Critical Minerals, Critical Choices: How Mining Innovation is Reshaping Africa’s Critical Minerals Strategy

On October 21, the Institute of Global Politics (IGP) and The Africa Center convened a panel, titled “Critical Minerals, Critical Choices: Trends in African Mining,” that bridged policy, research, and on-the-ground solutions to explore the future of Africa’s mining sector. Ahead of the panel, IGP and The Africa Center held a half-day policy workshop for students, focused on the risks and opportunities for Pan-African cooperation and coordinated bargaining positions in the face of increased geopolitical competition and the market value of mineral resources.

Panelists included Grace Akinyi, founder of Eco Mining Impact Innovations and Technologies; Omid Ameri, managing director of Woodcross Resources; Artak Robert Melkonyan, senior technical advisor at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); Colin Coleman, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council; and Jason Bordoff, SIPA professor of professional practice and director of the Center on Global Energy Policy. Ambassador Martin Kimani, president and CEO of The Africa Center and former permanent representative of Kenya to the UN, moderated the discussion.

With Africa holding roughly 30 percent of the world's mineral reserves, geopolitical competition for critical minerals is rapidly intensifying. Global demand is fueling innovation – from eco-mining to national refining strategies – strengthening the continent's sovereignty over its resources. “This is a conversation that we often hear in the context of the major powers,” Kimani said. “We have the opportunity to center the African interests and ask, ‘How will Africans move at this very delicate moment?’”

From a macro perspective, Coleman emphasized that Africa's mining industry is at an inflection point. With critical minerals in high demand and Africa's population expected to boom, “the continent is in a position to scale opportunities, and there is capital for exploration,” he said. However, Coleman noted the industry still faces significant challenges – including the continent’s sensitive regulatory environment and limited access to funding for small and medium enterprises – which could threaten growth. 

To spur African-led innovation, the UNDP’s Timbuktoo Initiative supports mining ventures through MineTech Hub, a Pan-African accelerator. MineTech Hub has achieved measurable success since its inception, Melkonyan said, and has worked with ten ventures from nine different countries, “each providing mining tech solutions, like safety gear to artisanal miners, technology on geospatial data, and equipment-sharing across borders.” Melkonyan noted that these ventures require taking a broader view on capital returns, emphasizing “a much longer perspective in terms of time and commitment.”

Beyond commercial success, the panelists stressed that Africa’s mineral strategy should ensure that innovation benefits communities on the ground. Mining tech startup Eco Mining exemplifies this approach by uniquely combining protective equipment deployment with data-driven analytics to track safety habits and implementation. "Most systems track the upstream [deployment] and do not give priority to what the actual people are experiencing,” Akinyi, the startup’s founder, explained. “We are giving back that power to the people – the main driving force of the sector – to have a say and benefit from it."

A similar community-centered approach drives ventures like Woodcross Resources, Uganda’s first integrated tin production company. When the Ugandan government banned the export of unprocessed minerals, mining companies faced pressure to build domestic processing facilities. Woodcross Resources seized the opportunity to create local value. “We realized that if we could build a refinery, we could make some amazing social impact by bringing back thousands of miners impacted by the ban and allow them to go back to work,” said Ameri, the company’s managing director. “Since then, we’ve brought about 10,000 artisanal miners back to work.”

Despite the success of domestic efforts, Africa’s critical minerals industry must balance its economic growth with the global clean energy transition.  Bordoff expressed cautious optimism about Africa’s demands for the domestic processing of critical minerals, warning that pursuing a fully integrated value chain could raise the cost of a clean energy transition. “There’s a lot of opportunity,” Bordoff said, “but there’s also a risk that everyone tries to develop this out themselves, which actually could be quite difficult – not just for the African outlook, but for the clean energy outlook.”

As the panel demonstrated, Africa's future in critical minerals depends on balancing three priorities: harnessing geopolitical competition to Africa's advantage, supporting African-led innovation that strengthens local economies, and ensuring that mining prosperity reaches local communities. As the world races to secure critical minerals for the clean energy transition, Africa's role in shaping that transition – and who benefits from it – has never been more important.