As the global economy undergoes a profound transformation towards low-carbon energy systems and digital technologies, critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, platinum group metals (PGMs), rare earth elements (REEs), and graphite have emerged as key enablers of this transition. These minerals underpin everything from electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy to semiconductors and hydrogen fuel systems.
Rising demand has elevated these minerals from mere commodities to strategic assets that define national security, industrial competitiveness, and geopolitical alignment. The Southern African Development Community (SADC), richly endowed with many of these resources, finds itself at the epicentre of this global shift.
While Southern Africa’s mineral wealth presents a generational opportunity, resource abundance alone does not guarantee economic transformation. To fully leverage its position, the region must transition from being a raw material supplier to a strategic industrial partner, anchored in coherent policies, regional cooperation, and value chain development.
The global race for critical minerals: Opportunity and risk
Southern Africa’s strategic positioning must be understood within the broader context of intensifying global competition over critical mineral supply chains. China’s dominance in processing key inputs, particularly rare earths, lithium, and graphite, has prompted countries like the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) to 'de-risk' their supply chains by diversifying sources. This has translated into a wave of new trade policies, strategic partnerships, and investment frameworks increasingly focused on Africa.
Bilateralism and fragmentation risks
The US, for example, has signed separate critical minerals agreements with Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), marking a shift from multilateral co-operation to bilateral engagement. While these partnerships signal increased interest in the region, they also risk fragmenting regional cohesion. Country-by-country deals reduce the collective bargaining power of African nations and complicate efforts to coordinate regional industrial strategies, particularly in downstream beneficiation and infrastructure planning.
The rise of resource nationalism
At the same time, growing resource nationalism across the Global South, manifested through export restrictions, local content mandates, and beneficiation requirements, signals a shift in approach. African countries increasingly recognise that controlling their mineral endowments and capturing more value domestically is not only a matter of economic benefit but also essential to long-term development and strategic autonomy.
Defining criticality: A continental mosaic of priorities
Despite the shared importance of critical minerals, SADC countries define 'criticality' differently, reflecting diverse economic structures, industrial capacities, and development goals. For instance, South Africa prioritises PGMs, manganese, vanadium, and iron ore due to their economic contributions, while placing less emphasis on lithium and copper. Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, in contrast, consider lithium, copper, and rare earths as top priorities.
This lack of standardisation presents a challenge for regional alignment. Moreover, while producer countries focus on domestic benefits like jobs, revenues, and industrialisation, consumer countries define criticality based on supply chain security, scarcity, and import risks.
A shared, science-based and forward-looking regional framework is therefore essential. It must respect national priorities while aligning with global trends in clean energy, digital infrastructure, and advanced manufacturing. This framework should also promote inclusive industrial growth, especially by integrating artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), which often plays an outsized role in supplying niche minerals.
National strategies in motion: Parallel paths, shared aspirations
Across SADC, countries are advancing domestic strategies to increase value capture from critical minerals.
- Zimbabwe has implemented a phased approach to restricting lithium exports, beginning with a ban on raw ore and extending to a planned ban on lithium concentrate exports by 2027, to promote domestic value addition and battery-related manufacturing.
- Namibia is enhancing rare earth processing capacity, supported by strategic partnerships and investment facilitation from the EU.
- Zambia and the DRC are collaborating to develop copper and EV battery value chains, supported by US-backed agreements and infrastructure initiatives, most notably the Lobito Corridor railway project.
- Botswana is diversifying beyond diamonds by developing projects to process minerals like manganese into battery-grade materials, while expanding renewable energy infrastructure to support its clean energy ambitions.
However, these national approaches, while promising, also risk duplicating efforts and diluting investment. Without co-ordination, multiple countries could build similar infrastructure (eg smelters, refineries), leading to suboptimal returns and missed synergies.
There is an urgent need for value chain rationalisation. Instead of each country building all components of the beneficiation chain, the region should strategically allocate functions across borders based on competitive advantage. For example, Botswana, with its central location, access to the Kalahari Copper Belt, and vast salt pans, could serve as a processing and logistics hub, linking copper from Zambia and lithium from Zimbabwe.
Such co-ordination could form the foundation of a regional industrial strategy that maximises shared benefits while avoiding inefficient competition. Examples such as regional gold refining in Germiston, which services multiple SADC states under existing Rules of Origin provisions, illustrate that practical cross-border beneficiation is possible when regulatory frameworks are aligned and infrastructure is leveraged.
Infrastructure and integration: Building the backbone of value chains
Value chain co-ordination cannot occur in isolation; it must be supported by physical and regulatory infrastructure. This includes transport, energy, water, and digital systems. Equally important are trade-enabling legal instruments such as the SADC and AfCFTA Rules of Origin, which, through provisions like 'cumulation', allow components sourced across member states to be treated as local inputs, facilitating integrated processing and manufacturing.
Projects like the Lobito Corridor, linking the DRC and Zambia to Angola’s ports, are a positive step. But more corridors, such as Nacala, Walvis Bay, and Beira, are needed. These routes should not merely facilitate mineral exports but evolve into industrial development corridors, fostering downstream beneficiation and local economic ecosystems along their paths.
Botswana, strategically located at the crossroads of Southern and Central Africa, could emerge as a regional transport and processing hub. With deliberate planning, corridors can become economic arteries, enabling integrated clusters of processing, manufacturing, and technology development, ranging from battery assembly to hydrogen electrolyser production.
Crucially, these corridors must complement rather than compete. Each offers unique advantages based on geography, resource type, and trade routes. A co-ordinated approach would ensure that corridor development supports regional scale and resilience rather than creating redundant infrastructure.
The cost of fragmentation: Missed opportunities and market failure
The cost of failing to act collectively is significant, as illustrated by several examples:
- Despite Southern Africa’s global dominance in platinum, the industry remains largely a price taker, exporting predominantly unrefined concentrate. This persists even as the region leads in fuel cell research and development, missing opportunities to capture greater value through downstream processing.
- Zimbabwe exports significant volumes of spodumene concentrate, a lithium precursor, but without domestic battery manufacturing capacity, much of the economic value is realised offshore, limiting local industrial development and job creation.
- Botswana hosts Africa’s largest salt pan system, the Makgadikgadi Pans, which is under active exploration for lithium brines. However, the country currently lacks operational lithium extraction or value addition facilities, leaving it disconnected from the regional lithium and EV battery value chains.
Without co-ordinated, integrated regional planning, Southern Africa remains vulnerable to commodity price volatility and reliant on foreign actors for downstream processing and value addition. These structural inefficiencies constrain economic growth and undermine the region’s capacity to influence and benefit from global mineral supply chains.
Value addition: Transforming mineral potential into industrial power
To change this trajectory, beneficiation must be at the heart of the region’s strategy. With nearly 70% of global PGMs sourced from South Africa and Zimbabwe, SADC holds sufficient market power to demand downstream investment, just as Indonesia did with nickel.
The growing prominence of the hydrogen economy enhances this leverage, given the importance of PGMs in fuel cells and electrolysers. Regional efforts to develop R&D capabilities, supply chain infrastructure, and technology transfer should focus on moving beyond raw exports to high-value industrial outputs.
Countries are already moving in this direction:
- Zimbabwe is implementing a beneficiation roadmap for lithium and chrome.
- Namibia is attracting REE and hydrogen investment.
- Botswana is expanding processing beyond diamonds.
- Zambia and the DRC are deepening cross-border copper value chains.
Yet energy constraints, limited capital, and weak digital infrastructure remain major bottlenecks. Among all infrastructure categories, power access and affordability stand out as the most pressing and potentially transformative investment areas.
Enabling investment through legal coherence and ESG alignment
The legal landscape across SADC is evolving, with countries updating mining codes, export regimes, and local content rules. However, the lack of harmonisation remains a source of uncertainty and delays, particularly for junior and ESG-focused investors.
Existing instruments like the SADC Protocol on Trade in Goods and its Rules of Origin (RoO) provide preferential access to intra-regional markets, often recognising minerals as wholly originating goods. Value-added products also qualify, provided they meet moderate RoO thresholds. The AfCFTA Protocol on Trade in Goods offers a continental framework closely aligned with SADC’s RoO principles and includes provisions for cumulation, broadening opportunities for cross-border beneficiation chains.
Establishing a regional engagement platform within SADC could facilitate legal alignment, streamline permitting, and promote coordinated investment planning, enhancing the region’s appeal to responsible investors while respecting national sovereignty.
Equally critical is adherence to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards, now essential for access to global markets. Embedding digital traceability, environmental certification, and community inclusion into policy and practice is vital. Formalising ASM, ensuring transparent licensing, and introducing ESG incentives can strengthen the region’s reputation and competitiveness.
Together, these trade instruments create important enablers for cross-border industrialisation. The key challenge now is to translate these frameworks from legal availability into practical accessibility through coordinated customs enforcement, institutional capacity building, and increased awareness among public and private stakeholders.
Global alignment: SADC's strategic moment on the world stage
The launch of the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan in 2025 presents a timely opportunity for Southern Africa to align its development priorities with growing global demand for responsibly sourced critical minerals. Many of the plan’s key focus areas, such as supporting local beneficiation, financing infrastructure projects, and harmonising ESG practices, already feature prominently in SADC’s regional strategies. This alignment positions the region to leverage global momentum in building resilient and transparent mineral supply chains.
A particularly important aspect of the G7 plan is its recognition of ASM, which remains a vital source of niche, high-value minerals and a major employer across Africa. By formalising ASM, the region will not only improve livelihoods, increase transparency, and address environmental and social challenges associated with informal mining activities.
To capitalise on global trends, SADC countries should actively engage with international initiatives that support critical mineral development and sustainable infrastructure investment, such as the:
- Minerals Security Partnership, an international coalition focused on responsible sourcing and supply chain resilience.
- Canada-led Critical Minerals Production Alliance, emphasising investment collaboration.
- EU–Africa Global Gateway, the EU’s flagship infrastructure programme with a focus on green minerals and energy transition partnerships.
- Green Hydrogen Alliance, promoting global hydrogen development, a sector where Southern Africa’s abundant renewable resources and mineral wealth could play a strategic role.
By deepening engagement with these platforms, SADC can strengthen its position globally, attract responsible investment, and ensure that its critical minerals contribute meaningfully to both local development and the global clean energy transition.
From resource custodians to strategic co-creators
The global transition to green energy, digitalisation, and strategic autonomy has placed critical minerals at the heart of economic and geopolitical realignment. With its vast mineral wealth, Southern Africa is no longer a peripheral player but a pivotal force shaping global supply chains.
The region’s success hinges on collective, strategic action. The choice is clear: remain fragmented exporters of raw ore or unite as industrial partners driving downstream industries, innovation, and sustainable growth.
This transformation demands five core shifts:
- From bilateral deals to co-ordinated regional strategy: SADC must strengthen collective bargaining through integrated policies and value chain coordination.
- From export dependency to onshore value addition: Beneficiation and manufacturing must move from ambition to reality, supported by competitive infrastructure and energy access.
- From siloed infrastructure to interconnected corridors: Strategic transport corridors like Lobito, Nacala, and Walvis Bay should evolve into multi-country industrial belts enabling regional value chains.
- From legal complexity to investor confidence: Harmonised mining, energy, and ESG frameworks will reduce barriers, attract finance, and empower junior miners and ASM actors.
- From marginal voices to global rule-shapers: Active engagement in platforms, like the G7 Minerals Security Partnership and African Union strategies, is essential to embed Africa’s interests in the green transition.
Ultimately, vision must be matched by execution. Political will, institutional capacity, and regional trust are vital. If SADC acts with unity and urgency, it can move beyond benefiting from the critical minerals boom to leading it.
This was first published by DealMakers Africa in their Q3 Magazine.
