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.

The main point of attraction to Africa is obvious: It is the most resource-abundant continent, yet investment decisions are rarely driven by geology alone, or else, Africa would be the main beneficiary of exploration dollars. The 11th edition of the Mining in Africa Country Investment Guide (MACIG) deals with a perennial question: How investable is Africa? Drawing from interviews with mining operators and financial institutions, we conclude that Africa is probably riskier today than it was a decade ago when GBR compiled its first MACIG report. However, the rewards – and the stakes – are also higher, and Africa’s prime geology and its relevance to current geopolitical trends have helped offset higher jurisdictional risks.

The second section of the report charts Africa’s positioning in eight key commodities: gold, copper, uranium, coal, manganese, nickel, graphite and lithium. In the third section, we are examining 12 of Africa’s mining jurisdictions, by region: Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia), West Africa (Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire), Central Africa (Zambia, the DRC), and East Africa (Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia). Juggling the tricky politics of omission and inclusion, we go beyond reporting on the usual suspects – the well-known mining countries – and we test new grounds, particularly in the East African section. Lastly, we wrap up our extended ‘map’ of the industry with an analysis of the supply chain. Articles on logistics, power, equipment and technology are woven into a larger discussion about value addition on the continent. We study the perennial question of how to turn Africa’s value deficit into a value surplus through meaningful investments and what constitutes such investments.