Partnership-driven growth is emerging as the dominant investment priority as the mining industry readies for this year’s Investing in African Mining Indaba, with miners, financiers, infrastructure providers and governments increasingly aligning capital decisions around shared value, downstream capacity and transition-linked expansion, says financial services company Stanbic Bank Tanzania diversified industries and mining and metals VP Edgar Mwasha.

The past two Mining Indabas, he points out, have underscored a structural industry shift, given that growth is no longer driven solely by orebody scale, but by the integration of value chains around processing, energy security, financing and measurable environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments.

“Mining cannot operate in isolation – accountability, traceability and sustainability now require integrated partnerships across the mining value chain,” states Mwasha.

Consequently, Standard Bank Group will participate in this year’s Mining Indaba as a Silver Sponsor, serving as a lead financier, infrastructure adviser and sustainable-finance mobiliser, supporting everything from rail and port logistics rehabilitation to downstream beneficiation and energy-transition financing across multiple African jurisdictions.

Mwasha highlights that investor sentiment remains strong on gold, supported by stable pricing and a high return on investment.



Critical minerals form the second growth pillar, driven by decarbonisation targets, notes Mwasha.

Standard Bank is leveraging its regional presence to support the financing of feedstock movement, refining capacity and power-transition infrastructure, including with syndicated lending models designed for multimarket battery-metal portfolios.



Infrastructure to Investment Pathways

Infrastructure development is the single most critical factor shaping Africa’s mining competitiveness. Persistent logistical challenges spanning rail networks, port facilities, and power supply continue to drive up extraction and transportation costs, undermining efficiency and profitability, says Mwasha.

Standard Bank expects infrastructure, beneficiation and energy transition finance to dominate discussions at this year’s Mining Indaba, as mine operators look to unlock capacity and reduce bottlenecks that hinder cross-border mineral flow.

Mwasha notes that governments are tightening export regulations to boost processing and industrialisation, particularly in East Africa, where gold-refining policy actions are already catalysing new plant investments.

He adds that these conditions are reshaping funding approval metrics, with banks now assessing downstream potential and localisation strategies.

“Infrastructure has been a consistent corridor discussion, and its centrality to enabling African minerals to move competitively will not diminish,” says Mwasha.



Further, in terms of lending for minerals logistics projects, Mwasha points out that Standard Bank is engaged in providing on-the-ground solutions around the upgrades to the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) rail line connecting Tanzania, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo – a route viewed as integral to copper, cobalt and gold evacuation.



Energy transition-linked financing is another critical lever towards which Mwasha says Standard Bank has committed to mobilise more than R450-billion to sustainability-aligned finance by 2028, with miners encouraged to articulate emissions-reduction pathways, traceability baselines and integrated energy strategies.

Further, funding access is expected to tighten as reporting standards mature, thereby driving operational alignment between production growth and responsible extraction, he adds.

The Investing in African Mining Indaba 2026 will take place at a strategic inflection point as gold retains investor confidence, critical minerals are consolidating into longer-horizon portfolios, and Africa’s ore bodies remain essential to global industrialisation, says Mwasha.

Determining competitive advantage is the effectiveness of partnerships – the link between capital, infrastructure and policy and the rate at which they unlock scale, he concludes.