"The high raw material prices create a two-sided situation whereby some economies are helped by the high prices, while some sectors suffer due to heightened costs."
"Across the region, the old model of flying in expats to do the technical job combined with a few locals doing the rest of the work on the ground has to change and has started to change."
MACIG 2025 - Mining in Africa Country Investment Guide
It is said that mining is a patient industry. Current demand projections are not. Demand for minerals deemed ‘critical’ is set to increase almost fourfold by 2030, according to the UN. Demand for nickel, cobalt and lithium is predicted to double, triple and rise ten-fold, respectively, between 2022 and 2050. The world will need to mine more copper between 2018 and 2050 than it has mined throughout history. 2050 is also the deadline to curb emissions before reaching a point of ‘no return.’ The pace of mineral demand and the consequences of not meeting it force the industry to act fast and take more risks. Mining cannot afford to be a patient industry anymore. The scramble for supply drives miners back to geological credentials, and therefore to places like the African Central Copperbelt.