As a host to a considerable amount of the critical minerals pivotal to future development, Africa has a crucial role to play and it is imperative that the continent takes an active role in ensuring that supply is sustainable and benefits the region, with this to be underpinned by collaborative, strategic initiatives.

This was emphasised by speakers during a webinar “Future Minerals Forum: Is Africa's voice finally being heard?”, hosted by Creamer Media on February 27.

The Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) is advancing several initiatives in this regard.

The group, a high-level collaboration to advance Africa’s minerals sector, was established last year, on the sidelines of the Future Minerals Forum (FMF), held in Saudi Arabia.

The FMF is a yearly conference and has evolved into a global conversation about shaping the future of minerals.

The AMSG is built around a “transformative goal” of promoting exploration, extraction, production, local beneficiation or value addition, and commercialisation, while ensuring a secure, sustainable, transparent and secure supply of critical minerals in a way that protects the environment and benefits Africa, AMSG secretary-general Moses Michael Engadu highlighted.

He pointed out that, a year into its formation, the group had made notable progress, including the launch of the Africa Responsible Mineral Sourcing Initiative last year, which aimed to unite countries, industry and civil society to build a responsible ecosystem in Africa, to be anchored on the development of guidelines for the continent for responsible sourcing.

The group would continue to work on this, with the guidelines to be launched this year.

This year, the group launched the AMSG blockchain platform for traceability, as well as an Africa mineral utility token that aimed to ensure traceability on the continent.

The AMSG Steering Committee had approved the platform for use in the 16 participating AMSG countries, and the group was working with the private-sector forum and key players to ensure that it co-created a platform that was based on local realities and was inclusive of small-cale miners, Engadu informed.

He emphasised that the group was leveraging blockchain, AI, cryptocurrency and data science to monetise Africa’s critical minerals, by tokenising them as real-world assets to attract global investments and also facilitate access to global financial markets.

Engadu highlighted tokenisation as an opportunity for countries to leverage their critical minerals reserves to mobilise funding for important things such as mineral exploration, infrastructure development, capacity development and skills development.

The group, along with FMF, is seeking to leverage the blockchain platform to implement a pilot project in the Copperbelt on traceability, Engadu said.

He added that the group would also look to leverage the opportunities provided by FMF to attract investment.

He also noted that this year, the group would be building business cases for funding. This would entail measures such as aligning regulatory framework to engender private-sector confidence; and seeking ways to attract more financing for mineral exploration to derisk the global supply chain.

Work is also ongoing with AMSG member States towards the formation of Centres of Excellence on the continent. These centres are a key initiative being furthered by the FMF, with physical and virtual regional hubs being pursued.

A talent development hub is being pursued in South Africa, a sustainability hub in Morocco, and an innovation technology hub in Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia.

Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane highlighted that South Africa had a key role to play, with the country able to provide industry expertise and capacity knowledge garnered from its over 100 years of mining activity.

Moreover, he pointed out that there was an opportunity for countries on the continent to work together, with those that shared similar resources to develop joint strategies, providing a comparative advantage.

Engadu stressed the importance of capacity building, with AMSG also undertaking policy and advocacy dialogues to foster collaboration, and gather critical mass and best practices around responsible mineral exploitation.

Together with FMF, the AMSG will host the pioneer FMF in Africa meeting in July, in Uganda.

This is a special meeting that will explore how Africa can ensure that the modern scramble for its critical minerals addresses critical minerals supply challenges, achieved the energy transition and created resilient and responsible supply chains, leveraging collaboration, and engendering trust among key stakeholders, Engadu explained.

Mthenjane averred that for the continent’s role to be bolstered and for value to be realised, there must be clarity on development objectives and goals, and an enabling environment for investment to flow.