Critical Minerals: Jobs & New Mining Model

Africa is at the heart of the global hunt for critical minerals, but UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said that Africa needs to earn more economic value from its mining sector. In a speech delivered at the Global Africa Business Initiative’s Unstoppable Africa 2026 event in New York, Guterres said that Africa must move away from the export of critical minerals in their crude form and must generate more employment and value addition.

His call comes amid rising demand for minerals such as cobalt, copper, lithium, graphite, manganese and nickel, which are crucial for electric cars and batteries and renewable energy sources.

Guterres Urges Africa to Go Beyond Exporting Unprocessed Minerals

Guterres said Africa’s natural resources should generate “value creation and jobs” locally, rather than being exported to other places to be processed there. Additionally, he wants an economic approach under which more of the processing, manufacturing, and industries related to their mineral resources would be done in Africa by Africans.

The reasoning is well-founded, as Africa’s wealth in terms of mineral deposits does not mean that the continent has been successful in industrializing itself based on that fact. According to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, Africa is home to roughly 30% of the world’s energy transition mineral reserves, and yet the mining sector contributes little to employment directly.

Why Local Processing Is Crucial

Local processing of minerals may result in more skilled employment, stronger local supplier networks, higher tax revenue, and even manufacturing.

The UN has highlighted the Democratic Republic of Congo as one of the illustrations of the value gap. A UN study referred to the fact that prices of cobalt had risen significantly following local processing rather than mining. The main idea is that it is necessary to advance the economies of Africa within the value chain without shipping ore and then importing goods.

However, construction of smelters, refineries, and production plants demands electricity, transportation, skilled labour, funds, and predictable rules of business. Recent studies of the mineral industry in Africa have identified these issues as major constraints on the development of competitive processing industries.

The Funding Issue Underlying the African Mining Aspirations

Also, Guterres has connected mineral processing to the reform of the international financial system. He consistently claimed that there were expensive loans in Africa and it was necessary to get more affordable funds for financing infrastructure and industry.

On the platform of Unstoppable Africa, he stressed the necessity of mobilization of private finance, climate finance and international development funding. He also reiterated his appeals for reforms aimed at increasing the role of developing countries in international financial institutions.

Time for Africa’s Critical Minerals

As governments in Africa consider export restrictions, domestic processing and infrastructure development, there is a need to capture more value from mineral wealth. The African Union has independently emphasized the need for Africa to go beyond raw materials in order to develop its own value chain.

Therefore, the question for Africa is not only how much it can mine but whether mining can create industries, skilled labor, infrastructure, and good employment when the mineral wealth moves out.

According to Guterres, the continent needs to use its critical minerals boom to help industrialize Africa rather than having a boom-and-bust cycle like before, where Africa exports its resources and leaves the high value addition to others.

Conclusion

The abundance of Africa’s minerals puts Africa at a strategic position during the energy transition in the world. The continent’s success will depend on infrastructure, skills, finance, and development of the value chain, among other factors.