of Clean Energy
Introduction: A just transition with invisible victims As New York Climate Week convenes global leaders, financiers, and activists to discuss […]
Critical Minerals
Africa holds a treasure trove of critical minerals essential to the global energy transition — from cobalt and lithium to rare earths. In this section, we unpack the geopolitics, investment trends, and local realities shaping the extraction and use of these resources. With a focus on sustainability, equity, and community rights, these stories explore how Africa can benefit more from its mineral wealth without repeating the mistakes of the past.
Critical Minerals Circuits: Who Controls the Chain from Mine to Market?
Critical minerals have become the backbone of the global energy transition. Lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, and rare earths are essential
Dig, Ship, Repeat? The Extractivist Trap in Africa’s Critical Minerals Boom
Walk into any electric vehicle showroom in Berlin, Los Angeles or Shanghai, and you are looking at Africa. The cobalt
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
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,
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
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
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
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
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,
EN 
FR