Australian researchers are pushing Botswana and other Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states to develop robust strategies for the critical minerals sector. They claim this will prevent African countries from being caught up in the scramble for these minerals.
A recent study titled “The Race for Critical Minerals in Africa: A Blessing or Another Resource Curse?” examined African countries that generate minerals that the global community has classified as “critical.” The researchers noted that there is significant potential for supplying critical minerals to the global market, but they cautioned that “the urgency claims of critical minerals largely serve the geostrategic and economic interests of western countries and China.”
The Energy Act, passed by the US Congress in 2020 and requiring the USGS to update the list every three years, defines a “critical mineral” as a nonfuel mineral or mineral substance crucial to the US’s economic or national security and with a supply chain vulnerable to disruption. The most recent USGS list was released in February 2022, and in accordance with the aforementioned statutory mandate, a new list shall be published in 2025. The present list comprises 50 minerals and elements of vital importance.
The Australian researchers also state that: “Although Africa accounts for about 30% of the world’s critical mineral reserves, many of which are essential for developing renewable and low-carbon technologies, the African Union do not yet have a strategy on critical minerals, neither have they developed a comprehensive list of critical minerals based on well-defined parameters.”
According to the research, supply chains that African countries like Botswana should set up for current and future industrial purposes are receiving less attention.
Various critical minerals are found in Botswana alone. The Botswana Geoscience Institute (BGI) geologists made the announcement in 2023 that they had discovered platinum in addition to important vital minerals like manganese, which are in great demand worldwide. Africa accounts for about 80% of the world’s Platinum Group Metals reserves and the mineral is used as catalysts in fuel cells for hydrogen-based energy systems. Similarly, Africa accounts for about 85% of the world’s manganese reserves which are essential for several industrial applications, including the production of steel, batteries, and fertilisers. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has identified platinum as one of the 50 mineral commodities that are essential to the US economy and national security.
In order for African countries such as Botswana to benefit from the current boom in demand for critical minerals, the research states that there is need to “expedite the development of the Africa Critical Minerals Strategy that will guide member countries on negotiating mining contract and agreements. The Africa Critical Minerals Strategy should draw from good mining practices around the world”.
Among other things, the researchers state that “processing of critical minerals in Africa would increase their value on the international market, create jobs,” and “Until these are carefully considered and fully implemented, the extraction of Africa’s critical minerals by foreign mining companies would create another resource curse.”
