Africa holds 30% of the world’s critical reserves and is disrupting the global market, creating many lessons for procurement leaders to learn
The long-term security of critical mineral feedstock is one of the leading focuses for procurement leaders, overtaking “just-in-time” sourcing.
Africa, currently holding 30% of the world’s critical mineral reserves, has become a primary test-bed for this realignment.
With global demand projected to quadruple by 2050, the continent is moving from a peripheral supplier to a central pillar of the industrial supply chain.
African Mining Week (AMW) 2026, which is being staged by Energy Capital & Power in October in Cape Town, South Africa, is set to be a vital forum for procurement executives to secure the partnerships and project bankability required to insulate their organisations from global mineral volatility.
Shifting from raw exports to regional processing
The African mining landscape is undergoing a fundamental structural change: the move from volume-led exports to downstream local beneficiation.
Procurement professionals must adapt to a reality where African governments are increasingly mandating that raw materials be processed “at source” to retain economic value.
This shift is designed to deepen domestic supply chains and move beyond the traditional “dig and ship” model. For the buyer, this means evaluating new domestic processing hubs that can reduce logistics complexity while aligning with rising ESG mandates for transparent, localised manufacturing.
Maximising international partnerships in the DRC
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains the world’s premier destination for cobalt and copper sourcing, despite its historical complexities.
By partnering with the US to leverage technical expertise and financing, the DRC is attempting to unlock trillions of dollars in untapped mineral potential.
For procurement officers, this represents a massive opportunity for greenfield exploration and long-term supply agreements. Louis Watum Kabamba, the DRC’s Minister of Mines, highlighted the scale of the remaining frontier: “Opportunities across the mining sector in the DRC are huge, with 90% of our resources awaiting greenfield exploration.”
Securing the copper pipeline in Zambia
Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, is potentially a vital catalyst for the global energy transition.
The country is actively engaging international investors to achieve a 2031 production target of 3.1 million tons per annum. This expansion is critical for procurement teams managing the supply of high-grade copper for electrification and clean energy deployment.
By targeting this volume-led growth, Zambia reinforces its role in future global supply chains, providing a hedge against the supply constraints seen in other major copper-producing regions.
Strategic timelines for African procurement
Key milestones to align sourcing strategies with continental policy shifts:
- 2025: Gold output surges across West Africa; Ghana and Mali sign refinery expansion agreements
- October 2026: AMW 2026 convenes project developers and international investors in Cape Town
- January 2027: Zimbabwe implements a ban on lithium concentrate exports to force domestic processing
- 2031: Zambia’s target production of 3.1 million tons of copper is scheduled for full integration
- 2040: Guinea’s Simandou 2040 strategy targets full integration of iron ore and bauxite value chains.
Infrastructure and iron ore in Guinea
Guinea is implementing a global partnership model to expand its mineral value chain under the “Simandou 2040” strategy.
Having secured US$20bn in international investments for the Simandou iron ore project, the country is expanding its bauxite production and processing capabilities.
This led to a 25% increase in bauxite exports in 2025.
Managing the transition to domestic processing
Across the continent, the trend toward local processing is accelerating. Ghana has partnered with South Africa’s Rand Refinery to expand domestic gold capacity, while Mali is developing a 200-ton-per-annum gold refinery.
Zimbabwe, the largest lithium producer in Africa, is collaborating with Chinese investors to scale up lithium processing before its 2027 export ban. These moves necessitate a more agile procurement approach, where buyers must build relationships with local refiners rather than just extraction firms.
Rachelle Kasongo, Event Director for AMW, said: “AMW 2026 is designed to bring project developers, governments and international investors into the same room to accelerate transactions that move Africa’s mining sector from potential to production and value creation.”