10 February 2025
Africa is rich in raw materials that are highly relevant, for example, for the energy transition or other strategic economic applications. Nevertheless, the involvement of EU industry in Africa is low. It is mainly investors and companies from China and Canada who have been shaping mining developments in Africa for many years.
The EU project AfricaMaVal, implemented by Germany’s Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) together with other partner institutions, aims to support a stronger commitment of the EU in the African raw materials sector. To this end, BGR has now published a list of 100 recommendations and presented them at this year’s mining conference “Investing in African Mining Indaba” in South Africa.
For its study, BGR had reviewed raw material projects across Africa over the past two years or so that could help strengthen the security of supply of EU industry with strategic and critical raw materials. This is linked to the goal of expanding engagement along the value chains of the EU and Africa with the help of investments in the above-mentioned but also other projects as well as other accompanying measures. In a first step, BGR prepared 80 factsheets on individual raw materials and infrastructure projects in Africa. In addition, the study also offers general recommendations on how the EU could engage economically and in terms of sustainability in Africa.
Read the Factsheets
When selecting raw material projects and developing recommendations, the BGR team paid particular attention to balance and broad applicability. The recommendations and underlying descriptions of raw material projects therefore deliberately include different critical raw materials, countries and project development stages. Aspects of sustainability and local technology promotion were also taken into account. BGR presented production prospects for raw materials from artisanal small-scale mining in a separate report.
The report illustrates 100 recommendations and conceptual investment opportunities aimed at strengthening EU-Africa critical raw material value chain partnerships. The report builds on the content that has been developed within the EU-funded AfricaMaVal project and is addressed to the target audience of that project, comprising policy makers and public organisations in the EU and in Africa as well as the private sector, notably the minerals and metals sector, associated downstream industries and the financial sector.
The report structure aligns with the mineral value chain segments as well as the mine and product life cycle, ranging from mineral exploration to value addition and recycling of critical raw materials. Each of the report chapters includes a general introduction, followed by specific recommendations and conceptual investment opportunities linked to that topic. The report is meant to provide a snapshot and broad overview to encourage discussions among target audience stakeholders in the spirit of EU-Africa strategic raw material partnerships, though it does not aspire to present a complete in-depth analysis of the identified topics.
The report was written by the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) as a contribution to AfricaMaVal Work Package 7 (Responsible Investment Opportunities), complementing other deliverables of that work package. While the report reflects the authors’ views and ideas, it has been peer-reviewed by different AfricaMaVal project partners and builds on their contributions and AfricaMaVal deliverables as well.
Read the Summary Report
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AfricaMaVal Coordination and Support Action (CSA) Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or he European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Start date : 2022-06-01 Duration : 42 Months
Source – BGR